Thank you very much, Chairperson.
To the minister, thank you for coming today and for your presentation. You've presented some information, but I have to say from hearing you and reading through your brief, I think there are several major issues facing our health care system that are not being addressed by the federal government. I'd like to focus on that by asking you some questions.
You've spoken a little about one of the issues, which is the shortage of drugs. I noted in the House today that you said you're very happy there's now a plan; you asked these drug companies to come up with something. I would point out that this was all done behind closed doors.
We wanted to study this at the health committee. There's been no discussion here. There's been no public disclosure. I think it's very obvious that a pledge to post information is just that: it's just providing information. It doesn't actually resolve the problem of the drug shortages themselves. As I'm sure you're aware, a number of medical journals, academics, and health professionals seriously question why these shortages exist. It's very interesting that the shortages seem to be mostly among the older generic drugs—some of which have been around for 50 years—forcing people to pay more.
I'm very perplexed that your government's response, your response, to this is basically to say, well, post the information. That's not resolving the question, Minister. We'd like to know what you intend to do to ensure that these shortages, which put people in jeopardy, don't continue to exist. I think this is very much related to the whole question of affordable drugs and accessibility.
As you know, in the 2004 health accord, a commitment was made for a universal prescription drug coverage plan. We can go as far back as 1964 to 1997 to 2002—the Romanow commission, the 2004 accord—and when we look at the reality of what's going on, we can see again that the federal government has taken no action in addressing this critical issue.
So these two things are related. I find it very problematic that we've seen nothing from you or the government to address what is now the biggest cost in our health care system, and that's the cost of prescription drugs, and now we've got shortages as well.
I'd like you to respond to that and say why nothing has been done and what is intended to be done, to address these two issues.