Okay. I will slow down a bit then.
Let's just drill into those numbers—the 10% to 20%. We know that they are not poor, to use very blunt, direct English, and we know that they are not old, i.e., over 65—nobody should be offended; I'm not and I'm over 65. We know that because they would be covered under existing provincial programs, and they are not covered, so there's a gap. There's no denial that there's a gap.
This segment probably works for small firms that cannot afford group health care benefits, or they are self-employed, or they are in the gig economy—the millennials—but the key point is that they are a subset of the entire population and not the total population. Restated, this is a problem that affects a small number of Canadians, 10% to 20%, and this suggests a targeted solution, not a universal solution that will cost $20 billion a year.
Very quickly—and then I'll be wrapping up—what's wrong with a universal solution? Everything. It involves providing free prescription drugs to very high-income people in Canada, such as.... How about all the MPs in this room? Each one of you is in the top quintile. Before you think I'm picking on you, let's go to the next category: professors. We are very well paid, and we are overwhelmingly in the top quintile. Then there are public servants, especially senior public servants earning $200,000 to $400,000 a year—and we want to give them free drugs. How about superior court judges in Canada earning in the top quintile of $300,000 a year? The most egregious of all are medical doctors making half a million to a million dollars a year—and we want to give them free drugs.
Every millennial should be furious and ready to riot on this.
The PBO estimates that a universal pharmacare program will cost about $20 billion a year more or, as Kevin Page noted, a 2% increase in the GST.
How can anyone support the exploitation of low-income and modest-income citizens who will be paying the increased taxes to fund free drugs for the most privileged members of society: MPs, professors, public servants, judges and doctors?
In conclusion, there is strong support in public opinion polls for a pharma plan that targets those most in need. However, in my opinion, there is not majority support for a universal pharmacare program that involves providing free drugs to professors, MPs, MDs, judges and public servants.
Instead of exploiting low-income and modest-income people to provide free prescription drugs to high-income people, we must maintain and refine a targeted pharmacare program that will provide assistance only to those who need help: low-income and modest-income people.
The late Justice Brandeis of the U.S. Supreme Court famously said that sunshine is the most powerful disinfectant of all. This is because most Canadians are unaware that the most privileged and the most highly paid in all of Canada are the largest beneficiaries of a national universal pharmacare program.
Thank you.