Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 12, 1987, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg fret Prats March focus Dru Biu carries big Price tag Ottawa if the Advance Bill ing tells us the upcoming capital punishment debate in the House of commons is going to grab the attention of canadians far More than the other death and morbidity Issue wending its Way through parliament a few paces ahead of that of enhancing the existing Patent Protection for pharmaceutical that is for 15 Days of hearings by a commons committee have confirmed that canadians have every reason to be concerned about what is going to happen to drug prices under the new Legisla the Mulroney government has served up a flawed and inadequate conflicting goals the task before the government was to Bridge two conflicting goals the need to give decent Protection to the developers of new pharma which Means allowing them a fair return on their research investment and the need to ensure Tholt the Public is not left at the mercy of the drug canadians were in that situation before when Patent Protection was reduced to let other producers even there Are few of these generic drug manufacturers and they occupy a minor place in the prescription drug but As they and others this hand Ful of generic producers Are grow ing in their capacity to bring products to the marketplace and left to their own devices would be a very potent presence there in the near it is one very Good reason for the multinational drug manufacturers to have lobbied hard for a tighten ing of the Patent witnesses for the in the medical uni even the Federal govern ments science together made a forceful Case that Canada has been punished in a variety of Joan Cohen editor ways for its perceived failure to protect intellectual property Ade the Canadian medical association and research for sex talk about a drug the delayed Access of Canadian prac toners to new because the multinationals Are reluctant to put their products on the Canadian mar Ket where they can be cur rent Law allows generic manufacturers to apply to the government for a licence to produce patented drugs when they go on the once the generic manufacturers pay a four per cent a string of witnesses warn that Canadas research scientists Are in present circumstances taking their ideas and research efforts to coun tries where they can expect their1 intellectual property to be More carefully canadians Are not bringing new drugs into the overstated while the argument is often Over stated both the generic drug manufacturers lobby and the multinationals lobby have been prom Ising us a world class Industry which we Are unlikely to get it appears Likely that there will be a positive payoff in the research with some establishments created to develop new despite it is hard not to emerge from these hearings con Vinced that the is ready to exact a heavy Price from the Canadian the proposed new Law gives a drugs developers a seventh 10 year but in addition tories proposed Law on drug Patent Protection still faces Strong opposition from Many sections of there will be another lag of several years while generic companies develop and test their own Harry author of the governments widely praised study on the drug said that additional period could be nine the Canadian labor Congress thought it might be for a period of 17 or 19 a manufacturer would have a monopoly of a new up against ostensibly to protect the the government has put a prices review with no Power to order a Price no Power to look at costs when the product is brought in from or to make Price and with a Par time once the product arrives in the the Law will confine Price increases to the rate of Rise of the consumer Price that does not prevent companies from setting High introductory the punitive Power Given the Board is the Power to allow a generic to be licensed to Market a product where the multinational manufacturer will not adjust his but it will take years for a generic producer to bring the competitive products to More it is generally agreed that the drug manufacturers would Chal Lenge any Board order regarding competitive and could stall any such action for years while the courts look at the ques who will be the part time thinks he can make the process but he acknowledges that the proof will Only come when the Board is not reassuring it is scarcely reassuring that the proposed Law provides for a Cabinet and a parliamentary review during the first ostensibly serving notice to the Industry to be on its Best any Law can be including bad but the government should be writing adequate Protection into the Law in the first whether that Protection should come by giving the Board More Teeth or by going Back to East mans own proposal of a fou year monopoly period and 14 per cent Royalty payments is a moot wit including the Manitoba gov seemed ready to endorse either but under the appropriate the Federal Liberal opposition is pressing for a return to the East Man the Canadian medical association quite that there is no Way of calculating what the extra costs of the new Laws will be to the generic drug manufacturers figure that the extra costs will exceed billion a year by the higher costs come in the very period when the over60 portion of the population is rein forcing the trend of escalating drug will it pay off in a healthier popu and savings in alternate forms of As some members of the drug Industry argued before the commons committee clearly that is the Canadian drug manufacturers association for one made the very important Point that a regime that protects the multinationals by offering Strong Patent Protection is not the even though it is the american Holland and Japan intervene strongly in the marketplace either to promote a Domestic drug Industry or to control or the countries missing from this Germany and Switzer Are the giants in the drug in under pressure from the Industry the government Here is going the hands off when it could Well make the Case that a More interventionist regime is the whether we would be Able to operate in a Cana free Trade regime with such interventionist Patent Laws remains to be Battle looms the debate is not the Liber als and nip Are going to fight for All they Are Worth when the Bill returns to the House for clause by clause the grits Are ready with 31 amendments barring could tie up the House for there have been noises from the where the liberals retain a they May hold things up either with a Long committee investigation of their own or other the Story is not Over not by a Long Campaign for elected Senate gaining supporters in the West Edmonton the push for full scale Senate Reform is quickly gain ing remarkable Power across the politicians and thousands of Ordinary people now see it As the Best Hope and maybe the last one for changing an unfair Federal support is so Strong that the Al Berta which Only three years ago rejected the idea of an elected now plans to initiate a constitutional amendment de manding this would Force Ottawa either to debate the which would annoy Ontario and or to ignore which would infuriate much of the West and Atlantic Alberta and most other Western reformers favor whats being called a triple e Senate for and Don braid in Alberta this Means that All senators be elected there would be an equal number of senators from each prov Ince even tiny Prince Edward is and the Senate would have effective Power to introduce and Block Only in this the proponents will the East and West be Able to temper Central Canadas Mas