Madam Speaker, the member represents the region of Brampton in the House of Commons and, as she knows, as we all know, the new national leader of the NDP, Jagmeet Singh, comes from the Brampton area. I myself have travelled to Brampton a number of times, including a few months ago, and when I was speaking with people in the Brampton area, they raised concerns around the lack of a national drug plan.
The PBO said it is absolutely cost effective to put in place a national pharmacare plan. In fact, Canadians and governments would save money if national pharmacare were put in place. There are hundreds of thousands of Canadians, including thousands in the Brampton area, who do not have access to pharmaceutical products that would keep them healthy and alive. For the life of me, I cannot understand why members in the House of Commons from Brampton are opposing the idea of putting into place a national pharmacare plan. It just does not make sense. It does not make sense because their constituents also desperately need this plan, and the suffering is as acute in Brampton as it is anywhere else in the country.
My question to the member is very simple. Given that we know it is cost effective, given that we know of the need, why are representatives like the member from Brampton and Liberals opposed to putting national pharmacare in place?