Committees of the House  Madam Speaker, I am pleased to be debating with the NDP today because they are once again proving my point. The member says that in France, the finance minister gathered 75 people in a room to negotiate. There is so little competition here that there were five people in the room.

Committees of the House  Madam Speaker, today at the Standing Committee on Industry and Technology, we welcomed Pierre Larouche, a world authority on competition law. He has been a professor at the Université de Montréal for seven years, but he had a long career in Europe and has trained other leading figures in competition law in Europe.

Committees of the House  Madam Speaker, would it be possible to ask members to be quiet?

Committees of the House  Madam Speaker, I thank you for your diligence. I also wish to inform you that I will be sharing my time with none other than the Voltaire of Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, if ever there were one, and possibly the only person in the House who is so bright that we have to wear shades. As we know, the NDP has been cozying up to the Liberals for the past two years.

Pharmacare Act  Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his fascinating speech. Obviously, health care is an exclusive provincial jurisdiction, but there is something called the fiscal imbalance. We know that the most important responsibilities of a welfare state are incumbent on the provinces but that the revenue largely goes to Ottawa.

Pharmacare Act  Madam Speaker, we all like the member for Winnipeg North, but there are times when we need a modicum of decorum. I think the word “crazy” that was shouted here in the House at the member for Abbotsford was inappropriate.

Pharmacare Act  Madam Speaker, the member for Winnipeg North is wrong when he talks about the national government, because Quebeckers' national government is in Quebec City. This is the federal government. We know that the reason the federal government is interfering in health is because of a loophole in the Constitution called the federal spending power.

Pharmacare Act  Madam Speaker, my best regards to the minister. I thank her for her very good question. I will use the same wording to answer. Does she not know that Quebec is asking for health transfers? Does she not know that Quebec needs unconditional transfers? Does she not know about the health care funding deficit?

Pharmacare Act  Madam Speaker, there are dissenting voices in every society. There are debates in every society. However, Quebec's voice is heard in the Quebec National Assembly, which is made up of 125 members who are elected by the people. My NDP colleague's leader had the nerve to send a letter to Quebec's health minister.

Pharmacare Act  Madam Speaker, that is an interesting question. One thing is for certain: If the federal government has money for the provinces to cover more drugs, then perhaps even more drugs could be covered if the money is sent to the provinces and they are given the right to opt out with full compensation so that they can expand programs with existing infrastructure.

Pharmacare Act  Madam Speaker, indeed, the absence of Liberal colleagues in the House should not be mentioned. We have tabled an amendment—

Pharmacare Act  Madam Speaker, that adds a bit of spice to our evening, obviously. As I was saying, we asked for the right to opt out with full financial compensation. That should have been granted, in the interests of patients, those who are ill and workers. However, it was denied by the Speaker on the pretext that it requires royal recommendation, when the only thing Quebec wants is to have its share of the funds that are already allocated within this bill.

Pharmacare Act  Madam Speaker, I would like to commend the members who may have the courage to sit late with us this evening. Today we are debating Bill C‑64 to supposedly institute a national pharmacare program. I say supposedly because that is not what the bill does. Let us speak the truth. It is a bill mainly designed to playing politics, to the benefit of who knows who because by all accounts, the NDP is dropping in the polls.

Pharmacare Act  Madam Speaker, we have a problem here in Ottawa. Governments, particularly Liberal governments, think they know more than the provinces in fields where they are completely incompetent. However, the NDP is breaking records. It is even worse. Not so long ago, the leader of the NPD wrote to Quebec's health minister asking for a meeting so he could teach him about the benefits of a pharmacare system.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, this is part of the nonsense that the leader of the official opposition told us today. He told us that if we were against the oil industry and against the development of the domestic oil industry, we were for foreign regimes, including Saudi Arabia, a socialist country.