On the motion specifically, Don is right. The government has said that it's going to complete this agreement by the end of this year. You said that it is one of the most ambitious agreements ever undertaken and will make the NAFTA look like a relic.
There are some concerns with some of the things that could potentially be happening under these negotiations. We're seeing press reports that claim.... I know when I asked at committee if there was any analysis done, the minister said, yes, there was analysis done but they're not making it available to the committee.
There is a report out there that claims that pharmaceutical costs could be as high as an additional $1.9 billion. I think we need to know this so that we determine our position on whether we recommend that the minister sign or not sign, or what should be negotiated on the pharmaceutical side. I think it would be an advantage to the government if they have a study showing that the costs are not that high, they might gain some more favour with the country. Even if they are that high, if they have an analysis that shows there is going to be greater R and D in Canada and better drugs as a result, you never know, we might agree.
The minister put out propaganda, or a paper that talked about the myths. He made very clear that one of the myths was that the drug costs would go up. Everything we're hearing from leaked EU reports, from news reports, is that the costs are going to be higher.
Did the minister misinform us? I hope not, but I think it's our right to ask the minister to come before the committee and explain himself.
The last point I would raise is that the minister has made it very clear in the House, in response to what we have raised on the supply management issue, that there would be no concessions on supply management. The EU restricted report, which talks about what they're saying on the EU side, and I'll quote it, says, “products under the supply management regime: dairy, poultry, and eggs (98 lines) for Canada”. There is agreement that these products will not be totally liberalized and new market access will be granted in the form of TRQs.