Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you to our Conservative colleagues for bringing the issue forward. It certainly is one of great interest to me. Going back in time, when I was in medical school—and this goes back to the seventies—the Connaught laboratories were such a pride for Canada. Their role in the production of so many products—insulin being the most well known probably, but also on the immunization front—was really critical in providing some very essential pharmaceutical products not only to Canadians, but globally as well.
I also remember in the eighties when I was doing my master's in public health, there was a great deal of conversation on the part of public health officials in terms of what was then the privatization move. In other words, it was selling what was then an organization within the Canada Development Corporation to be transferred to private ownership. Certainly, public health officials at the time were extremely distressed by this particular move.
What I'm getting at is that this issue has a long history in Canada. I think the intent of the motion is obviously to look forward to see what we can possibly do to encourage domestic manufacture. My colleagues may remember that I in fact did question Minister Navdeep Bains on the subject at a previous meeting of this committee.
I would like to propose a broadening of the motion. I would ask MP Cumming if he would find it acceptable to add a paragraph (e) under (d), with add the words, “the evolution of Canada's domestic vaccine manufacturing capacity”.
In other words, it's to look a little more broadly at why we are where we are now, and with the overall intent, I assume, that we can move forward and make strong recommendations for the future.
Thank you, Madam Chair.