My question was what your opinion is. Do you agree?
There are different ideas, and I'll turn to another idea. Your colleague the finance minister, Mr. Morneau, less than 24 hours after announcing the federal advisory council on pharmacare rushed to clarify that he isn't looking at implementing a universal pharmacare plan, but rather a “fill-the-gap” strategy. By the way, that is exactly the strategy this committee recommended not to pursue.
Here is what he said:
So you said “a national pharmacare strategy”, not a national pharmacare plan. Those are two very different things. We recognize that we need a strategy to deal with the fact that not everyone has access, and we need to do it in a way that's responsible, that deals with the gaps, but doesn't throw out the system that we currently have.
My question, Minister, is this. One of your colleagues very clearly is rejecting a single-payer universal system in favour of one that is gap-filling. I'm curious. As health minister, shouldn't you have a position on this? Shouldn't you be telling Canadians what your view is, what you're fighting for at the cabinet table?