I just want to mention a few things.
Mr. Clark also resigned, so we have three resignations from the PMPRB. It's immaterial whether he disclosed the letter in public or not.
There have been three high-profile resignations from the PMPRB, and the letters that have been sent out show that there are some issues we need to look at. I think trying to find out why the executive director of the PMPRB resigned in this context is relevant.
Second, we are not here to determine the merits of the substance of the PMPRB reforms. That's what Mr. Clark came to testify on before. That's not what we're looking into in this matter here; we're looking into the matters of the functioning of the board and potential issues of propriety.
My final point is this: The reason we almost have to have him is that he is referenced in Madam Bourassa Forcier's resignation letter twice.
I'm sorry; I just lost the quotes, but she makes specific reference to Mr. Douglas Clark, so it would be fundamentally unfair to hear from Mélanie Bourassa Forcier as she puts into evidence comments on Mr. Clark without Mr. Clark being here to hear that and respond.
I'll read you excerpts from her letter: “Following these two letters, I asked the executive director, who recently resigned from this position, if we had taken the time to meet with these stakeholders to understand their concerns in relation to the proposed guidelines, concerns that had not been brought to my attention as interim president. I therefore believed wrongly that our proposed guidelines posed no real problem. I then understood from the response of the executive director that he had met representatives of certain pharmaceutical companies and that he had never had any discussions with Health Canada in relation to the proposed guidelines.”
The very subject matter before us, which is going to be how the decision came to be—and it had to do with whether pharmaceutical industry pressure did or did not play a role—involves the executive director, who is intimately involved in the discussions with the board members, and Madam Bourassa Forcier herself refers to these in her resignation letter. Not only is he an appropriate witness; he's an essential witness.