Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I'm going to start by reminding members of the committee that I had the great honour of serving at the provincial level in Ontario for 11 years. I was part of the government that actually brought in OHIP+, and I was quite involved in the creation and development of that program.
I can tell you—forget it from the government side—just from the perspective of a member of provincial Parliament and in talking to countless constituents of mine, I know that young people, parents of young people, were able to benefit from OHIP+, because all of a sudden they were able to get access to life-saving medications without any cost through just using their OHIP card. It was a game-changer in terms of providing the kind of support needed by people, especially for young people. Anybody who's a parent in this room or listening knows that there's nothing more important to a parent than making sure of the well-being of their children.
I met so many constituents of mine, so, with all due respect to Mr. Kitchen, I can share with you my personal experience being a member of the provincial Parliament at that time in Ontario in terms of the impact it made—and the lack of it once Doug Ford's government took away that option, that choice, and the suffering lots of people faced.
I'll go to Ms. Silas. It's good to see you again. Thank you for your hard work and advocacy.
“Choice” is coming up here often, and that somehow this legislation is going to undermine choice and take it away. I see it as the opposite. I see it as actually creating choice, creating more options for people who don't have pharmacare or who are uninsured or under-insured.
Can you, from your perspective and all the work and research that your organization has done, tell us what your thoughts are on choice and what this bill does in terms of the choices available to Canadians when it comes to access to life-saving medications? In this case, start with diabetes and contraceptives.