Government Operations Committee on June 20th, 2011

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

I call to order the fourth meeting of the government operations and estimates committee of the 41st Parliament.

Today's order of business is to examine and review the main estimates for the Ministry of Health.

We're very pleased to have as our witnesses the Minister of Health, Leona Aglukkaq, and her departmental officials, whom I may leave up to her to introduce.

I believe we have a point of order from Mr. Wallace.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

I have a very quick one, Mr. Chair.

I noticed in an online piece in The Hill Times last week some comments made by you as the chairman. I want to put on the record that I appreciate your eagerness as chair, but you represent the whole committee and the committee decisions that are made. In the future I would appreciate seeing it reflected in your statements that as committee chair, you are representing the committee and the decisions made as a group.

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

That is duly noted, Mr. Wallace.

I think I do speak for the whole committee when I say that when we invite ministers to come and defend their estimates for billions of dollars of spending, we expect them to attend our committees and to be there.

Today we're examining the main estimates for Health, and we appreciate the minister's presence, but we should note that they've already been deemed to be reported as is, without examination and without a single question being put to a single minister. Billions and billions of dollars' worth of spending has been approved by Parliament without being approved by anybody. So when I make the comment that when we invite a minister we expect him to attend, unless there are extraordinary circumstances, I do not back off from that statement.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

You're already on a point of order, Mr. Wallace.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

To respond to your rant....

The rant that you had in the newspaper is your issue. You even said at your own convention this past weekend that you need to use language in an appropriate manner to get your message across correctly. You even said yourself--

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

I'm going to rule that this isn't a point of order, Mr. Wallace.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

The point of order is that you, as chair, need to be professional, or if you wish not to be chair, we can make that happen. You can sit and be with your team and be as partisan as you want.

You have a chairmanship that has to be neutral, and you need to respect that. If you read the language.... You even said it to me directly. If you read the language in the article, you are over the top. You continue to be over the top, and we won't tolerate it for very much longer.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

Parliamentary committees are not run and controlled by the government. They are parliamentary committees--

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

Then who's chairing--

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

--and we're masters of our own affairs.

Now, I don't think you have a point of order.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

I made my point.

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

If you want to talk about this later, perhaps it should be at an in camera session, because we have the minister here waiting to give testimony.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

Well, I've spoken.

[Joy Smith, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

Make sure it's a point of order and not just a debate that we could have behind closed doors.

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar, SK]

You are not acting appropriately, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

I beg your pardon?

[Joy Smith, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

I want to let you know that the minister has spent a lot of time on my committee and has made sure that she has been there. She has spent copious amounts of time on committee. As you know, as chair of a committee you submit requests to have the minister come based on when she's available. The minister is here today, and she has spent.... When I requested it from our committee, she was there all the time, so I think it is very unprofessional.

As chair, you have to remain neutral, sir. We need to listen to what the minister has to say this morning and treat her with the utmost respect. She has put in a great deal of time to be very open and transparent. I say that we get on with this meeting and chair it in the proper way.

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

Thank you for that input, Ms. Smith. I think you'll be challenged to find any disrespect I've shown to the minister. I said that I appreciate her being here today, but speaking on behalf of the committee, we have an obligation to review the estimates of the departments. We chose three, in a very truncated period of time, in order to give the government Parliament's permission to spend money throughout the summer. We chose three of the many government ministries we could have examined, and of those three, one of the ministers attended in time and before the estimates were reported back to Parliament. The other two were unable to attend. I expressed my dissatisfaction and I think we should leave it at that.

Minister, we're glad you're here. Thank you. After your report or presentation to us, there'll be questions, but we should note--and I will note once again--that your estimates have already been deemed adopted by Parliament without examination. The questions are a pro forma courtesy.

I've served notice, and I will say it again, that in future we're going to expand, I hope, the examination of estimates, much as we do in some of the provinces. We're talking about billions and billions of dollars' worth of spending here, and the constitutional right of Parliament to examine the estimates is something that we value and that we're going to exercise.

Minister, the floor is yours.

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Minister of Health]

Thank you.

Good morning, Mr. Chair, and all members of the committee. It's a pleasure for me to be here. This will be my second appearance before a committee to discuss the main estimates that we'll be discussing this morning. I see this as a second opportunity to again discuss some of the good work being done in the health portfolio. As some of you may be aware, I appeared before committee in March for two hours.

It's good to see some familiar faces and some new ones as well. I would like to offer my congratulations to all of you on your recent election success. In addition to being a voice for your constituents here in Ottawa, you also have an opportunity to work in the national interest of the committee.

I want to start off by introducing the officials who are here with me today. We have Glenda Yeates, deputy minister for the Department of Health; Jamie Tibbetts, chief financial officer, Department of Health; Dr. David Butler-Jones, chief public health officer of the Public Health Agency of Canada; James Libbey, chief financial officer of the Public Health Agency of Canada; Dr. Alain Beaudet, president, and James Roberge, chief financial officer, both of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

For those of you who are new, I would like to give you a sense of some of the major priorities of the health portfolio. The federal health portfolio covers a lot of ground, with organizations playing leadership roles in health care, regulatory oversight, first nations and Inuit health, public health, and research. All of these activities feed into our clear mission and goal, which is to work together to maintain and improve the health of Canadians, and that's a goal I know each and every one of us here shares.

As you know, Budget 2011 renewed funding for important programs, including the chemicals management plan. Budget 2011 also allocated up to $100 million to help establish the Canadian Brain Research Fund to support the very best Canadian neuroscience and to accelerate discoveries to improve the health and quality of life for Canadians who suffer from brain disorders.

