Thank you very much, Chairperson. Maybe you could give me a heads up when I have about three minutes left.
First of all, thank you, Minister Ambrose, for appearing before the committee today, your first appearance as health minister. Welcome. It's a pleasure to see you.
I listened very carefully to your presentation and noted that an issue you actually didn't address, which I think is a very serious concern for Canadians, is the question of drug safety. In actual fact, Health Canada doesn't have the power to recall prescription medications. To us, that's another example on a long list of drug safety issues that have plagued your department for years. You're obviously a newcomer to it, but this is definitely not a new issue.
We've had numerous Health Canada warnings about safety and effectiveness for birth control, antibiotic, and blood pressure medications, but the concern is that there isn't actually a recall provision that exists. In addition, Health Canada doesn't follow up on adverse drug reaction reports, even when they're filed by family members when people feel that someone has died or have had a terrible reaction to a drug. There's been a lot of coverage about this issue. Some of the media have done extensive research on it, and it certainly does seem to be a major shortcoming.
My question, therefore, is when will Health Canada upgrade its drug safety protocols to ensure that medications Canadians are taking are safe, and that unsafe medications can be removed from the market immediately?
I do have one other question for you as well.