Madam Speaker, congratulations on your affirmation to this position by the House.
I want to congratulate my colleague on her first intervention in the House and her speech on the throne speech.
I know that the member spent a good deal of time talking about pharmacare specifically and the fact that perhaps that was something that was lacking in the throne speech. I would refer her to the throne speech where it specifically says:
Too often, Canadians who fall sick suffer twice: once from becoming ill, and again from financial hardship caused by the cost of their medications.
Given this reality, pharmacare is the key missing piece of universal health care in this country. The Government will take steps to introduce and implement national pharmacare so that Canadians have the drug coverage they need.
I agree with the member that the NDP, under the leadership of Tommy Douglas, played a huge role in seeing medicare come into this country, and the New Democrats have the opportunity to play a huge role to see pharmacare become a reality, particularly in another minority government just like the minority government back then.
Can the member not at least accept the fact that there is a will within the throne speech to specifically tackle the issue of pharmacare?