Evidence of meeting #42 for Finance in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was provinces.
Director, Public Health Policy and Government Relations, Merck Frosst Canada Inc.
We can try to see how much leeway we have from the standpoint of public immunization programs.
Conservative
Director, Public Health Policy and Government Relations, Merck Frosst Canada Inc.
You were wondering about the price?
October 25th, 2006 / 9:50 a.m.
Conservative
Luc Harvey Conservative Louis-Hébert, QC
No, but I wanted to know. I did not know how much this represented.
Mr. Blouin, earlier you were talking about international standards for immunization. What is the standard? How do we rank according to that standard?
Director, Public Health Policy and Government Relations, Merck Frosst Canada Inc.
That's a very good question.
As a matter of fact, before the National Immunization Strategy was established, Canada looked pretty bad, quite frankly. If you look at the situation in terms of the geographic regions of Canada it was a patchwork.
The rich provinces had immunization programs. Alberta generally launched a program very soon after the introduction of a new vaccine. And in the rest of Canada, if there was a crisis or an epidemic, if the Journal de Québec was reporting the eight death, then a meningitis program might be implemented.
Director, Public Health Policy and Government Relations, Merck Frosst Canada Inc.
In fact, when a new vaccine is available, it's a very effective public health measure, and most industrialized countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, most of the countries of Europe as well as Australia, adopt national immunization strategies.
Health care is an area of provincial jurisdiction, except that when it comes to public health, viruses don't know borders and they spread from one province to another. So if there is one subject in Canadian health care on which the provinces agree perfectly, it's the importance of having an immunization program. We saw it in the case of the SARS crisis, severe acute respiratory syndrome, for example.
Conservative
Luc Harvey Conservative Louis-Hébert, QC
Let me put my question another way.
In order for a vaccine to be effective, what percentage of the population must be immunized?
Director, Public Health Policy and Government Relations, Merck Frosst Canada Inc.
For the population to be immunized? The vaccine must be given to at least 85 to 90% of the citizens. Otherwise, we see cases such as in the U.K., where at one point they stopped vaccinating against measles. There was an increase in infections and many deaths. That was just a few years ago.
Conservative
Luc Harvey Conservative Louis-Hébert, QC
All right.
With regard to film-making, we're told that Quebec and Canadian cinema is very, very popular. And yet we're told there's a lack of money. How much more money is needed?
We were giving $20 million. How much money did Quebec get?
Vice-President, Union des artistes
Quebec added $10 million. If the budget was increased by 50%, we could cope better with the many applications we receive.
In Quebec, Quebec cinema is extremely popular with the public.
Conservative
Vice-President, Union des artistes
Therefore, in 2005, 20% of audience members went to see Quebec and Canadian films. So there's extraordinary vitality there, and Telefilm Canada's budget does not allow it to follow suit. We're not asking to be able to follow this vitality totally, but we are asking to be able to do so in part at least.
Conservative
Luc Harvey Conservative Louis-Hébert, QC
I have a supplementary question on that subject. It used to be that $20 million was an acceptable amount. However, suddenly, there are more producers, more movies, and therefore the budget should be increased because people have decided to make more movies.
Vice-President, Union des artistes
Yes. It's a sign of vitality, that is, there are more and more artists...
Conservative
Luc Harvey Conservative Louis-Hébert, QC
If that's the case, they should be able to find the money themselves.
Vice-President, Union des artistes
Art in general is often not a lucrative business.
Take for example Robert Lepage. You cannot say that he is a bit player; he has an international reputation. But without grants, Robert Lepage could not produce movies or plays. He could not do anything. We must invest in the arts. It is not economically profitable, but it is profitable in many other ways. So yes, there is enthusiasm for our movies and for the quality of our films. But it's just like in hockey, of course: when Canada has several good players who are at the top of their game, younger peoples want to follow suit. So the current situation is motivating our young artists to get into the movie business. That's a very good sign.
NDP
Judy Wasylycia-Leis NDP Winnipeg North, MB
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you to all the witnesses for their very important briefs.
My first question is for Mr. Blouin, because I have a problem with Merck Frosst's recommendations. The federal government is claiming that the company owes $2 billion in unpaid taxes because it took advantage of a tax haven abroad. This is an unbelievable amount of money, if you consider the needs of women, children, artists and others.
How can you justify what you're asking for today? Have you made a request of the federal government with regard to the $2 billion?
Director, Public Health Policy and Government Relations, Merck Frosst Canada Inc.
I would be pleased to answer that question. First, we have to be clear and not confuse the two issues. The recommendations and requests we made will ensure that Canadians have access to vaccines to protect their health.
Our first request was precisely that the government reconsider its funding for the National Immunization Strategy. Second, we pointed to the importance of adding new funding for new vaccines. When you were in Halifax yesterday, one woman died. The previous day, when you were in Newfoundland, another woman died, and another woman will die today of cervical cancer. So what we were asking for was simply to ensure that the health of Canadians be protected.
NDP
Judy Wasylycia-Leis NDP Winnipeg North, MB
Yes, but could it not be possible for huge corporations like Merck Frosst to spend much more on immunization programs? Why don't you give part of the immense profits you make to Canadians or even to other countries?
My next question is for Mr. Gilles Gagnon. In fact, it's the same question. You have received a huge gift from the federal government, which is protection of data for innovative research for a period of eight years. This is a gift for you because your companies are realizing huge profits. This might create hardship for families and for donors, and the measure would increase your profits even more, while Canadians would be deprived of about $6 million. You are also asking for changes to tax rates.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Aeterna Zentaris Inc., Canada's Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (Rx&D)
In fact, the issue of data protection is the first stage we need to pass to become globally competitive and to attract investment. As for profits, in the field of biopharmaceuticals, I am only experiencing losses; I am not making any profits. I am referring to my own company. So this was the very least that had to be done, namely to protect data for a period of at least eight years. I can tell you that in Europe and in Japan, the data protection period is of ten years. So we are just beginning to keep pace with international competition.
NDP
Judy Wasylycia-Leis NDP Winnipeg North, MB
Yesterday, in Halifax, representatives from the university said very clearly—everyone has a say in the matter—that the pharmaceutical companies' research is not very robust. At lot of statistics indicate that companies making brand name products are not putting any of their profits back into research as far as new drugs are concerned. Often research is done at the level of me-too drugs. There's a lot of evergreening that is done and changes of that nature, but no new pharmaceutical products.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Aeterna Zentaris Inc., Canada's Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (Rx&D)
The member companies of Rx&D invest $1.1 billion per year in innovative research in Canada.
When we talk about me-too drugs, you are talking about generic products. I do not believe that a discovery like insulin would be part of that group.
