Mr. Speaker, I welcome the member to the House. I am pleased to see she has been appointed to the health committee. I had the opportunity to serve on that committee for quite some time, and she will find it very rewarding.
I listened to her speak about what the bill would accomplish. It is reminiscent for me. I remember presenting the bill last year and going through part of the debate. She and some of her colleagues present it as if it were a new bill. The Public Health Agency was established by the previous Liberal government. The Chief Public Health Officer was selected in that process. The bill was introduced, the same bill that has been presented here, but it died on the Order Paper because the opposition chose to vote the government out to force an election without advancing the bill.
I hear members of her party suggesting that bill shows great leadership, that it is great advancement in the interests of the public health and that it is something new. Would it not have been in the interests of the public health six months ago to have advanced the bill and put it forward quickly, or are members of that party a little on the hypocritical side?
I also heard the comment that it was being presented before the presentation of the budget. There is nothing to put in the budget. The only thing in the budget could be a withdrawal of resources, and I hope the Public Health Agency is resourced properly and that Dr. David Butler-Jones and his staff have the available those resources. I look forward to that. I hope independence is given to the agency to operate on a pan-Canadian basis in cooperation with the provinces and with other agencies.
I have stated that I will support the bill. It is a good bill and I am pleased to see it has the support of the member.
A private member's bill, which recommended that national health products be treated as foods and not evaluated or listed independently and that personal care and hygiene products such as make-up and antiperspirants, deodorants and soaps be treated as food also and sold without any warning or under the same circumstances, died on the Order Paper. It was strongly supported by the member's party at committee last year. Does she intend to bring that one back? Could we expect to see that bill back with the same vigour that we see the Liberal bill brought back before the House?