Thank you, Ms. Yeates.
I want to ask you one question, and it is specifically with regard to access to drugs. By access I mean the ability for Canadians, when they're chronically ill or terminally ill, to afford outside of a hospital setting the drugs they need to keep them healthy.
The 2004 health accord clearly talked about not only bulk buying, but also about working to “develop, assess and cost options for catastrophic pharmaceutical coverage”—I think that was one of the first things—and “establish a common national drug formulary for participating jurisdictions based on safety and cost effectiveness” and to “strengthen evaluation of real-world drug safety and effectiveness”.
None of this has happened. It was supposed to have been done. It was agreed upon. The minister said she was at the table and nobody agreed. It was agreed. It was signed in the accord that these things would happen and to report back by March 2006.
Can you give me some reason why this never occurred, especially when money had been put in specifically for it to happen?