Mr. Speaker, I was very pleased to listen to the hon. member's speech because she laid out very carefully, as my colleague said, the parallel systems of the FDA in the United States and the Canadian system and how the Health Protection Branch of Health Canada is responsible, like the FDA, for the health and safety of Canadians. We also know that the federal government is responsible for ensuring medicare works and has set out five principles for doing this.
The point I am trying to make is that the member talked about looking at best practices. We saw the best practices in the U.S. The president, at the highest level of the country, thought it was very important for responsible government to protect its citizens and ensure they do not have the kind of situation in which patients may die or be placed at severe risk because they do not have the ability to get the drugs they need. The government knew of the drug shortages. Why did the government not pay attention to the best practices of the United States and follow the Food and Drug Administration in its mandatory monitoring and anticipatory regulations?