Ms. Bard, I would like to start by saying how happy I was to hear you talk about the social determinants of health in your speech. As you mentioned, this goes beyond prevention; we have to have marketing campaigns aimed at young people. Other witnesses have said the same thing. Medications must be stored better. We must go to First Nations communities and educate them about the negative effects of prescription drug abuse. Housing is also a very important social determinant. I am happy that a group is sensitive to it. Yours is the first to have said so here.
Let me move to another matter. A 2009 report published by IMS Health revealed that Canada's pharmacists filled 453 million prescriptions in 2008. That is an average of 14 prescriptions per Canadian. That figure certainly struck me. Michel Perron, the Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, appeared before the committee last week. He told us that a good deal of the education that physicians receive after finishing their training is funded by the pharmaceutical industry. Unfortunately, I do not think that we are going to have anyone from the pharmaceutical sector with us for this study, but I have a question for Mr. Meuser. What is your position on that situation?
Let me tell you about an example from my personal experience. Previously, I was a French teacher. When publishing companies came to see us in order to sell their books, those were the books that the school bought for the following year. It has an influence, for sure.
Mr. Perron even told us that physicians receive less training than veterinarians and that the training they get comes from the pharmaceutical industry. Do you see a conflict of interest there? I would like to hear your opinion, and Mr. Simpson's.