Evidence of meeting #48 for Health in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was pandemic.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:33 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Joy Smith
It's just the briefing.
Let's commence the second part of our committee meeting. We are going to begin the questioning.
4:33 p.m.
Chief Public Health Officer, Public Health Agency of Canada
I could just talk....
4:33 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Joy Smith
I was going to give you a chance to do the H1N1 briefing, Dr. Butler-Jones. We're going to go into our line of questioning.
Dr. Martin.
December 2nd, 2009 / 4:33 p.m.
Liberal
4:35 p.m.
Liberal
Joyce Murray Liberal Vancouver Quadra, BC
Mr. Rosenberg, could you tell us why there is a backlog in the licensing of natural health products?
4:35 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Health
We have been processing these since 2004. There was a backlog that we have begun to deal with. Close to 18,000 licences have been issued—17,807 as of November 25 were issued to nearly 1,000 different companies. The backlog is steadily going down. Our processes are improving--from issuing 5,000 in December of 2007 to 10,000 in November of 2008 to close to 18,000 today. The rate of refusal is also decreasing.
This is a new area of business for the government. There were a lot of businesses at the start that needed to be processed, and I think we have gotten better at processing. We are dealing with the backlog.
4:35 p.m.
Liberal
Joyce Murray Liberal Vancouver Quadra, BC
Thank you for that perspective. I'd like to share with you the perspective of the industry itself. I have been hearing from delegations of naturopathic physicians that count on the products, manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and consumers. Their perspective is that this process is completely broken down and badly needs to be changed.
According to industry representatives, the 17,000 figure is not approved or denied. Their figures may or may not be correct, but I'm sure they're in the ballpark. In the case of 33% of the products, the person responsible has essentially given up, because the process is too onerous and complex for a small business person. Many of these products are not money-makers. They usually are not patented. They're not big pharma. They're small.
Thirty-three per cent have given up, while 42% are stuck, and approximately 25% have either been approved or denied. That's not a very good batting average for five years. And I would like to put on record a correction of what the minister said earlier, which was that 76% of product licence applications are completed. I have information from the health ministry, through a question on the order paper, that referred to 70% being either completed or in the process of being completed. This means that they could still be in the backlog.
That 76% is not right, if I interpret the bulletin from the health ministry correctly. Some 20 million Canadians use natural health products; 10,000 businesses are producing, distributing, or selling them; and it's a $2-billion industry. For those businesses, there is no certainty. A huge percentage have either given up on their product or are stuck. They are not able to distribute their products to other countries, because the licensing is stuck for up to five years. Some of them have had their applications in for five years. From their perspective, this process is not adhering to the principles determined by the all-party committee on health that was the guiding document for this process.
Everywhere, discouraged or frantic business people are wondering what is going on. I wonder if you could give the readers of these transcripts an idea of what changes you will make to this dismal process.
4:35 p.m.
Conservative
4:35 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Joy Smith
You're almost up to the five minutes.
Please answer as concisely as you can.
4:35 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Health
Thank you.
I'll answer, and I'll also provide you with something in writing on some of the business process improvements that are taking place, including the launch of an NHP online system last February, a process to batch applications, the simplification and streamlining of the applications and review processes, and the provision of quarterly progress reports. Technical workshops were also held in three cities in spring 2009. In the November sessions of the workshop, there were 400 attendees from industry.
I should say, finally, that this is an ongoing process of improvement. I acknowledge that. We would certainly be happy to continue to sit down with industry, and if things aren't working for people, if there isn't enough predictability on this, and there are things we can do better, by all means, we're ready to listen.
4:40 p.m.
Conservative
Tim Uppal Conservative Edmonton—Sherwood Park, AB
Thank you.
Something that I think is a little bit unique is that the Canadian Cancer Society wrote a letter to the editor to thank members of Parliament and members of this committee for passing Bill C-32. For members of Parliament who worked together and passed that, that was the Cracking Down on Tobacco Marketing Aimed at Youth Act. They took out an ad in my local paper and possibly others; I'm not too sure.
Can somebody here tell us a little bit more about how Bill C-32 was supposed to reduce smoking, especially among young people?
4:40 p.m.
Conservative
4:40 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Health
Thank you.
Bill C-32, the Cracking Down on Tobacco Marketing Aimed at Youth Act, is an important piece of legislation that will help reduce the likelihood of young people smoking. It is intended to reduce the consumption of tobacco by kids by requiring things like minimum package sizes for little cigars, blunt wraps, and placing a ban on the use of additives that are attractive to youth, including flavours in little cigars, cigarettes, and blunt wraps.
The basic idea is that the tobacco industry consistently innovates in how it puts its products out. It will create products that are more attractive to children by way of the flavours they use, the colour of the packaging, and the size of the packaging so you can buy fewer than 20 cigarettes. A kid or teenager would more easily be able to afford access to cigarettes.
Bill C-32 is meant to deal with all those issues.
4:40 p.m.
Conservative
Tim Uppal Conservative Edmonton—Sherwood Park, AB
Very good, thank you.
My question is on the $1 billion in budget 2006. That came up a couple of times while the minister was here. Can you tell us how that $1 billion has helped us to prepare for the response to the current H1N1 influenza pandemic?
4:40 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Joy Smith
Mr. Uppal, can you make sure you're asking questions that reflect on the estimates, please?
4:40 p.m.
Conservative
4:40 p.m.
Conservative