Sive political Ontario and Quebec have a total of 170 while the Western and at lactic provinces combined have Only an elected Senate change but it would be one body where All provinces Are created under such a Ottawa Proba Bly have imposed the nation Al Energy program or denied Manitoba the cf18 fighter maintenance the movement has been bubbling at least since when an Alberta Farmer named Bert Brown formed the Canadian committee for a triple e it aroused a fair amount of interest but got Little support from Western especially they alway argued that regional inequities would be solved by a conservative government in they got their Federal but now Are so disillusioned with it that they feel Senate Reform is the Only they have become some of the most ardent Alberta Premier Don for feels that continuing favouritism toward Ontario and Quebec proves that the Federal system just does not Senate Reform along triple e lines is the Only reasonable Hope for the westerners who Are Loyal to both their Region and to the Getty Doest blame Western tory most of them work Damn hard for us within the Federal conservative he yet we fail to receive the most elementary Justice or even a hint of its evident that the mathematics of the current situation Are stacked against no matter what we former Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed once adamantly opposed an elected Senate but now argues for it every Chance he Premier Bill Vander who once saw no Point in the Issue at wants the provinces to appoint the movement is extremely dangerous to the Federal tories because it has so much respectable it makes a legitimate federalist argument that appeals to All sorts of from new democrats to for Mer Western Jim Albertas Federal affairs feels the movement has a fair Chance to succeed even against Ontario nobody with us when we went into the constitutional talks with our amending he but we convinced people because we believed what we were when you believe in something and nobody else seems to believe in you can convert a lot of Albertas formula amendments require approval of seven provinces with 50 per cent of the population is now in the Horsman Hopes Albertas proposal for Senate election will be it will be a hard Ontario and Quebec Are hostile when they Are interested at today who must approve any will balk at voting away their cosy Privi most maps wont Welcome dilution of House of commons rarely has any Reform faced such powerful but this movement will be with us for a because Western politicians know that if they cant make it work they will face something just As powerful and far More menacing Don braid is an Edmonton Jour Nal House leaders keep business running smoothly As erratic and childish As legislative activities often House business has been proceeding relatively that Progress is due to the efforts of government and opposition House leaders Jay Cowan and Gerry while they May not agree with each they Are willing to comm that has not always been the for much of the Pawley governments first the transmission line Between various House leaders was out of order and problems developed hours were wasted on procedural hassles which could have been resolved beforehand if Only the two people had talked to each communication was understandably difficult in the bitterness which prevailed during the Battle Over French language but the atmosphere was almost As bad during the heated juror about Max last never despite tory threats to delay the end of the session unless a Public inquiry was called and nip determination to Bury the Issue As quickly As Cowan and Mercier were still eventually they reached a Compromise whereby the government would allow three More meetings of the Public utilities com Mittee to discuss Max issues after adjournment and the opposition would allow passage of legislation and not Block adjourn when the session both sides praised the House leaders handling of Day today in the first week of the current there seemed to be a although the House leaders and Sharon Carstairs had agreed to suspend the rules and pass an emergency Bill on sunday closing in one before those proceed Ings could begin Glen Findlay introduced a under the dome Arlene Billinkoff motion for an emergency debate on Farmers financial the government had its own priority and Cowan did not believe the farm ers distress was a matter of urgency within the context of the opportunities for debate the speaker ruled find lays motion out of order and the Las returned to regular for the that meant using the debate on the sunday closing Bill to chastise the government for downgrading the importance of agricultural that approach had an and after the Bill received Royal the government suddenly re versed its what had not been urgent two hours be now was important and Cowan said rules could be waived in order to debate he wanted it on the record that the nip cared about the no doubt it does but for the concern about image was As Merciers response the House leaders bad not the tories wanted to set up a committee to hear the views of but Cowan said they should either talk about agriculture immediately or shut had their concern lessened he its obvious to me that they dont want to debate at this but it should be equally obvious that we Are prepared to but was that possible the emergency motion had already been ruled out of the speaker sought advice about facilitating House but Cowan merely provided a convoluted series of of boiling Down to the fact that the government wanted it on the record that it was not cutting off Mercier also wanted the record to be Clear that the government had opposed the original Emer gency that Exchange did not seem to Bode Well for the a subsequent argument be tween the House leaders about the types of answers a minister should provide rein forced the impression that their relationship had a situation which could have dire consequences for House despite that the Lead ers Are still talking to each because of that the House should adjourn Early this week in order to allow new democrats to attend their National party discussions were also under Way about the Tim ing of the interim Supply which provides sufficient funds for the government to function until the main spending estimates Are passed late in the in other there was heated opposition when the government included almost half of its projected expenditures in its interim Supply this in order to facilitate passage by the March 31 Cowan and Mercier tentatively agreed that the Bill would Only include enough funds for two it was a Compromise which should keep debate on the Bill to a minimum and still ensure the government gets its spending if the main Supply is not passed before the Money runs there would be another interim Bill and another Opportunity for meanwhile regular business should proceed with consideration of spending Esti mates and it May not be totally smooth sailing because Mercier has warned that the tories will not be pushed around on certain that is not an Idle As indicated in the last by using the the opposition can run the at that is not the House leaders Are communicating and making accommodations when possible in order to keep business proceeding More or less on during the throne speech highways minister John Lohman congratulated both House leaders for doing a Good Job in restoring Faith in the for the that assessment is one Hopes it will continue in the doonesbury by Garry Trudeau whoopee in Carol amp this 15 my youll take a wont whoopee Pipi mention 0wismy Bob is Short ;