Thank you very much to the witnesses who came today. There's been a lot of interest in this bill, so we're glad to hear you today. Unfortunately, there are a lot of other witnesses who also wanted to be heard, but we're rushing through at this point, so this is the last day of witnesses. As you probably know, we'll be going directly through to clause by clause on the bill when we've finished hearing the witnesses today.
I have just a couple of questions I'd like to put to all of you. In terms of overall drug safety, one of the issues we heard in a previous study of this committee when we were looking at the misuse or abuse of prescription drugs was the whole issue of marketing and the practice of providing samples to physicians, advertising in journals, and so on.
This is directed to Mr. Robinson, but others can respond to it too. What is your view of the legislation we've seen in the U.S., generally referred to as the “sunshine legislation”, that puts very strict parameters on the kinds of practices that can take place in terms of marketing, particularly with samples. In fact, as I understand it, the legislation in the U.S. requires full disclosure; there's a registry of what is provided to physicians. This is done in order to ensure there's a degree of transparency so that it's very clear what's being passed through. I think it's an attempt to ensure there isn't misinformation directed to prescribers.
I just wonder if you could comment on how the industry views that kind of legislation. We don't have it here in Canada, but because we are talking about drug safety, is this something we should be contemplating in this country?