Thank you very much, Chair.
Again, the arbiter of this committee has intervened, sadly, to want to give his opinion on how committees should run. This motion has been duly tabled before this committee. It was available for everyone to see, and it's an important motion. I would hope that my honourable NDP colleague would support the motion to defeat the Liberal government's, sponsored by his NDP colleagues, attempt to make changes to decimate an industry and remove freedom of choice from Canadians. That would be important.
Returning to the matter at hand, we have spoken to many stakeholders, as I hope that many of my colleagues across the floor have as well, to understand that the almost incalculable regulations that have been put forward by Health Canada make it difficult to understand exactly how much these regulations are going to mean to Canadian manufacturers and distributors of natural health products. However, we do know very clearly that, when attempting to give these estimates, many businesses could see losses in revenue of hundreds of thousands of dollars. This is what leads very clearly to the significant belief that many Canadian businesses would actually go out of business. The industry would estimate that one in five businesses in Canada would go out of business related to these unfair and overburdensome regulatory changes.
When we look at that, we begin to understand that there is good information available out there. Couple that with the need for Canadians to have freedom of choice and the ability to say that this is how they wish to manage their own health. Are Canadians going to make mistakes with respect to that? That is absolutely possible, but we cannot protect every citizen from every eventuality. That is not a style of government that any of us wishes to participate in.
We have governments that absolutely control every movement and every thought that you have—now, that is not a country that I would like to live in—or a government that attempts to meet every anticipated need that one could have in their life.
Therefore, in an industry such as the natural health products industry, which is underscored by the fact that people want to manage their own health—and have the ability to do so—I would suggest that the regulatory changes we see coming forward would be untenable, not just from a fiscal perspective but from a freedom perspective.
The other thing I would like to bring forward is that, when we had the panel from Health Canada here, and even in their follow-up information, which was provided to us in written format, they continued to talk about some 700 people who may have been harmed in some way by natural health products.
Chair, I would suggest that at some point, it would be quite fascinating if this committee sat together to attempt to access this database. There are no other words for it, but it's inaccessible and quite ridiculous in how it is framed. That then allows this Liberal government and Health Canada bureaucrats to be able to sit behind their numbers and say, “This actually does exist. There are 700 people, some of whom may have been harmed and may have been hospitalized.” When you don't have a database that is clear and searchable and would stand as a reference to say this is exactly where these numbers came from, that is not a helpful reference. Indeed, I would say it is a useless reference.
Certainly when you look at the experience that we have on our team, not just with our members of Parliament but with our staff, and still are unable to make any sense out of the main reference used to support these regulatory changes, I would say that it is nothing but a sham and a sleight of hand.
To underscore this, Chair—and I know committee members know this—I was a family doctor for 26 years. I wrote a lot of prescriptions, and I believe in the science that exists. It has helped people to live longer and suffer less. However, we know very clearly from a good reference that every year in this country, 50,000 seniors are hospitalized—not just harmed but hospitalized—by the use of prescription medications. Does that mean we should decimate that industry, that we should make it almost impossible, that we should add useless labels to people's pill bottles, that we should say people don't have the freedom to make their own choices with all of the same regulations and adding to them, even though they have perhaps stricter regulations than those on natural health products at the current time? Because that many more people just in the seniors group are hospitalized by prescription drugs, does that mean we can expect an assault on prescription drugs as well?
We know very clearly that prescription medications and over-the-counter medications have potential and serious side effects, but we also know there are benefits. Therefore, when we allow Canadians to have this freedom of choice in a sector, as I said previously, which would be the envy of the rest of the world, and we know clearly that is a desire Canadians have, and we have a shady database on which the decision-making was based, and we know this certainly is something that will decimate an industry, and we know very clearly that the industry is not in favour of said changes, then, Chair, I do believe we need to speak up loudly and vociferously on behalf of Canadians. We need to let them know clearly that Conservatives wish them to continue to have their freedom of choice and that we wish to fight the regulations proposed on their behalf. We wish to fight those regulations proposed by the Minister of Health and Health Canada.
That is the reason, Chair, we have moved this motion. I realize there are folks here to testify on this topic. I want to be respectful of that.
The other part of it though is, as my colleague has been wont to bring forward many times, this committee is the master of its own destiny. Therefore, if we wish to have further meetings on this topic and have more stakeholders present and more witnesses present, including members of the public, then we are certainly able to do this.
I would suggest, given this incredible stack of papers that everyone in this committee has received, adding more meetings to the study of the natural health products sector and the proposed draconian regulatory changes by Health Canada and by the Liberal government, supported by the NDP, would not be such a bad idea.
Chair, I shall leave it at that.
Thank you.