Madam Speaker, I have visited the member's riding many times and it is a beautiful spot in Ontario for sure.
I know there are a lot of small communities and working-class Canadians in the member's riding who would be very concerned about the changes that would take place with CETA in terms of the cost of pharmaceutical drugs. Every single Canadian would be impacted by these changes. Twenty-five per cent of the implementing legislation consists of changes to pharmaceutical drugs. We already have the highest pharmaceutical costs of all OECD countries and there is no compensation to be had for the provinces, as the previous government spoke about.
The economic impact would be $850 million annually in terms of additional spending by Canadians on pharmaceutical drugs. I am sure that in the member's riding, like in my own riding of Essex, there are many people who are already struggling day to day to afford the cost of medications.
Is the member concerned that CETA would lead to increased costs of prescription drugs for those in his riding given that Canadians already pay more for prescription drugs than nearly every other OECD country?