Mr. Speaker, certainly I appreciate the comments and the question of the hon. member for Winnipeg Centre, who has been in the forefront of the struggle in the House, and indeed in his previous life, for affordable, accessible drugs for Canadians.
I would not for a minute suggest that the flip-flop of the Liberals from their position in 1987 on Bill C-22 and from their position in 1992 on Bill C-91 had anything to do with the massive amount of money that they get every year from pharmaceutical drug companies as donations to the Liberal Party of Canada. Of course not. That has absolutely nothing to do with it. I know that the Bloc position has absolutely nothing to do with that either. J'en suis certain.
I do want to take advantage of the opportunity that has been afforded to me by the member for Winnipeg Centre to share with the House some of the statements that were made by the Minister of Industry, then a member from Newfoundland and Labrador. On November 16, 1992, the Minister of Industry spoke in the House, then in opposition of course, on Bill C-91.
He said we have lower health care costs in Canada on a per capita basis than they do in the United States largely because of our prescription drug program, which this government wants to do away with. What are we to conclude from that other than that the government wants to increase the cost of health care in Canada? It will do that at the expense of the taxpaying public and at the expense of the provincial governments because provincial governments in many cases will buy, through their drug plans, significant quantities of these same pharmaceutical drugs.
The Minister of Industry went on to read from a text that talked about the burden of changing patent legislation. He said “Extending the patent life of drugs is likely to cost consumers immediately and also add to the burden on the government health plans, which are already under economic pressure. Compared with hospital and doctors' bills, prescription drugs are a relatively small though rapidly growing expense”.
The member pointed out that even in the United States people were lauding Canada's generic drug system, saying “However, here in Canada the government wants to do away with it”.
I would note, and my colleague from Regina pointed this out a few minutes ago, that the cost of just this one amendment to Bill S-17 will be over $200 million to Canadian taxpayers, both through pharmaceutical drug plans and of course directly for those who are not covered.
Why is it that we are giving a $200 million gift to pharmaceutical drug companies in this country? There is absolutely no excuse whatsoever for that. For that reason as well, we as New Democrats strongly oppose this legislation.