The Government of Canada is committed to the health and safety of all Canadians. Parents should be able to know that medicine they give their children every day is safe. That’s why I’m pleased that we have recently tabled Vanessa’s Law in the House of Commons.

Vanessa’s Law, The Protecting Canadians from Unsafe Drugs Act, is named after Vanessa Young. Vanessa tragically died of a heart attack while on a prescription drug. The drug was later deemed not safe, and removed from the market.

This tough new legislation will help identify potentially dangerous drugs. It will also ensure the quick recall of unsafe drugs, as we committed to in our 2013 Speech from the Throne.

Vanessa’s Law, if passed, would protect Canadian families and children from unsafe medicine by enabling the government to:

• require strong surveillance including mandatory adverse drug reaction reporting;
• recall unsafe products;
• impose tough new penalties for unsafe products, including jail time and new fines of up to $5 million per day instead of the current $5,000;
• provide the courts with discretion to impose even stronger fines if violations were caused intentionally;
• compel drug companies to revise labels to clearly reflect health risk information, including updates for health warnings for children; and
• compel drug companies to do further testing on a product, including when issues are identified with certain at-risk populations such as children.

The Government of Canada consulted extensively with patients, healthcare providers and industry on the issues addressed by this new legislation.  These changes will build on our existing efforts to ensure that drug labels and safety information are easier to read and understand.

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The audio version of Garry's January 20, 2014 op-ed column can be heard by clicking here