There are two parts there. First, this does not create a new role for Canada's drug agency in the realm of price negotiations. I want to be very clear about that.
The bill sets up a future conversation about the future of pharmacare. Now, as part of that, the bill sets out that the minister may request advice from Canada's drug agency on two elements to develop expert advice to support that conversation.
One of those two pieces is to guide the development of advice on where Canada might go in terms of realizing improvements in its price negotiation strategy today. The reason for that is that previous advice by expert panels—I'm referring specifically to Hoskins—on how pharmacare might work have always pointed to the savings that would be realized from coordinated, negotiated drug acquisition. That's the element that Bill C-64 refers to: the development of the advice or further understanding about how and where that might work. It is not intended to be a reference to the existing activities of the pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance at all.