Mr. Speaker, on May 3 last I asked the Minister of Industry if he would be waiting until after the Quebec election to repeal Bill C-91, the Drug Patent Act, or if he would act in the best interests of all Canadians who use prescription drugs and repeal Bill C-91 now.
This bill costs Canadians between $1 billion and $2 billion a year in extra drug costs.
In question period today the member for Laurier-Sainte-Marie asked the Prime Minister again if he would be reviewing the legislation. He claimed that any review of this legislation brought instability to Quebec. This accusation is of course outrageous in the context of his party's goal to break up Canada.
My sense is that the government will not do anything until after the Quebec election or even until after the referendum in 1995. Why is this government caving in to this pressure from the official opposition?
I was particularly shocked by the Prime Minister's response today when he said that the Minister of Industry would not review the legislation if he was satisfied that the pharmaceutical manufacturers were spending money on research. This is contradictory to comments made by the Minister of Industry in April. The minister stated at that time that a review was imminent. Why is this government now stalling? Why is there this disagreement?
I have a quote here from the Kitchener-Waterloo Record of Saturday, April 30, 1994 and I quote: Foreign Affairs Minister Andre Ouellet admitted that this Bill C-91 will cost the country billions in higher pharmaceutical prices by granting 20 years of patent protection to brand name drugs''. He is now saying:We are not going to review it because we don't want to rock the boat''.
Bill C-91 has caused grief to Canadian consumers. There should be no further delays in repealing this legislation. We have some prescription drugs which have increased by up to 120 per cent since Bill C-91 was passed. Bloc members have made a great deal of noise about how upset they would be if the government made any changes to that bill. They voted in favour of the bill when it was passed in the House in the last session when they were Tories.
It is strange that Bloc members, who take pride about representing Quebecers, could be so out of touch with their constituents. In a recent survey conducted by the Canadian Drug Manufacturers Association, 79 per cent of drug consumers said that the costs of prescription drugs were too high. This is 16 per cent higher than the national average outside Quebec.
Many Liberal candidates including the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister campaigned on repealing Bill C-91. They knew that Canadians were angry at how expensive their drugs had become. They spoke about repealing the bill with respect to prescription drugs. They knew what Canadians wanted and now is the time to follow through on their promise. By delaying to make changes in this legislation is to say to Canadians that this is no longer a priority. It is a betrayal to Canadians. It is a flip-flop.
The Liberals are saying they are not serious about the issue. They are having second thoughts about making changes to Bill C-91. That would truly be dishonourable, if that were to be the case. However it is not much different from the former Tories: Liberal, Tory, same old story.
The Minister of Industry mentioned in his response to me that he was looking into the implications of changes to this bill under GATT. I remind the government there was a clause in GATT for "reasonable exceptions" under which the old system of compulsory licensing could be introduced. Canadians should not be surprised that the Liberals have a change of heart. After all, it is not the first time we have seen Liberals campaign on one side of an issue only to change their position later on after the campaign. For some people who have forgotten, NAFTA is an example, as is cruise missile testing.