Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he's not sure if ramping up domestic production of pharmaceuticals is the right approach to addressing an ongoing shortage of children's pain medicines.
The drug shortage has led to some calls for Canada to invest more in its pharmaceutical production capacities for essential medications.
But Trudeau said in an interview with The Canadian Press that that might not be the best use of taxpayer dollars.
University of Toronto professor Jillian Kohler says governments need to be much more engaged when it comes to ensuring reliable supplies of pharmaceutical products.
She says the shortage of children's pain medication speaks to the country's ``very problematic'' dependence on sources outside Canada's borders and on the private sector.
Health Canada says the government has recently imported nearly 1.9 million bottles of kids' medicine and it is using all the tools at its disposal to make sure that more is on the way.