TORONTO – Friday’s non-confidence vote to bring down the Conservative government will also be the death of a humanitarian bill sitting in the Senate.
Bill C-393 must be passed before the government falls or it will die on Order Paper.
The NDP-sponsored private members bill has already been through numerous battles to get passed in the House of Commons. Now it is facing another hurdle as Industry Minister Tony Clement, who voted against the bill in the house, is urging Conservative senators to oppose the bill.
A leaked memo from Clement was emailed to Conservative senators, and lists points from Clement why Bill C-393 should be opposed.
Richard Elliott, executive director of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, replied to Clement’s claim that Bill C-393 would damage Canada’s R&D sector, saying, “This unbelievable claim is made by big pharma based on no evidence and has been debunked by economist experts in submissions to parliamentary committees.”
A statement issued by the Legal Network continues that, “exports to high-income countries, in which brand-name pharmaceutical companies make the vast majority of their profits and on which they base their decisions about R&D, are not authorized by CAMR… As brand-name drug companies make little or no profit in developing countries, these markets have little or no impact on their investments in research and development.”
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Debate over the bill, which passed in the House of Commons two weeks ago, began on Monday. Each day in the Senate the bill is brought up for debate, and each time Conservative Senator Stephen Greene has moved to adjourn the debate.
Each day in the session a Conservative senator has said that Conservative senator Larry Smith wishes to speak about the bill, but each time he is not present in the Chamber. The debate is then adjourned to the next day.
Liberal Senator Sharon Carstairs says that what is happening in the Senate is a stall tactic. “They’re going to keep adjourning this, at least until we know what the status is going to be with respect to an election campaign.”
On Thursday and Friday, Clement continued his campaign against Bill C-393 on Twitter, saying:
“The biggest problem is that Cdn generics are too expensive: countries can source meds cheaper elsewhere. #c393″
“Our Govt’s support of Health Partners International has meant millions of medications shipped to Africa. Now that’s real help. #c393″
“My point is: the changes in #c393 as presented won’t help. If it needs amendment, then don’t dissolve Parliament & let’s fix it.”
Groups including the Legal Network and Grandmothers to Grandmothers campaign are urging the public to contact senators, asking them to pass Bill C-393 swiftly on Friday before the government falls.
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