In the six years that I managed the Ontario drug benefit program, I heard every single argument that's been made around this table. These programs have been controversial for decades, and they will continue to be controversial. The fact that we have different ways of making decisions, different opinions, will always lead to a very lively debate on who's right and who's wrong.
I think what some of us are trying to suggest...and in fact at the provincial level I have to say that the provinces, in the drug review area, have been trying to work together for over a decade to streamline their processes so that they would match more closely. The common drug review was meant to be another step in that progress, if you will, and a first step towards even further consolidation of what we did.
Given that this is controversial and that it's very much open to conflict, we're suggesting greater transparency. What we're not suggesting is.... And I will give a personal opinion here. I don't see that having 12 committees versus one committee resolves conflict or makes it any easier; rather, one committee looking at what that committee does and trying to improve its processes would seem to me to be a better way to go. But I think the controversy will continue.