Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses.
Dr. Filejski, in my former life I was a dairy farmer for 40 years, so I've worked extensively with products. I was pleased that you said in your opening comments, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” I think that's a good approach. I think we've come a long way as producers in preventing illnesses and using biosecurity to protect the economic viability of our operations and prevent disease.
I met with veterinarian clinics in my riding. They expressed a lot of frustration with the availability of certain pharmaceutical products. You did in your opening statement as well. I'll just give you an example, so that people can see what the problem is. They talked about what I'm going to call DES. It's a medication used to treat urinary incontinence in spayed dogs and cats. There is an alternative medicine in Canada, but it's very expensive and has to be used more periodically. In this particular situation, the cost has been a considerable financial burden on pet owners.
I wrote a letter to Health Canada and the Minister of Health, outlining the situation and the problems with the availability of certain drugs.
Is Canada going far enough? Have we made the right move? I know we're now starting to streamline approvals through trusted foreign agencies or bodies. Can you elaborate on that for me, please?