When any new drug is invented and ready for distribution in Canada, the Canadian government responds by enforcing an automatic ban on its use. This ban is removed for patients who need the drug immediately only under extraordinary circumstances. The general ban is only lifted after the manufacturer has paid a user fee and waited for Health Canada to undertake a lengthy review to certify the safety and efficacy of the medicine.

In A Canada Strong and Free , Mike Harris and Preston Manning present a vision to make our country the best democratic federation in the world, offering its citizens the highest quality of life and economic performance, and setting a new standard of international citizenship and leadership. This vision expands freedom of choice and acceptance of personal responsibility in every area of national life and calls for a rebalancing of national priorities.

This paper discusses differences between provincial drug plans with respect to breadth of coverage and cost sharing between patients and taxpayers, and introduces two new measurements to describe how provincial Pharmacare plans perform as insurers and how generous they are to their beneficiaries. Finally, we compare these measurements with provinces' spending on their prescription benefit plans and consider which provinces get most value for their taxpayers' money.