Matt Strauss

Mr. Speaker, out of respect for the health minister, I informed her office that I would be asking this question. I hope she respects the House enough to stand and answer it. The Liberals blew $250 million on PrescribeIT. That is the same amount they spent on the sponsorship scandal. Taxpayers got nothing for this money. The Liberals are outright cancelling the program, acknowledging that it was [more]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have a bad habit of announcing big programs for big money that do not actually work. In Kitchener South, Mohammad Keshvani invested $1.6 million of his own savings and loans to build Angus Valley Montessori, a beautiful child care centre that can serve 100 children. Parents are calling every day and more than 450 families are on the wait-list, yet those spaces are [more]

I have a point of order, Chair. Could the clerk confirm to the witnesses here that they benefit from parliamentary privilege, and could future witnesses at the committee be briefed about the benefits thereof?

Okay, thank you. Dr. Somers, I was excited that you came to speak to us today. You said a number of very interesting things. The first thing I'll ask you is whether I got your comments correct when I put them to Mr. Watson that, to your knowledge, Canada is a bit peculiar and that the reporting requirements for opioid manufacturers are different than in other jurisdictions.

Welcome to the committee. I think the reason they declined the invitation to come is that they were in the news quite a bit with regard to selling blood product that was donated to Canadian Blood Services abroad for profit. That is contrary to both the policy of Canadian Blood Services and the promise that Canadian Blood Services made to the donors. I think it speaks directly to Canadian [more]

Thank you, Chair. Thank you, everyone, for coming to committee today. Your testimony is really interesting. Mr. Watson, I hope you understand that the Conservatives' line of questioning is in good faith, and I hope you've been reassured prior to coming that you benefit from parliamentary privilege while you're here. Nothing you say at this table can be held against you or your company in a [more]

Thank you. Would you say in general that as a Canadian manufacturer, you take an interest in how your drugs are used? If you became aware.... What's interesting here is we have Dr. Somers saying that there is not good evidence for using hydromorphone in safe supply and not good evidence for using it in general as a treatment for opioid use disorder. Is that of interest to your company? If [more]

Chair, that was my suspicion, so, given that, I have a motion to summon the president or some other representative of Grifols to our committee to testify.

Chair, we had Grifols, the pharmaceutical company, on our work list to appear today. I'm wondering whether you or the clerk could advise us as to why they aren't here today.