Health committee  I'd simply also add that one of the things we'll be trying through the CDR is to put some of these recommendations to the provinces in simplified language so that my father-in-law can sit there, read it, understand the rationale for the decision, and so on. That's one way of enga

Health committee  Very quickly, Mr. Chair, let me say I understand the criticism, and there's always more that one can do. Let me assure you on that. I say, Mr. Chair, to you and to all members of the committee, we welcome the deputy ministers to take a look at mechanisms that can improve transpar

Health committee  Let me try it very quickly at a high level, and then Dr. Sanders can pick up from there. With respect to the clinical effectiveness, there are about 400 oncology drugs in the pipeline right at the moment, and each one of these has an approximate cost for treatment of about $50,0

Health committee  If I can, Mr. Chair, I'll take a stab at this. In Saskatchewan there's a famous phrase, “What the deputy minister meant to say”—and Dr. Sanders, I'm sure, will use that in a few minutes!

Health committee  With respect to an evaluation, Mr. Chair, we just undertook a very extensive evaluation back in 2005. It had a series of excellent recommendations, including recommendations about transparency, such that we added, for example, two public reps to the board. Certainly, I'm not sure

Health committee  Mr. Chair, many years ago I had the great honour of being a deputy minister of finance in the Government of Saskatchewan. Indeed, I don't think it matters if you're in health care or you're running a power company, as I used to do; or an insurance company, as I used to do; or a d

Health committee  Let us remember what the CDR does. The CDR makes recommendations to provincial and territorial governments. It's up to the province to accept that recommendation or reject it. In Saskatchewan we have an extremely good record of accepting the recommendations of the CDR, but in som

Health committee  Expensive drugs for rare diseases are a unique creature. The provinces and the federal government are dealing with Fabry's disease, and that's the one that's been most public. We've come up with a made-in-Canada approach to dealing with this. In the next three to ten years we're

Health committee  I have not reviewed all the transcripts, all the information, but on what I have been informed of, I see no legitimacy to the issues that have been brought to my attention. The Conference of Deputy Ministers discussed this as recently as two weeks ago, and briefly again last week

Health committee  There's always room for improvement. There's always room to make it more transparent, more accountable. But the concerns that have been brought to my attention I don't view as legitimate.

Health committee  Yes.

Health committee  Governments have multiple responsibilities and they have to balance them. They are responsible to taxpayers--that's where the revenue comes from. They are responsible to patients for the health care system. When I was here last, many of the members of the committee spoke about

Health committee  If I may, on behalf of the council of deputy ministers, that's something we would look at and take under advisement or recommendation. Certainly we've added, as a result of the 2005 review, two public representatives to the review committee. I certainly wouldn't want to get int

Health committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. I am indeed pleased to be back before you to assist in your final deliberations. Before I begin my formal remarks, I wish to advise the committee that, as I'm sure you can appreciate, Dr. Sanders and I are neither of us in a pos

Health committee  Yes, that's right.