Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government is cutting costs and reducing services in our medicare system. In the last budget it drastically cut transfer payments to the provinces and will continue to do so each year over the next three years, reducing health care services further.
Why will the Liberals not enact cost cutting measures that would not reduce services to Canadians yet save taxpayers a billion dollars a year or more? This could be done by repealing Bill C-91, the Drug Patent Act, passed in the last Parliament. Bill C-91 catered to foreign drug companies that wanted to make more money by extending drug patents to 20 years for prescription drugs, in essence a 20-year monopoly to charge whatever price they want for certain prescription drugs.
In opposition Liberal members of Parliament, such as the current Minister of Health and the Minister of Industry, were present in the House on December 10, 1992 to vote against Bill C-91. Now that they are in government they support the legislation, which is a very major flip-flop.
Bill C-91 has had the effect of costing Canadians billions of dollars in their prescription drug costs. In the past eight years drug prices have increased 13 per cent every year for an accumulated total of 220 per cent. For example, the cost of Tagamet, a drug to treat ulcers, is 78 per cent cheaper when a Canadian generic drug is used instead of the brand name product. This is why our prescription drug costs are skyrocketing. Bill C-91 prevents the generic drug companies from producing cheaper cost copies of prescription drugs. Pharmaceutical companies have a 20-year monopoly on their patents and a monopoly pricing situation exists to the detriment of the health of Canadians.
Prescription drugs represent over 15 per cent of the total cost of health care in Canada. This amounts to over $11 billion every year. It is a fact that drugs are the fastest growing cost to medicare. It is also one of the most controllable costs to our medicare system because Parliament has the power to put forth legislation that will control the cost of drugs and end price gouging by pharmaceutical drug companies.
Pharmaceutical drug companies employ roughly one sales representative for every three doctors in Canada and spend $10,000 per doctor on promotions. Canadian taxpayers are paying for these promotions while hundreds of millions of dollars of profits are leaving the country and jobs are being cut by the drug companies. These prices have increased 13 per cent each year over the past eight years due to Bill C-91.
While in opposition the Liberals opposed the bill. While in government they are now supporting it. The government must immediately abolish the automatic injunction clause of the patented medicines regulations. The automatic injunction clause adds two more years on top of the twenty years that a drug pharmaceutical company can charge rates and prevent the generic industry from competing. This clause, if abolished, would save Canadians $750 million right off the top.
By repealing Bill C-91 in its entirety Canadians could save $3 billion to $5 billion each year on health care costs through reduction in prescription drugs, equivalent by the way to the Liberal government's cut to medicare funding over the three years proposed in its budget.
Why will the government not do this? Why is the Liberal Party allowing pharmaceutical drug manufacturers to set the agenda? It is a fact that the Liberal Party receives thousands of dollars in donations from foreign drug companies. Is this the reason?
The Liberal Party's inaction to rein in the outrageous brand name price increases is costing Canadians and threatening our health care system. It is time for action. The Liberal government must act immediately to abolish the automatic injunction on prescription drugs and make a commitment to abolish Bill C-91.