Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Palliser for a very good speech. I learned a great deal, and I know that all who are listening here and at home probably benefited as well from the historical references that the hon. member made about what those who currently sit on the government side felt about Bill C-91, the drug patent protection act, when they were in opposition.
I would like to point out that I come from the third poorest riding in all of Canada. I know personally of stories brought to my office of senior citizens who actually cut their pills in half to make their medications last longer because they cannot afford, on a month to month basis, the drug prices for the regime their doctors have given them.
Given that we know this to be true, and it is not the first time it has been raised in the House, one would think that the bill we would be debating today would be some kind of intervention by the government to advocate on behalf of those people and to put in place changes in the system that might champion this issue. One would think the government would advocate on behalf of those seniors who are having such a difficult time. Rather, we are seeing what has been called the greatest corporate giveaway in Canadian history, Bill C-91, augmented, added to and made even worse by Bill S-17.
Would the hon. member give us some indication as to whether he has heard stories of senior citizens struggling to cope with the costs of their monthly medications? Would he not agree that there is something completely ass-backwards having us debate a bill that will actually make the situation worse rather than having a proactive government intervene on behalf of Canadians to try to remedy this terrible situation of rising drug prices?