Thank you, Mr. Chair.
This may be an opportunity for the parliamentary secretary to help me understand this a little bit better. I heard good intent, and now I'm hearing a concern, so I'm actually a little confused on this and sort of struggling a bit to understand it.
It seems to me that the intent of the original motion was to put the onus on the government to reach an agreement. It seems that the shift in the actual amendment is to take the onus off the government to reach an agreement and to put it on both parties.
I'm predisposed to saying that in an agreement, both parties should be involved. That is to the benefit of the people of Canada, who are footing the tax bill. It's also of benefit to the pharmacists to be involved in that negotiation so that the power doesn't shift.
I'm going to ask the Bloc member to comment on that as well.
It seems to me that the pharmacists would want to be involved in that negotiation so that it's more like mediation and consultation as opposed to becoming almost like arbitration, when we end up getting to tell the government to do this.
I'm happy to tell the government to do many things. I'm predisposed to telling them, but I'm more predisposed to conversation.
As I said when we saw the witnesses here, my concern is not for the pharmacists, and it's frankly not for the CIC. My concern is for the refugees who need to get drugs and for the people of Quebec who need to make sure that people with infectious diseases are actually being treated in a timely manner. If we don't have an infectious disease treated because someone can't get the drugs, because the person can't pay for them, that's a concern to me for public health reasons.
I want this agreement to be reached quickly. I like the intent of the original motion, but I'm also liking the intent of the government's amendment, which looks like it's attempting to bring parties together to the table so that something is not imposed.
I need to confirm that this indeed is the real intent of the government member's motion.
I also need to know if I'm missing something from the original proposer.