Madam Speaker, the member has asked a number of questions. I will start with the last one about how this has placed at risk and compromised Canadians. It has in a sense, because the government's health minister has not dealt with this appropriately in a timely way, so some of the pharmaceutical companies, on their own, have started to pull back the availability of some of these products to the Internet and to Canadians. We are starting to see some shortages out there.
That is what I have always said. If it gets to the place where either the availability or the price of pharmaceuticals is comprised, we have to step in and do something. We are at that place right now. Do we need to kill it? No, we do not.
Getting back to his other comment on whether this is ethical or unethical trade, I have looked at this argument. The health committee has yet to report on it. Our report is not at all complete, but we are unanimous on this. All sides are unanimous on shutting down bulk sales. But as for the idea of whether it is unethical, the member is really saying that the patient-doctor relationship in the United States is not as valid as it is in Canada. If a doctor fills out a prescription here, people can go across the province to another pharmacy and have it filled. I do not see a lot of difference between that and what we are seeing with the Internet pharmacy. We can argue that both ways. We can say that it is illegal, that it must be prescribed by a doctor in Canada.
All of that is probably true and I have not come to a conclusion on it, but I fail to see the ethical dilemma here. I do not believe that doctors in the United States are inferior to the doctors in Canada. In fact, the other way around may even be true. I just do not think that is a fair and valid argument.
This is one of the balloons that the minister put in the air: that it is unethical. I do not think that is fair and I do not think it is accurate. Why does he not just say what the truth is? The truth is that it compromises our price and availability of product. If it does that, then let us deal with the potential growth of this industry. That is what shutting down bulk sales would do. We are not saying that it is the total solution but it is certainly a solution for the immediate term, which is what the legislation in the United States is about to compromise. We have to act and we have to act right now.
Why is it so urgent for us to be here? Because this is something that has to be done immediately. These pieces of legislation could pass in the upcoming weeks. Likely it will take until early fall before they will get through in the United States, but members can be assured that they are coming, not only at the federal level but also at the state level. It is important for us to deal with it and to deal with it now.
I think I have answered most of my hon. colleague's questions.