Health Committee on Nov. 23rd, 2006

[Tony Clement, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

I'll do my best.

[Ruby Dhalla, Liberal, Brampton—Springdale, ON]

Make sure you take the high road, Minister, in answering that question.

[Tony Clement, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

Let me say, I've had the advantage of working with several federal health ministers, including Allan Rock and Anne McLellan. Anne was still there when I was defeated provincially, so I didn't work with Ujjal Dosanjh. I guess he won in 2004.

Certainly with Allan and Anne.... I can tell you that whenever a new health minister is appointed, I call them and have the same discussion I had when I was appointed a health minister. You have joined a very special club where you get clubbed a lot. It's that kind of club. But at the end of the day, you're trying to do something that is going to help some lives and save some lives. We try to wear that mantle.

We have rhetorical fights and partisan jabs, but at the end of the day we are trying to make the Canadian health care system the best in the world. That's our job. That's our role and responsibility. Ms. Dhalla was talking about how I mentioned Liberal and NDP improvements to the health care system. I meant it. This is really not a partisan matter; it's about getting the job done. I believe ultimately that's where most people's heads are at. They're not interested in an ideological approach to this. They want to see a better health care system. And that's our role and responsibility.

[Steven Fletcher, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia, MB]

Thank you.

That was all I had, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Merrifield]

I know the clock is very close to 5:15, but let's give Madam Gagnon a few minutes.

[Christiane Gagnon, Bloc, Québec, QC]

That is too bad because I had several questions to ask.

I know that Parliamentary Secretaries are in tune with their Ministers. We would have liked to have a little more time to get answers on a number of subjects, including natural products. Apparently, it is a mess and costs a lot of money.

Since 2004, you have had the responsibility of certifying natural products. An amount of $41.5 million has been allocated and then $15 million more for certification. How will you settle this whole question given the 40,000 products now pending? Do you have a quick solution? If not, please clarify the issue because there is a lot of money involved.

There is no extra money in the funds you have announced today to resolve the issue. You have certainly seen the report on Zone Libre that highlighted a number of shortcomings at Health Canada with regard to products currently on shelves that shouldn’t be. Add to that all those products pending. How will you deal with this?

[Tony Clement, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

There are currently many more natural health products in the certification system. There are over 10,000 products and getting a regulatory system for all these products takes time.

Perhaps Chantale can give some details on financing.

[Chantale Cousineau-Mahoney, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Financial Officer Branch, Department of Health]

The budget is increasing because of the great number of products. Last year, we spent about $10.6 million. This year, we estimate that certification of all those products will cost around $14.9 million.

We are also working on a business case to find additional financing.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Merrifield]

I want to thank the minister for his time. He stayed a little bit over and we respect that. Thank you very much for coming and answering the questions. The questions were very good and the answers equally so.

I want to ask the committee, since we have ten minutes, if they would like a quick discussion on pharmaceuticals. If so, we'll clear the room and go in camera.

Ms. Priddy.

[Penny Priddy, NDP, Surrey North, BC]

I have a comment, but I'll wait.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Merrifield]

That's fine. We'll do that in the second part.

[Proceedings continue in camera]