Health committee  For the “postal code lottery” line, I have to give credit where credit is due. It's not my line; it's the line used by the immediate past federal minister of health, Mr. Duclos, in March of 2023 when he announced the go-forward of the plan for drugs for rare disorders. I was there.

Health committee  Yes, and thank you for the promotion.

Health committee  We had many lessons recently from a little thing called a pandemic. Some of us took the time to observe the advisory processes in another jurisdiction south of Canada. The CDC and the FDA advisory committees, whether they were dealing with vaccines, therapeutics or other things, I could watch those on Zoom.

Health committee  There are specific things in our written submission. I think you need to try to do your best to ensure that freedom of information and access to information rules apply to the new model that this bill is trying to build for pharmacare. Ensure that there's accountability, so the Auditor General of Canada can go in and do value-for-money audits.

Health committee  Thank you. I don't know if there's procedurally any way to get an extension to five o'clock for those amendment guidelines. I toss that out there for what it's worth. This bill gives the minister substantial new powers. It could be improved by building in various forms of transparency and accountability, as I've said.

Health committee  I'm old enough to remember when medicare was sold to Canadians and to provinces and territories on the general concept of fifty-fifty cost sharing. We should take a look at that.

Health committee  We hear many concerns and criticisms of the version of the model proposed in Bill C-64, and I've heard additional criticisms from my fellow panellists today. We're hearing mixed messages about whether this is such a good idea or not, as proposed. As the parent of two sons and two daughters, I care about sexual reproduction and sexual health all the way around.

Health committee  Pardon me, but I'm going to answer in English. We've heard a lot about Quebec today in the conversation. Thank you very much for the question because it highlights one distinct aspect of Quebec that the rest of Canada should emulate. The other thing we heard a lot about is that not every patient responds in the same way to the same drug.

Health committee  Mr. Chair and health committee members, thank you for the invitation to be a witness at these historic hearings regarding pharmacare for Canadians. Our Best Medicines Coalition represents 30 patient organizations, from Parkinson's, arthritis, hemophilia and blindness to cancers and other complicated and rare diseases.

Health committee  Okay. For me, the key point and cause of uncertainty is the desire of some to stretch the Patent Act into a consumer protection act. The Patent Act, in my view, is about regulating intellectual property and avoiding abuses of intellectual property. Its central purpose is not consumer protection.

Health committee  To me, the central problem is that they have to.... This is about the Patent Act. All of the arguments in favour of what PMPRB and the government are doing are around what I will call consumer protection. The Patent Act is actually about regulating the use of intellectual property and avoiding abuses [Technical Difficulty—Editor].

Health committee  Thank you very much. First of all, there are the regulations and there are the guidelines. The regulations were decided by the cabinet of the Government of Canada. The problem of the unwise combination of risks—doing four changes all at the same time—is baked into the regulations.

Health committee  Yes. Actually, in my opening statement I confirmed that, sir, but I'm happy to clarify. Our budget for the last four years has been about $220,000, on average. Yes, we seek unconditional funding from pharmaceutical companies.

Health committee  The majority of it. I don't have the number off the top of my head.

Health committee  I'd be happy to. Thank you.