Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Earlier, my colleague Dr. Powlowski talked a little bit about drug prices. I've been talking to people in the industry recently, including drug distributors. They have told me that Canadian drug pricing regulations may be one of the causes of shortages, particularly because drug inventories are kept low.
If I am not mistaken, there has been deflation in the cost price of drugs in recent years, that is to say that prices have fallen. In the middle of the supply chain are the distributors. Essentially, they resell the drugs at the price they paid for them, but they are paid a fixed proportion of the price.
We have been aware for several years that stocks are getting lower and lower. Therefore, if there is ever an outbreak of respiratory viruses and demand peaks and there is a panic, such as that created by poor communication from the Government of Canada, we are going to find ourselves in a situation where stocks will drop rapidly and we will have fewer drugs.
In this whole issue, what is the responsibility of Canada's drug price regulatory system, particularly with respect to inventory?