Thanks very much, Chair.
I find it fascinating that we have an incompetent Minister of Health, who allowed a new nicotine-containing product to be licensed for sale in this country and now we have three out of four “activist” witnesses, I'll call them, who are clearly not concerned about a $13-billion industry that's being dismantled by the incompetent minister, but only about their niche idea. Again, if they were involved in the early decision-making, shame on them.
I also find it fascinating that Mr. Naqvi talks about nicotine pouches, but he thinks it's okay to give eight milligrams of Dilaudid to kids for free, sponsored by his government.
That being said, this does affect the definition of what a therapeutic product is, which then leads down the cascading road of Mr. Thuna—the only person here from the actual industry—whose business will be decimated by the over-regulation of an industry. We have heard multiple testimonies that say these products are overwhelmingly safe.
Again, I'll hearken back to Dr. Sharma's testimony many months ago, when the original legislation was introduced in an omnibus bill. She tried to tell this committee that these products were incredibly dangerous, and refused to provide any proof.
We heard other testimony the last time we were here about how terrible Deloitte was and how their report, which was commissioned by CHFA, could not even be trusted.
Here again, we have single-entity witnesses—one who's clearly partisan, having recently worked for a minister of the Liberal government—trying to get rid of this legislation. This is shameful.
That being said, Mr. Thuna, tell us a bit about the industry. It's a $13-billion industry. My understanding is that it's mostly small businesses like your own, and many of those small businesses are run by women as well. What will happen to all these businesses?