Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her excellent discussion and for taking this tragic case in Canadian history, which has impacted so many families and so many lives, and through her speech describing not just the role that must be taken by government, but also the consequences if that role is not taken properly and responsibly by government to protect those who, through no knowledge of their own, were being given a drug.
In one of my first years here in Parliament, I moved a private member's bill to ban a form of chemicals in children's toys. The bill passed through the House unanimously and went to the Senate. The reason we banned this chemical was that it would cause great disruptions within children, including cancer, We used for the principle of the legislation a thing called the “precautionary principle”, enshrining for the first time in law the idea that we should be cautious in approving things, particularly if there are early indications of problems.
I am very glad to see the government supporting this, including compensation for the victims who are still alive and with us. The challenge I have with government is around its agenda of deregulation, of handing over the duty to protect the screening of these drugs increasingly to the pharmaceutical companies that are promoting and selling the drugs. To deregulate and allow the so-called fox to watch the henhouse is a troubling pattern.
I do not think right can be made to the victims who suffered by this drug being administered and given to pregnant mothers. That is going back and remains important today, but going forward, how can we have a government that actually protects Canadians and does not ask companies to do something they are ill-equipped to do, which is to be both the promoter and the tester of the safety of the very drugs they are looking to make a profit from?
I wonder if the member could make some comments to those observations.