Mr. Speaker, I thank the Liberal member for his question.
Of course, I truly hope that the government will listen to the pleas from the provinces, experts in the health care field and patients who all want a mandatory system that requires pharmaceutical companies to inform people—hospitals and the federal and provincial governments, at least—about the available supply of essential drugs. That is a start. The President of the United States has called for such measures. We do not have anything like that in Canada.
The current crisis is proof that the voluntary system does not work. If it worked, we would not be here talking about it. Instead of trying to point fingers, we are proposing solutions and proactive ways to eradicate the problem of shortages so that this never happens again and so that patients do not have to worry about whether they will get the treatment they need.
Everyone wants to work together: ourselves, patients, doctors and hospitals. We hope that the Conservative government will get on board and vote in favour of this motion.