Government Operations Committee on May 31st, 2023

[Irek Kusmierczyk, Liberal, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

Mr. Chair, I have a point of order.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Go ahead, Mr. Kusmierczyk.

[Irek Kusmierczyk, Liberal, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I think the way we've traditionally done it as a committee is simply that as the study progresses, and if there is the will of the committee, we vote to send an invitation to the minister. I think the minister at this point obviously has to review her schedule and her meetings. I don't think we should be putting the minister on the spot today.

What I would say is that perhaps the committee could simply continue on its work and at a certain point put forward the motion to send an invitation for the minister to be here when that takes place. That seems to be the way that we've always done things in committee.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

I have Ms. Kusie and then Mr. Johns.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

It seems very succinct and articulate to me. I put together a concise motion, Chair: That the minister agree to appear before the committee during its study on the integrity regime.

[Irek Kusmierczyk, Liberal, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

Mr. Chair, I have a point of order.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Okay. We have a point of order.

[Irek Kusmierczyk, Liberal, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

Yes. We don't even have a study here. It hasn't been adopted yet and hasn't been voted on, so again, I really do think that we're missing a few steps here before we actually send an invitation to the minister to appear.

I think we first have to vote on the motion to begin a study. Then we should start to conduct the study, and then, at that point, we deliberate and make the determination as a committee that we invite the minister to appear. I think we're putting the entire cart before the horse here.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

On that point of order, we'll go to Mr. Johns, Ms. Dabrusin and then Mr. Housefather.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

My biggest fear right now is that we have the minister here and if we lose the minister and we don't get some important questions to her, then it's really going to be disappointing, because we have some important work to be done. I'm wondering if we can move this conversation to later in the meeting, if that's possible. I don't know.

The other part—and you've heard me say this—is that we have eight studies on the go, or is it nine? We haven't got one done. This could be included in the study on McKinsey. I think it's great, but I think it needs to be fleshed out a bit and there needs to be some discussion. I don't think we're going to get through that discussion in the next 20 minutes before we lose the minister.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Is that something you can agree with?

We have a speaking order. It's Ms. Dabrusin and then Mr. Housefather.

Ms. Dabrusin, go ahead.

[Julie Dabrusin, Liberal, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

It's just a procedural question. Is this motion in order?

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

There are never any easy motions in this place. Maybe we will get back to that in two seconds, and I will get back to you, Mr. Housefather, in a couple of seconds. We may have a solution here.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

I will withdraw the motion, I think, but I'm sensing a lot of positive interest from the minister. Certainly, as always she's very gracious in recognizing the lead, but I do feel that she has an important role to play as President of the Treasury Board and the person responsible for the directive.

I will leave it there. I will withdraw it, but as I said, I'm sensing some—

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

I'm getting to that. Thanks.

Do we have unanimous consent to withdraw the motion? We do. Thank you, colleagues.

You have two minutes and 14 seconds left, Ms. Kusie.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Thank you, Chair.

I will go back to the budget announcement, which slightly reduces—

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

I have a point of order.

I'm so sorry, Ms. Kusie.

Mr. Chair, I have been timing this, and the discussion on the motion has now gone on for well over her five minutes. She has used her time.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

When motions are introduced, the clock stops.

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

I would like to ask the clerk that. I don't believe that is accurate.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

I'm happy to refer to the clerk. If I am wrong, I am wrong, but my understanding is that when a motion is introduced, the clock stops.

Ms. Kusie will cede her time, and we will double-check the green book. However, that has been the practice for the seven and a half years I have been on this committee. I believe it has been brought up before.

Ms. Kusie will cede—

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

That's not how we did it on another committee I was on, so thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

It's just to make things difficult.

Thank you, Mr. Housefather.

Mr. Kusmierczyk, go ahead for five minutes, please.

[Irek Kusmierczyk, Liberal, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

It's the mighty OGGO.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I do appreciate it.

Minister, thank you so much for coming here to the OGGO committee once again and for your excellent testimony.

I also want to thank you so much for the skill and the compassion you applied in resolving the negotiations with our federal public servants. I feel that it was a good deal for federal public servants and a good deal for Canadians as well. Again, I just want to say thank you for your leadership, for your skilful negotiations and for your grace throughout what was obviously a very difficult and challenging time. I just want to say thank you very much for providing that steady leadership.

Minister, I had an opportunity last week to meet with nurses and frontline health care workers and administration at Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare. They are tremendous people, absolutely dedicated professionals.

What they told me was that obviously they have significant concerns about the state of health care in Canada in communities like mine in Windsor—Tecumseh. For example, they talked about staffing shortages. They talked about challenges when it comes to home care. They talked about addiction and mental health issues. They even talked about housing and the role that housing plays as well in their ability to discharge patients back into the community.

Making sure Canadians have access to health care is so essential and so important for this government. Madam President, can you explain to the committee how the increased Canada health transfers will benefit Canadians from coast to coast, including Canadians and residents in my community of Windsor—Tecumseh?

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Thank you for that.

I believe you're not the only one who had conversations, especially, I believe, in the last week, when we were all in our constituencies. I also had the possibility to speak with people who are working in the health care system, knowing that we as a government want to strengthen the public health care system because we want to provide safe, high-quality care that Canadians need.

As you know, in the estimates, we're advancing that commitment. The main estimates, as I mentioned earlier, provide a $4.2-billion increase in the Canada health transfer, and the supplementary estimates (A) provide $2.6 billion for new bilateral agreements with the provinces and territories to address health system needs. The latter will be used for needs like expanding access to family health services, supporting health workers and reducing backlogs. We are also increasing mental health and substance-use support and modernizing health systems.

We know that we need to continue to work with provinces and territories to make sure we deliver concrete results for Canadians. I believe we all know that we need to strengthen our health care system, especially following the postpandemic reality that we're in now. Therefore, that is, I believe, a path forward.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

That is our time.

We'll go to Ms. Vignola for two and a half minutes, please.