Madam Chair, distinguished members of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Claude Gagnon, pharmacist, and I'm president of the Ordre des pharmaciens. Ms. Manon Lambert is the director general and secretary of the association.
We wish to thank the members of the Standing Committee on Health for giving us this opportunity to share some of our thoughts on the subject of post-market surveillance.
The mission of the Ordre des pharmaciens du Québec is to protect the public by ensuring the quality of pharmaceutical care and services provided to the public, and by promoting the appropriate use of medication in society. In order to fulfil its mandate of protecting the public and thus fulfil its mission, the Ordre des pharmaciens du Québec delivers licences to practice, guides pharmacists in the exercise of their duties, ensures that the competence of its members is maintained and evaluated, receives complaints from the public and deals with them, controls the illegal exercise of the profession and intervenes publicly on issues related to the use of medication.
The Ordre des pharmaciens du Québec has almost 7,000 members who practice in various work environments, but mainly in the private sector—community pharmacies—and in health care institutions.
As is true of many federal organizations, including Health Canada, the reason for the existence of the Ordre des pharmaciens du Québec is first and foremost the protection of the public.