Mr. Speaker, I am shocked that the member opposite does not understand the gravity of the situation right now.
The Liberal government did act and the former minister of health did table a bill when it seemed there could be problems, particularly with respect to pandemic preparedness and shortages in flu vaccine like Tamiflu. The bill was tabled and even the Conservative member, who is a former chair of the health committee, actually supported the bill at that time.
It is the ultimate in hypocrisy to say, “How come you did not do then what clearly needs to be done now?”
It has been the political climate in the United States, the pressure from the bills before Congress and, indeed, the endorsement of all presidential candidates now that puts the drugs supplied by Canada under severe risk and Canadians at severe risk from the kind of counterfeit drugs that would come to backfill the shortages.
The price of the Canadian dollar is indeed different, but the idea that we in Canada have for 15 years properly controlled the price of patent medicines in this country is really the risk.
Even today, the costs of patent medicines are very much cheaper in Canada than the United States, and they are still an incentive for Americans to import cheaper drugs from Canada. Why would the Senate and Congress of the United States still be wanting to do this, as the member was suggesting, if indeed the problem was just the price of the Canadian dollar?
This is a huge threat to our country. We need the minister and the government to act. I do not think Canadians are too amused by the hypocrisy of saying that the previous Liberal government did nothing when we actually tabled a bill and the present government is so stubborn that it refuses to bring it forward, even though it knows it is necessary.