Madam Chair, I can probably speak to part of that question. On having one single agency to provide that oversight from a purchasing perspective, that wouldn't be CADTH. We do not have the expertise in purchasing, and a lot of that purchasing aspect is done through the group purchasing organizations.
We think we might be able to play a role if and when we have future shortages. I have been a pharmacist for many years myself. We've faced shortages in drug supply ever since I've been a pharmacist, and we've dealt with them.
What we're dealing with now, however, are more frequent drug shortages. Making those preparations and having clinical information available to pharmacists, physicians, and patients is where we think we could play a role. We can be proactive in identifying, as Dr. Lexchin said, critical drugs for which there is perhaps only one supplier and for which some information needs to be available to clinicians. That's more the role we would play, versus having a role in the oversight of the procurement.