Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I'm going to go back to the suggestion made earlier about the Institute for Safe Medication Practices Canada.
Later, I'm going to make a motion, and I hope it will be passed by unanimous consent. I don't want to filibuster. Nor did I want to do so last Tuesday, when witnesses were participating in our meeting. However, I think it's important to have this information.
Moreover, as the Standing Committee on Health, we have to be able to get this kind of information. It's important. We have a responsibility in this regard.
My introduction to this bill is to start by thanking Mr. Calkins, whom I often have differences with, but who has done Canadians a real service by presenting this bill, which we voted for at second reading to bring to committee.
I hope I don't embarrass him by saying this, but it was one of the strongest presentations I've seen by a member of Parliament defending his or her bill before this committee. I thought he was very well prepared and very effective in answering the questions.
We take the bill very seriously. We will be going into clause-by-clause study shortly. I believe the roll of witnesses who appeared did a very effective job of presenting the importance of the bill and some areas where it could be improved. It is always our responsibility as legislators to take a good bill and make it better.
In this case, we're talking about an industry that has so much importance across the country and helps and provides for the health of Canadians. As I mentioned—Mr. Calkins has as well—we're consumers of natural health products. They are a way of getting us into better health. It is important that we take this bill very seriously. I know all members have done so.
I have been reviewing the transcripts and the witnesses, and it is very clear to me that the industry has the highest possible standards and does an effective job of meeting its obligations to Canadians, but I'm also aware that there are some bad apples. We've seen a handful of cases of companies that haven't reacted effectively to voluntary recalls.
There are two amendments I'll be offering today for the committee to consider. One is to retain the ability to have mandatory recall in those rare cases. It's an extremely effective industry with high safety standards, and the best way to maintain that is to ensure that the occasional bad apple can be dealt with appropriately.
We also need to address the issue of penalties that are incredibly high and absolutely disjointed and irresponsible, given the importance of the natural health product sector and the fact that many of them are small businesses.
Those are the amendments I will be offering today when we get to clause-by-clause consideration.
I note that we've already lost the first hour of our committee, so we have only a little over 45 minutes left. I hope we can get to clause-by-clause consideration. We don't have a lot of amendments, but I'm sure our witnesses will receive a lot of questions.
I want to thank Mr. Calkins for bringing this bill forward and doing it in such an effective way. The bill will pass, either today or when we consider it, but not without some improvements. There is no doubt that the leadership he has shown on this bill will mean that ultimately the bill will be adopted by this committee. I certainly hope that is the case.
I'm going to raise, as I mentioned earlier, the following motion for unanimous consent. I hope we adopt it, rather than spending any more time on a filibuster.
I move:
That the Institute for Safe Medication Practices Canada provide the list of 700 incident adverse reactions, the date of incident, product and outcome to the Standing Committee on Health within 30 days.