International Trade committee  Mr. Chair, I'm not sure I accept the premise of that question. The analysis I've seen indicates that the impact on our GDP and economy would actually be very minimal if the TPP were not signed.

International Trade committee  I see that the consensus among the provincial premiers is growing to move towards a national pharmacare program. There are more premiers who are supportive now. I realize it's not an easy thing in Canada to achieve major steps forward in federal-provincial-territorial negotiations, but I think if there were serious leadership on the part of the federal government—

International Trade committee  Because the provincial governments pay the cost and the federal government controls—

International Trade committee  —the introductory drug pricing and much of the regulation regarding drugs, it makes sense. I'm reminded of Ralph Klein saying that the federal government should take the whole responsibility since it sets the prices and the regulatory framework. It was astonishing but very true what he said about the federal government needing to take the leadership on that—

International Trade committee  The problem is that, if the deal were to be ratified, chapters 9 and 28 come into effect. Under chapter 9, the cross-reference is also the WTO's TRIPS Agreements, so it's sort of WTO plus. That means that drug companies would be able to sue for cash settlements on creation, limitation, or revocation of intellectual property rights.

International Trade committee  A couple of thoughts come to mind. One is that when the patent extension was granted to the pharmaceutical industry, there was a promise for increased investment in research and development in Canada, and those promises were never upheld by the industry, so they never actually did make the investments that were promised in the initial extension of patent term protection.

International Trade committee  Absolutely not. I think the question that needs to be answered by our government is why would Canadian residents be paying more in taxes for drug company profits? Why do we need to do that?

International Trade committee  I think it would become much more difficult to do so because of the curtailed ability of the federal government to set regulations. Even pricing would be impacted. Outside of those provisions, the other TPP countries would have a say in our regulatory regime, in general. All parts of regulation and the creation of a potential new pharmacare program would be impacted by this deal.

International Trade committee  The main issues with the TPP are the limitations in chapters 8 and 25 on the ability of the Canadian government to intervene to set regulations controlling the price of drugs; the ability for investors to sue the federal government more widely; the failure to exempt health care clearly; and the intellectual property provisions.

International Trade committee  Thank you to the committee for the opportunity to speak with you today. The Ontario Health Coalition is a network of organizations and individuals dedicated to protecting single-tier public health care in Ontario. We represent more than 70 local health coalitions, more than 400 member organizations, and more than half a million individuals.