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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 309

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 6, 2024 11:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 309 - May/6/24
Mr. Blaine Calkins
  • May/6/24 5:48:40 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the individual who just asked me the question had her answer in the question itself: support for big pharma. Who is supporting big pharma with this piece of legislation? The NDP and the Liberals are. A national pharmacare program will do more to help the pharmaceutical industry. Let us examine that for a second. Everything New Democrats say they are for, they are also against. This speaks to the same hypocrisy they have on everything they do. They want more pharmaceuticals and are supporting big pharma with this piece of legislation with more government money, so more costs going to the pharmaceutical company, while accusing Conservatives of being in the pockets of big pharma. It is ridiculous.
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Context: House Hansard - 309 - May/6/24
Mr. Mario Simard
  • May/6/24 6:48:58 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, if we want a robust system, then the simplest thing to do would be for the federal government to stay out of what is happening in Quebec, which is in negotiations with the large pharmaceutical companies. What the federal government managed to do was to negotiate prices that are worse than what Quebec already had. That is one sign that the federal government does more harm than good when it interferes in areas that are not under its jurisdiction and puts together a poorly thought-out piecemeal program to score election points. That is what is happening here. If the federal government wants to implement this program, then it needs to come to an agreement with the provinces first. That will help the government to avoid many pitfalls, to avoid wasting public money for absolutely nothing and to respect provincial jurisdictions, which is what we are asking it to do.
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