Health committee  We can do that. I can tell you it is mid-fiscal year, so it's a good time to ask us, because we can still play with our budget. It is going to cost money, as you know.

Health committee  That is correct.

Health committee  It's too clear. It's too detailed. I'm sure you worked a lot on that motion, but it's the first time we have a motion before we do terms of reference. Normally it's vice versa. We work, we have discussions with the committee, we develop terms of reference, and then your committee can have a motion on those terms of reference.

Health committee  If we can play with the motion, if the motion is not final and adopted such that this is what we have to do, then we certainly can play with it a little bit and reorganize and have terms of reference using some of the elements of the motion.

Health committee  I would suggest that. I would prefer to do that, as opposed to having a strict motion to follow without any wiggle room. I need some discretion about what I can do.

Health committee  The last paragraph is the best example, as I gave you earlier. Mostafa wants to add something.

Health committee  Can you give us a couple of years to do it? Certainly. We had that situation with other requests in the past, but not for a topic like pharmacare. Doing just one model of pharmacare would be really time-consuming.

Health committee  We can also work with the committee. It's not only a matter of providing. As I said, it is a back-and-forth discussion, as we do with other committees. We develop the terms of reference based on whatever factors, drivers, and parameters you provide, and then we discuss that. If you don't agree with our terms of reference, we will work on it.

Health committee  To answer your first question about the data sources, that's exactly what we do all the time when we do costing. That's why it's in one of the slides you identified. Believe me, sometimes we have a request from parliamentarians or committees and we say we don't have the data, so it's just impossible.

Health committee  Mostafa, I'm sure you want to answer something to that.

Health committee  Thank you for the question, which is a great question. It's part of the model. In Carleigh's presentation, when we say we will develop terms of reference, we will of course develop that with the committee. Depending on what drivers or what factors you want to have in the model, we will include those because the costing is also how much savings you can have.

Health committee  If I may, Mr. Chair, I said in my opening remarks that I was apprehensive about the motion. For example, at the end of the motion, it says that “the PBO will work with Canadian Institutes”, which is fine, but “and other sources to obtain”, and the PBO's report “will not rely on analysis prepared by or for a third party”.

Health committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, vice-chairs, and members of the standing committee, for this invitation to discuss your work plan on the national pharmacare program and the support that the office of the PBO could offer. Every time that a standing committee or a parliamentarian seeks our expertise, we really appreciate the opportunity and always collaborate to the extent allowed by our limited resources and our legislative mandate.

Finance committee  It is a useful tool for parliamentarians. That is the case in Great Britain. It certainly would be in Canada.

Finance committee  We have had discussions about it with the Canada Revenue Agency.