The head of the inquiry into Canada's handling of the SARS crisis isn't pleased with what he's finding. Dr. David Naylor has slammed almost every aspect of the public health system, calling the country's response a "national embarrassment."

On Tuesday, the dean of medicine at the University of Toronto, Dr. David Naylor, lambasted Canada's handling of the deadly infectious disease -- aiming his criticism at all three levels of government.

Naylor, who leads the group of experts examining how the country should handle future disease outbreaks, said alerts about SARS were slow to reach Ontario doctors, hospital infection control measures failed, directions were unclear and a national surveillance system didn't exist.

But on Wednesday, Naylor backed down somewhat as he offered praise for health care workers themselves.

"We had an outbreak of a new, unknown disease. All of its characteristics had to be elucidated," Naylor told a conference in Toronto, lauding front-line health care workers for their efforts to contain the disease.

York Central Hospital chief of staff Dr. Richard Schabas told the conference the medical community may have even gone too far in its reaction.

"We treated it as if it was a disease that was going to spread rapidly in the community... It simply wasn't the case. It's a disease that does not spread easily and it's a disease that was really almost entirely limited to hospital spread," Schabas said.

Also Wednesday, Ontario Premier Ernie Eves rejected suggestions his government hasn't properly funded the province's public health system.

He said $11 billion has been spent on health care in Ontario since 1995, while accusing the federal government of falling far short of its contributions.

Naylor recommended Canada build its own version of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, which could provide funding and guidance in the event of an outbreak.

Health Minister Anne McLellan has said she is in favour of creating a national disease centre, but will wait until Naylor presents his own findings before going forward.

Canada's disease control work is currently split between Winnipeg and Ottawa, with scientific research at Winnipeg's National Microbiology Lab and public health addressed by Ottawa's Centre for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control.

WHO looking for answers

Winnipeg's National Microbiology Lab is being investigation by the World Health Organization, after test results from the lab found evidence of SARS at a nursing home in British Columbia -- results that weren't replicated by other labs.

"We would like to see the issue more clearly resolved than it has been, and the issue being the situation that arose because of the Surrey situation," WHO spokesman Dick Thompson told The Canadian Press.

"I think everybody would feel better if the situation had been resolved by now."

Dr. Frank Plummer, the head of the Winnipeg lab, said he'd like to get the issue resolved as quickly as possible.

"We'd like to get this solved and put to bed as quickly as possible," he told The Canadian Press in an interview from Winnipeg.

Fears of another SARS outbreak peaked over the summer when samples were taken from patients at the Kinsman Place Lodge after a mysterious illness struck.

Some of the samples came back positive for the coronavirus that causes SARS. However, other labs were unable to replicate the findings and the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control had to declare the outbreak was not a resurgence of SARS.

Tests are being run on new samples this week to determine if they contain antibodies to the SARS coronavirus.

Plummer said the reputation of the national lab may have been tainted over the delay in figuring out why the test results differed.

"I think there is obviously an issue of credibility," Plummer said. "And would that hurt us? I think in the short term, maybe."

With a report from The Canadian Press