Evidence of meeting #64 for Health in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was program.
A video is available from Parliament.
11:45 a.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Health
Again, all the community-level programs for suicide are retained.
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
Hedy Fry Liberal Vancouver Centre, BC
Thank you.
There is one question I'd like to ask, which is about staff layoffs. I think you said you have laid off a fair number of staff. I'd like to know, what are the layoffs in research and in scientific evidence-based work at the policy-making level? Have any staff been laid off there?
11:45 a.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Health
Again, I think this is obviously an extension of the supplementary estimates that we're speaking about that talk about the impacts on staff.
There were about 200 vacant positions that we had been, in a sense, not staffing for some time, so we offered up those. In addition, we estimated there were about 840 additional positions under the economic action plan. The vast majority of those are in the administrative services area. We estimate that about 70% of those numbers are in areas of administrative services. They do include some of the policy capacity, for example.
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
11:45 a.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Health
Our reduction in science was very limited. We wanted to make sure that we retained—
11:45 a.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Health
There are some reductions. There may be about 3% reduction, is the number that comes to mind, in areas that were of lower priority research, but all of the research areas, the scientific areas involved in compliance and enforcement, all of the drug reviews the minister spoke of, the pre-market and post-market, all of those areas have been retained or strengthened.
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
Hedy Fry Liberal Vancouver Centre, BC
Madam Chair, knowing I only have seven minutes, I do have another question I would like to get in.
The minister suggested that the government has significantly increased transfers to the provinces and territories. I would like to know if there have therefore been any increases above and beyond the already agreed on and signed 6% increase through the 2004 accord. Is there any new increase in transfers beyond that, which is all completely signed and agreed to for 10 years anyway and will not sunset until 2014? Is there more money other than that in transfers?
11:45 a.m.
Conservative
Leona Aglukkaq Conservative Nunavut, NU
Many of the programs through Health Canada and Public Health Agency are available for provincial and territorial governments to access.
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
Hedy Fry Liberal Vancouver Centre, BC
You noted specifically on page 5 that you have significantly increased transfers. That's the terminology that was used. I wonder if you could tell me if there are specifically any more transfers than the 6% that was already agreed on in 2004 and will sunset in 2014.
Is there any new money there? A simple yes or no would be fine, Ms. Yeates.
11:45 a.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Health
The major transfer is the CHT. We have a number of small partnership arrangements with provinces and territories. One example is the Quitline. There is a phone number and web link on every cigarette package. We have a number of agreements, contribution agreements, partnership arrangements, with the provinces and territories.
The significant transfer is obviously the Canada health transfer.
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
Hedy Fry Liberal Vancouver Centre, BC
I have another question.
The minister talked about health care innovation being a priority area. I wonder if pharmacare is seen as an innovation. A national pharmacare strategy was seen as an innovation in the 2004 accord. Nothing has transpired in that national pharmacare strategy. We now find that many patients don't have any access because of cost. They cannot afford to pay for their drugs for chronic or terminal diseases in the home or in the community.
Why has nothing been done about setting that kind of pharmacare strategy, specifically looking at decreasing the cost to patients?
11:45 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Joy Smith
Dr. Fry, you're over time, but, Minister, could you respond, please.
11:45 a.m.
Conservative
Leona Aglukkaq Conservative Nunavut, NU
As I stated in my comments earlier, the transfers to the provinces and the territories have increased, and each province and territory will allocate those resources in areas of their particular priorities.
On the issue related to pharmacare and prescription drugs or bulk purchasing, the provinces and the territories continue to work together to try and tackle some of those challenges. Back when this item was discussed, there was never consensus at a national level on how we would go forward on that. I was there as the territorial health minister at the time and there was no consensus.
Some of the things we're doing to tackle the issue of increased prescription costs is to tackle fraud, to have a better coordinated approach to drug shortages, and to deal with over-prescribing. A number of efforts we're doing, including bulk purchasing by jurisdictions, we will continue to do in partnership with the provincial and territorial health ministers. There has been great progress on that.
11:50 a.m.
Conservative
11:50 a.m.
Conservative
Patrick Brown Conservative Barrie, ON
Thank you to our Minister of Health for coming back to the health committee to answer these questions.
I will be sharing my time with Wladyslaw Lizon, so I'll try to get two questions in as quickly as I can. There are two important matters I want to raise.
One is the issue of priority access for vaccines. We held a health committee meeting a few months ago, and there were firefighters who mentioned that they were listed in the secondary list and were not able, in many cases, to get first access despite working as a first responder, side by side with paramedics and other EMS officials.
Does the Government of Canada have any plans to work with the provinces and territories to rectify the concern raised to us by firefighters?
11:50 a.m.
Conservative
Leona Aglukkaq Conservative Nunavut, NU
Indeed, the firefighters community does a lot of great work in many of our communities. To provide you with an update, first I will state that we do not want to have a Canadian pandemic influenza plan be a barrier for provinces and territories in responding to a pandemic, including the area of vaccine rollout.
Having said that, the unique characteristics of each pandemic must be considered when determining health risks for Canadians, which then informs decisions on priority access.
The revised Canadian pandemic influenza plan will outline a risk-based approach to decisions on priority access and will include consideration of the first responders to other individuals such as the elderly or pregnant women, which they may face. The first responders would include the firefighters in jurisdictions where they exercise that role. The consultation process for the Canadian pandemic influenza plan will be occurring over the next year, and key stakeholders, including the firefighters, will have an opportunity to provide their views on that process. I would encourage you to notify the firefighters in your regions to participate in that process.
We are always looking at ways to improve the pandemic plan for Canada, and we are evaluating that plan again. I encourage you to convey that to the firefighters, to participate in that process and put their views forward.
11:50 a.m.
Conservative
Patrick Brown Conservative Barrie, ON
That's fantastic. I know they'll be very encouraged to hear that this is being looked at.
I have one quick question before we switch over to Wladyslaw, and it's on rare diseases. I met with Kirsten Harkins, a constituent of Andrew Saxton's. She's passionately involved in the cause of rare disorders and rare diseases. I know you've taken on some important initiatives that you might highlight to the committee as well.
11:50 a.m.
Conservative
Leona Aglukkaq Conservative Nunavut, NU
Yes. We are taking steps to help Canadians with rare diseases, as well as to support their physicians. It is an area that affects a small number of people when compared with the general population. Some of these diseases affect only a few Canadians, but all together, thousands are suffering with a disease and need effective treatments.
We recognize there is a unique circumstance of rare disease that requires a new framework for the authorization of treatment that makes the most of informed scientific judgment and enhanced international collaboration. The new framework we've announced will provide greater predictability for drug companies to develop and market orphan drugs in Canada and will also help patients with rare diseases to participate in their own health care and gain access to needed treatments.
A key focus of this new approach will be on sharing information internationally when developing and regulating particular drugs. This will also help pool the scarce resources for maximum benefit. Once authorized, the drugs will continue to be closely monitored for effectiveness and safety while in use.
The proposed framework is in its final design stage and will go through public consultation. Comments and feedback are being gathered during the consultation and will be incorporated into the overall version of the proposal.
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
Wladyslaw Lizon Conservative Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON
I'll try to be as brief as possible.
Thank you, Minister, and everybody else for coming to the committee this morning.
The question I have is also on a disease or disorder, autism. As we all know, unfortunately it affects many Canadian families. Recently, and I suppose it was earlier this month, a new research chair was announced that would aim to improve the treatment and care of Canadians living with autism spectrum disorders.
Minister, could you elaborate on how the funds were leveraged and how the new chair award will benefit Canadians living with autism spectrum disorders?