Madam Speaker, I have been listening to what people have been saying. I have more of a commentary on what the member said and what his colleague said when he introduced the motion this morning.
On November 25, 2019, the minister of finance in Alberta sent a letter to the Minister of Finance federally, indicating that Alberta would not participate in a national pharmacare program. In fact, Alberta would be asking for the same deal that Quebec has. I just want to make that part of the official record here, that it is an official ask from the Alberta government.
In this debate, too few members have talked about access. They have talked about prices and how difficult it is to pay for some of the latest medication and prescription medicine. Access for patients is what patients want to hear about, and too few members have mentioned it. I think the member for Montcalm was the first one to actually make a big deal out of it. For patients with cystic fibrosis and patients with chronic kidney conditions, like my children, national pharmacare is a recipe for disaster.
I look at CADTH. CADTH twice said no to Orkambi. In the patchwork system in the United States, people can get access to Orkambi. They can get access to Trikafta. They can get access to needed medication.
I just want members to be careful. When they say that it would give access to everybody, it would not. This system would not work for rare disease patients.