Health Committee on Nov. 1st, 2016

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

That's a better idea.

[John Oliver, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

It's probably easier to get five of us together than it is to get 10 of us together.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

Dr. Eyolfson.

[Doug Eyolfson, Liberal, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

I would accept that as a friendly amendment.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

All right.

Is there any debate on the motion?

(Motion agreed to)

I guess we're down to finalizing the work plan for the study on pharmacare.

We've had several adjustments to this work plan, and we've already covered some of the things in the work plan. Does anybody have any thoughts on amending the work plan? I know there have been some discussions about it. Is there anything we need added or subtracted from our pharmacare program work plan?

Dr. Carrie.

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

I'm just wondering if the clerk has a copy of our work plan handy.

That's awesome. Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

Mr. Davies.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

I have a question and a comment, Mr. Chair.

Which meeting are we at? Are we at meeting four? On the work plan, we've finished the first three.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

Yes.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

I know people are probably studying it right now, but as one comment, I would suggest that for meeting 11, which is the final round table discussion, we add Marc-André Gagnon. We have Steve Morgan and Danielle Martin, but it would be wise to add Mr. Gagnon.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

Mr. Oliver.

[John Oliver, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

I have two things, just to facilitate our discussions.

Is it possible to find out from the PBO an estimate of when their costing would be completed? Everything else is doable within committee planning, but that's an unknown element. Perhaps we could get an estimate of the PBO time.

The second is that meeting 11 is going to be a long meeting. We may hear testimony from presenters. Then we will need to draft instructions to the analysts. I'm wondering if we should agree now to add two hours to that meeting so we can begin to get our calendars cleared up and have time for that discussion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

Is that a motion?

[John Oliver, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

I move that we add two hours to meeting 11.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

Okay.

Mr. Davies.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

In that spirit, I think that's a good suggestion. What I think we should do is separate drafting instructions from that meeting, because that's going to be a very important meeting. It's the final round table discussion. By that time, all of us will have all the information. I think part of our reasoning there was to end where we began, in a way, by having these experts—Dr. Morgan, Dr. Martin, Dr. Gagnon, and the other representatives—to kind of tie up any loose ends or ask any final questions.

I think the drafting instructions almost need to have their own meeting.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

What's your proposal?

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

I would add a meeting 12 that is just on drafting instructions. We have a final round table discussion and drafting instructions. Make meeting 11 just the final round table discussion, and then schedule another meeting after that for just pure drafting instructions. It would bump the consideration of the draft report to meetings 13 and 14.

[John Oliver, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

I don't disagree. I'm just worried that.... I don't know what the timing of this is. I would hate to see a decision to have an extra meeting lead us into a big break.

Let's agree that we need an extra two hours for meeting 11, whether it's on the same meeting date or whether we add a meeting 12. Let's agree there are two more hours needed on top of this to do our committee work, and we'll schedule it when we see our timing.

Without knowing when the PBO is coming back.... I don't know what their costing turnarounds are.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

The round table discussion and the drafting instructions are two completely different processes, really, so if we do need extra—

[John Oliver, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

I wouldn't want to see them separated by a big gap. I really do think they'll be relevant to our drafting instructions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

Your proposal is to add two hours to meeting 11 and continue right through if possible or....

[John Oliver, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

Just recognizing that we need two more hours added to the schedule, whether they are added to a meeting or in a separate meeting I think we can determine that when we get to that point in time, but I agree that we need two more hours for drafting instructions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

Are there any comments or debate on that?

Dr. Carrie.

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

I think it's a good idea to split them, but I also wanted to mention that, for that final round table discussion, perhaps we should be open to adding a witness there, because we are really not through with the study. There may be other people who might be of benefit to have at that final round table discussion.