Mr. Speaker, my question for the hon. member is about the fact that everyone has admitted there is no oversight body, whether in the government or not, and no third party oversight body to look at the whole issue of identifying, anticipating and doing something about impending drug shortages so they do not occur. We are speaking now about provinces bulk buying and buying from sole sources, et cetera. This may very well be for generic drugs only and certain things that are used in hospitals, but if we have a global shortage of drugs, what happens when we need to access a drug?
Pharmacists are saying their ability to access drugs is compromised. They are waiting for drugs and there are shortages. Accordingly, there needs to be some kind of body that anticipates a shortage, identifies which drug will be in short supply and finds a way well before we do the kind of emergency procedure that was done to try to find whatever drugs we are missing. It is not always going to be this easy.
I would like the member to tell us what the government proposes to do to protect patients who are currently at risk.