Health committee  Thank you very much for the question. We are doing the consulting now. We are in the phase of putting out the proposals and getting the feedback. One thing we have done is to put out information to potential licensed producers. We are in dialogue with them, asking them to think about what the seed strains might be.

Health committee  Yes, our assumption is that for licensed producers, it may well be a very competitive market. We'll audit for quality, and our assumption is that they will work hard to provide the best possible price.

Health committee  I'm sorry, Madam Chair, I missed the title.

Health committee  Thank you.

Health committee  Thank you very much for the question, Madam Chair. I'm happy to answer it. Because we're comparing all-year funding with supplementary estimates (A), (B), and (C) in the previous year to the main estimates in this year, the funding looks very significant, as was noted, but I can certainly flag for the members the reasons for that.

Health committee  The combination of those four items I mentioned is the difference in total.

Health committee  Thank you very much for the question. I understand the question to be about the chemotherapy situation currently in Ontario. Is that correct?

Health committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. Working with the provinces and territories is among our objectives. However, the issues we deal with can change. For instance, a few years ago, we focused on the waiting list issue. We talked about health human resources. For the time being, the Council of the Federation is a council of the premiers of the provinces, and at this time the federal government has not been invited to that particular group of discussions.

Health committee  It's obviously a very important issue. I think we have all been working very closely together with the Province of Ontario, with provincial officials, and with the Ontario College of Pharmacists to address the situation. We understand there's a situation in which compounds that were—or in some cases still are—mixed in the hospital pharmacy for chemotherapy have, in the case of these particular hospitals, moved outside the hospital through a contract to an outside company.

Health committee  Thank you again for the opportunity to continue the dialogue on this very important question. As I said, there's no change. Blood used for transfusion by both the Canadian Blood Services and Héma-Québec is collected only from volunteer donors. Plasma is also collected from donors and used in the manufacturing of pharmaceutical products, blood products that are very necessary, and there is an increasing demand for those products.

Health committee  If I might continue, Madam Chair, I should be clear here about the role. Health Canada is very concerned about the strict screening and the safety, because we are the regulator. We are very concerned about the safety of these products. That is our role, to make sure nothing in any process or any part of the process will affect the safety of the products.

Health committee  I'll start with the answer, Madam Chair, and it may be that my colleague from CIHR will continue. There is an announcement in budget 2013—I'm just looking for my notes on this—of a renewal of funding for Genome Canada. That is an organization outside the Health portfolio but obviously one of interest to us, with our science interest and our health interest.

Health committee  I think there has been really heightened awareness of the importance of these substances in our health system as a result of recent years. Budget 2013 does provide $141 million over two years to secure a supply of medical isotopes, and maintain safe and reliable operations at Atomic Energy of Canada Limited's Chalk River Laboratories.

Health committee  Thank you, Madam Chair, for the questions. In terms of cost savings, we have made significant investments in e-health, and we have seen that it can reduce travel in two ways. First, and perhaps most importantly, for patients, if we can connect them to health providers through telehealth, it may avoid a trip that may have been an overnight and certainly very disruptive for patients, but also very costly.

Health committee  Thank you again for question. Madam Chair, I certainly would agree that the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board is a very critical and important institution. I would characterize the reduction in two ways. One is that there are some administrative savings that they have found and that I think they feel they can manage with no impact, certainly, on their services.