Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I note that Conservatives have squandered our time today. We have been here for over four hours now, voting on three amendments. I really regret that. This is one of the most important bills ever to come before the health committee, certainly since universal health care was adopted in the 1960s because of Tommy Douglas and the work of the NDP in a minority Parliament. I am very saddened that Conservatives have squandered four hours of committee time, at the cost of thousands of dollars, to consider three amendments that don't seem to have been made in good faith, either.
If we're talking about patient safety, I'm almost tempted to ask our witnesses about the number of Canadians who die every year because they can't afford to pay for the medication their doctors prescribe. It would be a rhetorical question. The Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions and Linda Silas already spoke on that. Six hundred Canadians die every single year because they can't afford to pay for their medication. Their doctors, in good faith, prescribe the medication. The patient leaves the doctor's office and can't afford to pay for it. Every two days, on average, we lose three Canadians because of that.
The pharmacare bill meets, at least to start—as a first phase—that important need. When it comes to diabetes medication, it will save a couple of hundred lives every year. As it moves in phase two to heart medication and other types of medication, we'll talk about many more lives being saved.
Through you, Mr. Chair, I would call on my Conservative colleagues to stop blocking the legislation, stop filibustering tonight and stop raising points that can be readily answered just by reading the legislation and by understanding the dynamic that kills 600 Canadians a year because we don't have universal pharmacare in place. That's why it's so important to get through this legislation tonight.
Fortunately, the House of Commons had the presence of mind to think ahead. They thought the Conservatives would filibuster, as they have. That's why we will be able to complete the clause-by-clause consideration tonight. It's because of the House of Commons voting to say, to this committee, “You have to keep sitting until all the amendments are passed.” I would have preferred that the Conservatives allowed debate on the amendments, rather than filibustering each one. That would have allowed us to move through. We would be in the process of looking at the final few amendments at this point. That's not what happened tonight, and I regret that.
This is too important for Conservatives to filibuster and block. I know the member for Carleton hates the idea that Canadians will be helped, but they will be helped because I think a majority of members around this committee table believe profoundly in stopping that horrible death rate of 600 Canadians a year.