I would like to reflect on some of the accomplishments during the last session of Parliament. We saw some important change in the way we protect the health of Canadians and the way in which we help them maintain and improve their health. Most notable was the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act, which was passed during the last session and comes into force today. It replaces the 40-year-old legislation that had proven to be no longer effective in regulating the marketplace of today. This legislation will also give us, for example, the ability to recall dangerous products and track their path through the marketplace. The new act is full of common-sense changes that Canadians expect and deserve.

As well, on June 9 I tabled three new proposed tobacco labelling regulations for consideration by the House of Commons, as required under the Tobacco Act. Among the proposed changes are new requirements for cigarettes and little cigar packages, including 16 new health warning messages than would be even larger and more noticeable than what we currently have in Canada. The Government of Canada is also committed to increasing awareness of the health hazards associated with tobacco use and the benefits of quitting.

We have also invested in innovative projects that aim to counter some of the factors that contribute to mental health problems, especially among children and youth. I recently announced $27 million in funding for programs for those at higher risk of developing a mental health problem because of their socio-economic circumstances and living conditions. Those funds will support programs over the next five years that focus on children, youth, and families in diverse communities, including rural, northern, and those of low socio-economic status.

From the public health perspective, we continue to apply the lessons learned from H1N1 to ensure emergency preparedness. While it's important to be able to respond to significant health challenges like H1N1, I personally believe it's important that we work proactively to prevent disease and injury, which is why health promotion is important.

Last year my federal and provincial colleagues and I adopted a declaration on prevention and promotion, showing our commitment to work together on initiatives that would curb childhood obesity. I believe this is a critical step in helping Canadians live longer and healthier lives.

As we look towards the future, there is no shortage of daunting challenges. If we are to bring about positive change to health services for aboriginal people in Canada, they must be based on innovative partnerships between all levels of government, including first nations. Such innovative partnerships form the basis of a tripartite initiative currently under way in British Columbia, where we are working with B.C. first nations and the British Columbia government on the development of a new first nations health governance structure. Our shared vision would see first nations plan and deliver health services and programs that are better integrated with the British Columbia health system.

We are also proposing changes to the marijuana medical access program. Those changes would help eliminate some of the hazards that have developed under the program in the last decade. We are proposing changes that would shift production away from individuals in their homes to licensed producers who could be better regulated by our inspectors. I believe that our proposed changes strike an important balance between patient access and strengthening public safety.

Health Canada is both a leader and a partner in helping to ensure that Canadians have access to quality health services. Through the Canada health transfer administered by Finance Canada, the federal government provides long-term, predictable funding to support provincial and territorial health systems. Canada health transfers in 2011-12 will amount to $27 billion and will grow to an all-time high of $30 billion by 2013-14.

Cooperation with the provinces and the territories has produced some tangible results across many of the priority areas in the 2004 accord. For example, in the area of wait times, the Canadian Institute for Health Information has reported that at least eight out of ten Canadian patients are receiving priority procedures within medically acceptable wait times.

I have also asked the Senate Standing Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology to resume its review of the accord. I know that the committee's findings will help guide us as the time for renewal gets closer.

Our government is committed to working collaboratively with the provinces and the territories to ensure that the health care system is sustainable and that there is accountability for results. At this time, jurisdictions are reviewing results achieved against the accord commitments. It will be very important for this evaluation to occur in order to have an understanding, based on evidence, of where progress was made and where there may still be work to do.

In the meantime, we will maintain the 6% escalator for the Canada health transfer and will work to renew the health accord while respecting provincial and territorial jurisdictions in health care.

Our government is not waiting for the conclusion of the health accord to improve health services to Canadians. There are measures we can take today to address the health needs of Canadians, such as continuing to help improve access for Canadians to medical professionals.

Strengthening health care with more physicians for Canadians is a priority for our government. That is why I recently announced federal funding to support more than 100 family medicine residents to receive training and to provide medical services for work in rural and remote communities across Canada.

While we are improving access to health care professionals or increasing their numbers, we are working closely with the provinces and the territories to accomplish this goal.

Mr. Chair and members of the committee, I hope you have found this overview of where we've been and where we're going helpful. If you have any questions, I would be pleased to answer your questions this morning.

Thank you.

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

Thank you, Minister. I believe there almost always are questions.

We begin first with the official opposition, the NDP, for five minutes, please.

[Nycole Turmel, NDP, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would like to ask a question about something in your report. It mentions that you are proposing changes to the Marihuana Medical Access Program.

Currently, the individuals who want access to this program have to wait much longer than the six to eight weeks you are suggesting. Quite frequently, people who are sick and are often at the end of their lives, must contact other clubs or use other means to buy marihuana in order to be able to relieve the symptoms of their illnesses.

We don't understand why you are not conducting a comprehensive review before making amendments to prevent people from growing their own marihuana for medical purposes. Why don't you ask compassion clubs to help you do the research to assist those people who really need medication or assistance at the end of their lives?

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Nunavut, NU]

Thank you for the question.

On Friday I announced that we're going to do a consultation on the medical marijuana access program. Our government is very concerned that the current program is open to abuse. The changes we're proposing will reduce the risk of abuse and keep neighbourhoods, children, and families safe while significantly improving the program participants' access to marijuana.

We heard loud and clear from the Canadian Federation of Municipalities, the fire departments, and the police officers that there is abuse in this program and that we need to address the public safety aspect of it and at the same time ensure that patients who require access to the program continue to have access to it.

In the past we were dealing with some backlogs with the program. We've addressed that. On Friday I made the announcement that we will be moving forward to consult Canadians on the revisions in addressing a better balance between patient needs and public safety.

Thank you.

[Nycole Turmel, NDP, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Thank you for your reply and for mentioning that a number of groups have been consulted.

However, my party and I still feel that the people who are most affected by this program are not really being heard and cannot have immediate access to a compensation program that could make the last stages of their lives easier.