Health Committee on May 13th, 2008

[Paul Moist]

CUPE would argue that you should enforce the accountability question under the Canada Health Act and under the agency or councils set up under the 10-year program.

Number two, we think the Auditor General and Parliament itself need to look into the push by the current government toward, “If you want money for infrastructure renewal, including health care facilities, you must consider privatization options”. That is anti-Canadian, in our view.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

Thank you, Mr. Moist.

We'll now go to Mrs. Davidson.

[Patricia Davidson, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'd like to bring us back to where Dr. Bennett was going.

This is a review of the 10-year accord, so when we look at this review, we need to look at what's in this accord, not what you'd like to see in it, because we're reviewing what is in there. I'm sure all of us, whether we're presenting or whether we're sitting here, would like to see some different things. That opportunity will come, but it's just not here right now.

I'll start with Ms. Silas.

Do you see initiatives or innovations that may not be there yet but that hold promise for further progress in improving things and improving the health care work environment that is here, things that we can make recommendations on? I think we've heard a lot in the last few years about the work environment.

Could you start? And then perhaps maybe you'd like to speak to it too.

[Linda Silas]

There are a lot of initiatives out there on a healthy workplace. People--employers and unions--are realizing that we have to create a healthy workplace to retain our staff. That's happening. We need more target funding towards that. We need a better evaluation. The partners are working on it, but at a micro-level. It needs to be expanded.

To come back to the 10-year plan, we need to read the 10-year plan again. It starts with accountability. It talks about the national pharmaceutical strategy as the first step. We're talking about a national pharmacare program. We're talking about HHR. The plan is specific. The federal government should be helping our students. Nothing has been done.

On home care, it's very specific. There has been silence on that since then.

And for aboriginal health, there is specific target funding.

Let's go and read the plan again, and we will be successful in 10 years.

[Kurt Davis]

The quality work-life initiative, I think, is a key issue, because we have a lot of debris lying around from the 1990s, when we went through the years of health reform. In our profession, they reduced the workforce by 27%, basically overnight, and that has not come back since that time. So the people are working under pressures and stresses that most of you cannot imagine. The current proceedings going on in Newfoundland are just a little evidence of the issues that can happen when medical laboratory testing goes wrong.

We need to stand by the health human resources plan. The ACHDHR strategy is great, but we need to be assured that the provinces follow suit. The wealthiest jurisdiction in this country is not playing in the game. They're doing whatever they want, and they're relying on poaching from the rest of Canada. The reality is there is a global shortage of health professionals; it's not a “made in Canada” thing. If you think we're in trouble, you should look south of our border. There's a sucking sound that scares me.

[Patricia Davidson, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Can I just ask another question to you?

Does the fact that there are two provinces that don't belong to this accord or don't participate in this accord present other problems or other challenges?

[Kurt Davis]

I think it's a key factor, because there is, for better or worse, provincial pilfering going on already. Most of our health professions do have national mobility, with their certifications and their registrations, so, as was commented on earlier, full graduating classes have left one province to go work in another. How can a province plan its health human resources if all of its grads disappear? It's just not feasible.

[Dr. Jeff Poston]

I would add that I think that's a symptom of the overall underinvestment that's taking place in this country, in terms of educating and training health care professionals. Because you have such an endemic shortage across the board, you have this sort of movement that creates major problems in one province. It's just an overall symptom of the fact that we need a lot more investment to ensure that we're going to be self-sufficient with respect to health human resources as we move forward. That's clearly a priority.

I would add that we have to make some real progress on a national pharmaceutical strategy, and we mustn't lose sight of the need for primary health care reform. We hear a lot about funding hospitals and, if you like, funding the status quo, but I think if we're going to move forward and have our system sustainable, we have to take a close look at health care reform.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

Mr. Moist.

[Paul Moist]

Just on wait times, I have a couple of sentences.

I read your transcripts from April 17. You had Department of Health and Public Health Agency of Canada officials, with pages and pages and pages of testimony on wait times and not a syllable about a person you appointed as part of the 2004 health care accord, Dr. Postl. His 40-page report was issued by the government on June 30, 2006, on the eve of a long weekend. Part of your committee's report ought to be, at a minimum, an audit of Dr. Postl's recommendations regarding wait times.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

All right. Thank you, Mr. Moist.

I want to thank all the witnesses for coming today. Your comments were very useful and very insightful.

The committee will now be going in camera, so I will ask that you exit the committee room quite quickly so we can go into our committee business. I'll give you one minute.

[Proceedings continue in camera]