Health committee  With the permission of the committee, Mr. Chairman, we've agreed to divide this, because I rely so much on my chief executive officer, Dr. Marchildon.

Health committee  Okay. I have Marchildon to answer the hard ones, and I take the easy ones.

Health committee  The honour is mine, I'll tell you that.

Health committee  My view would be as follows: in the report of 2002 we wanted an introduction, if I could put it that way, to a national pharmacare plan, mindful of fiscal concerns and mindful also about the capacity or ability of governments and the various agencies of government to be able to accurately assess the efficacy of the drugs involved.

Health committee  I do see a way. With your permission, Mr. Marchildon and I have talked about this. May I have your permission for him to give the specific response?

Health committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. It's a great pleasure and an honour to be here. Thank you very much for the opportunity. Greg Marchildon is my colleague. He's the executive director of my commission and currently the professor and Ontario research chair in health policy and system design at the University of Toronto.