Sure. A great deal of the work is being done because of your leadership, Mr. Young, so thank you very much for your question.
As you know, we not only committed to introducing new patient safety legislation in our Speech from the Throne, we also did that recently with the introduction of Vanessa's law late last year. I just want to thank you for the great work you've done in leading the awareness around drug safety issues. You have obviously been a very powerful advocate on this.
But stories like your daughter's really do remind us all about the serious consequences that pharmaceutical drugs can have and the role that the regulator has to ensure—that's Health Canada's role and the role of government—that we have strongest possible safety systems in place to ensure that we're preventing other families and patients from going through an experience like your family's in suffering such a terrible loss.
Of course, Health Canada is responsible for reviewing all drugs for sale in Canada to ensure that they are safe and effective, but the powers included in Vanessa's law will ensure that we are able to take that to a new level. We must continue to remain vigilant, even after the law passes. Health care institutions, of course, are not currently required to report adverse drug reactions, as you noted for example, and there exists no authority to order label changes or packaging if we feel that additional information or studies are required around a particular safety issue we might find. And of course, as you know, Vanessa's law will address that.
Science and medicine have evolved considerably in the last 50 years, as we know, since the Food and Drugs Act was last updated. I believe Canada does lag behind our international regulatory counterparts, which have improved patient safety through their enhanced regulatory oversight of products on the market. But Vanessa's law will bring us in line with where we should be, and in fact it will take us even further. We are going to be introducing, through Vanessa's law, tough new fines for those who don't comply in addition with any of the measures that we're putting in place. The law allows for quite significant penalties, as you know, including jail time. Just to put it into perspective, a previous fine would be about $5,000 a day. As you can imagine, that's about the same as somebody could be fined for littering under some municipal bylaws. When Vanessa's law comes into force, we'll change that to $5 million a day. I think that sends a strong message to pharmaceutical companies about the need to work with us on safety.
Vanessa's law also speaks to the importance that we place on ensuring that Canadian patient safety remains paramount. As a government and as a regulator, I hope that all parties will support this bill. I was very pleased to see when you spoke in the House that you did receive the support of all parties. I know there has been an interest from members, including yourself, for potential amendments, and we're open to those, as I said. I look forward to seeing those amendments and working with members to strengthen the bill even further.