Mr. Speaker, my second petition calls upon the House to consider the needs of communities and members of those communities who do not have access to pharmaceuticals.
As members know, one in five people are unable to fill their prescriptions. People struggle to have the money to pay for prescription drugs. Canada is the only country with a universal medicare system that does not include prescription drugs in that system. We have estimated, and a number of very knowledgeable people have estimated, that we could save billions of dollars if we had a universal pharmacare system.
The petitioners call upon the Government of Canada to actively work to lower prescription drug costs for all Canadians, to work with the provinces, and to implement a universal pharmacare system as part of our public health care program.