Evidence of meeting #4 for Health in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was meeting.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield
I'm sorry. It will be on June 8, because the minister is coming on the 6th. That's a change.
Conservative
Rick Dykstra Conservative St. Catharines, ON
So we've basically moved the 8th and the 6th around. That's what you're saying.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield
That's right. The minister will be here on the 6th, and on the 8th will be the breast implants.
Conservative
Rick Dykstra Conservative St. Catharines, ON
So we're dedicating an entire meeting to the breast implant issue?
Conservative
Conservative
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield
That gives us.... We're a little tentative because we don't know our calendar at that stage. But we want to move this committee on to the next stage, which is looking at some of the other long-term agendas. I don't think we need to draw to a conclusion, but we have a list, which is before you, put together by the clerk—or the analysts? Okay, Sonya and Nancy put it together.
If there's some direction you want to give us with regard to that list, we can open the floor to debate a little bit—if they've missed the mark or if there's something you want to add to that list. I don't think we're restrictive in it; we're just trying to get an idea about where everybody's head is and how we can use our time most productively.
Madame Gagnon.
Bloc
Christiane Gagnon Bloc Québec, QC
If we decide to meet with the members of some smokers' rights associations on the 13th, then I'd like some Health Canada officials to be present as well, because we have some questions for them.
Conservative
Bloc
Christiane Gagnon Bloc Québec, QC
Secondly, in her report, Auditor General Fraser made some suggestions or recommendations about two health issues, notably the health of aboriginals. This issue was a priority of mine. Since this is a wide-ranging issue, it will be probably be on our agenda when we return from our summer break. However, since it is also one of the concerns identified by the Auditor General, I think it's important for the committee to explore aboriginal health.
Conservative
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield
I'm sorry, it's alphabetical in English, yes. They're numbered from one to.... It's not a list of priorities at all. It's for us to discern what would be the best way to use our time.
Perhaps we don't need any more discussion, other than what's here. It's the first time you've looked at it. Look it over as a committee; if there's anything further you want to add....
I actually would give this recommendation, Committee, that we not look at what we can add but that we look at how we can pare it down, to make our time as productive as we possibly can. Some of these—you can look at any number of them—could vault us into a year's study. We don't necessarily want to do that; we want to pare it down to where we actually can accomplish something that's productive for Canadians and for this committee's time.
Let's leave it at that, unless there's something anyone would like to add. Our instructions would be to talk to the clerk with regard to anything further, as far as directions are concerned.
Ms. Brown.
Liberal
Bonnie Brown Liberal Oakville, ON
Thank you. On the long-term possibilities, the second one is health care wait lists and wait times, and there's obviously a certain amount of interest in that. It seems to me we've accommodated a bit of a preview of it by having one meeting on it to see just how much meat there is—whether it would be the basis of, say, a four-month study in the fall, or something like that. It would at least let us get our feet wet on that subject.
In the same way, the third suggestion for long-term studies is prescription drugs. Back in the short-term studies, there are two or three things that fit in under there. So I'm wondering, if we have time, Mr. Chairman, before the House rises, whether we might have one meeting on that to get some little updates to see whether this is something we might want to study in the fall.
Liberal
Bonnie Brown Liberal Oakville, ON
You see in the short-term list, on page 3, there's an item 7, clinical trial data protection. That has to do with prescription drugs. Then we have item 13 on the next page, national pharmaceutical strategy and patient access to prescription drugs. Then in item 15 we have the chairman's favourite, which is patient safety and adverse events. Those are three issues we might have one meeting around to see whether that whets our appetites, so that when we want to do a long-term study, we have some information to compare prescription drugs and wait lists.
Unfortunately, we don't have any way of having a sneak preview at childhood obesity, but that might be something we could look at if we get an extra meeting we don't know about, so that we're actually measuring those three topics from some knowledge base.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield
I think those suggestions are valid, and that's really the idea, to discern what is the most appropriate use of our time so that we can go into the fall....
Mr. Dykstra.
