International Trade committee  Yes, we have. We expressed our concerns about this and about the increased costs of pharmaceuticals, as well as the looming cut to the Canada health transfer, given the changing formula.

International Trade committee  I would actually disagree with that. Given the rate of approval in Europe versus Canada, we're just below Europe from the reports. Looking at the analysis of the time it takes to approve patents and drugs in Europe versus Canada, I find it's generally about 10 days shorter in Can

International Trade committee  That's an awfully broad question. I would argue that, especially here in CETA, it's particularly dangerous to be increasing intellectual property rights, especially for brand name pharmaceutical companies, when they haven't even met their past commitment to invest in research a

International Trade committee  I would say, given the concerns and given the fact that the federal government has already stated that there will be upward pressure on drug costs, it is apparent that drug costs will rise for Canadians. Even when there is provincial compensation, it doesn't really pan out across

International Trade committee  No.

International Trade committee  No, neither we nor the national provincial body with which we work has.

International Trade committee  I'll say that in terms of patent linkages, the area that I have least familiarity with, it being a provincial body, it's less of our focus to understand the implications of international trade. However, what I do understand is that given the fact that the European Commission does

International Trade committee  Exactly.

International Trade committee  It's not necessarily about fairness, in the sense that they are purposely delaying their application process, but in the sense where it does not meet compliance or there are a number of issues around actually filing and having the patent approved, it shouldn't be counted against

International Trade committee  Thank you for inviting me here to speak today. It's an honour to be talking about this with you all. As mentioned, my name is James Hutt, and I'm the provincial coordinator of the Nova Scotia Citizens Health Care Network. We are a coalition of health care committees: doctors, nu