Mr. Chair, I have some questions for the minister and I am pleased that he could join us tonight.
I want to correct what was said earlier. It is not on his initiative that he is here; it is on ours, the official opposition. We are the ones who asked him here because health care is a number one priority for us and we had some serious questions that we wanted to put to him with regard to it. Therefore, I thank him for giving us his time and opportunity.
The Auditor General is held with a tremendous amount of respect by all Canadians and all members of the House. In her report today it states:
--we found that the government is paying tens of millions of dollars more than necessary each year because it does not take advantage of some well-known cost-saving measures...This is the third time we have raised this with Health Canada. I am disappointed that these issues have not been resolved.
There are many issues that we deal with in the House, some on the liberty of Canadians, some on the actual dollars and how their money is spent, and some on actual life and death situations. This one happens to be on money and life and death.
I would like to ask the minister point blank, how come it has taken three times? This is the fourth time. What assurance can he give us that this is not going to happen the fifth time?