That's a good question. Thank you, Mr. Julian, for your question. You're exactly right.
Here's how it played out: Bill C-51 was brought forward. I don't think the industry responded well to Bill C-51 back when that happened. The right thing to do when Parliament or a government in the House of Commons makes a mistake is to step back, ask “What have we done?”, and then consult with the industry, consult with stakeholders, and consult with people who are going to be affected by this.
Mr. Julian, if the claim that 80% of Canadians.... You asked me during the debate on Bill C-368 whether I take these products. You and I are part of the 80% of Canadians who take them. As a matter of fact, you and I both take magnesium, which is very understandable, considering the lifestyles and the work demands that we have.
That's how you do it. You do it by engaging. What's missing in this particular case is that the government did make a misstep with Bill C-47. The misstep is that it didn't consult with the industry and that it was tucked into a budget implementation act. It passed basically with no discussion. I don't recall anybody in the debate on Bill C-47 even raising the issue, because it was just four little lines in this great big omnibus piece of legislation, until people figured out what was actually going on with the implementation of the self-care framework. Then the industry came forward and asked the government, similar to what it did with Bill C-51 and Bill C-17, to take a step back and to consult the industry before moving forward. That's how you do things in a constructive way.
What I've seen happen here is that the government has not only dug in on Bill C-47 but has also doubled down on it in Bill C-69, the next budget implementation act, giving the power to Health Canada and to the minister to make immense changes to the industry.
To my knowledge, to this day the industry has not been consulted by the minister, who's been responsible for making those last two changes.
How can you build goodwill and get to a place where everybody is happy, where Canadian consumers are happy, where the industry is happy and where the government can provide adequate oversight? Nobody's arguing that there should be no oversight. We're simply saying, the industry is saying and Canadians are saying that there was not a really big problem with the way things were, and if there are a few small flies, we don't need to swat them with a sledgehammer. That seems to be what's happening.
My recommendations would be to pass Bill C-368 and take it back, and then, if the government does have some legitimate problems, start all over again. Start working with the industry on a broader level. Do consultations before making this kind of a misstep again, because we've riled up thousands—millions—of Canadians with this, as has been evidenced by the cards we've received, and rightly so, Mr. Julian.
Our job, as members of Parliament, is to work on behalf of Canadians, not to work on behalf of the government.