Health Committee on Nov. 22nd, 2007

[Christiane Gagnon, Bloc, Québec, QC]

The health of aboriginal peoples is a subject of great concern to us. In fact, I hope that the committee will be undertaking a very specific study on this and that it will be a priority.

I would like to come back to the issue regarding AIDS, minister. I have some questions about the figures. Next year and the following years, a reduction of $16 million is planned, and yet you talked about an increase. Consequently, it is very difficult to understand the document from the Public Health Agency of Canada. However, you say you intend to transfer $23 million to be used for vaccination.

Since you will have $23 million less, how do you think you can achieve your objectives in the field? Are you going to continue with the Federal Initiative to address HIV/AIDS, which the Liberals introduced? The vaccination was not part of this initiative at the time the commitment was made. There are two choices: either you increase the budget or you set up a separate budget. Otherwise, it will be impossible to meet the needs.

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

Do you want me to answer the question about aboriginal peoples or the funding issues?

[Christiane Gagnon, Bloc, Québec, QC]

We will be able to discuss the HIV/AIDS issue on another occasion. I would prefer that you answer the question about aboriginal peoples, since it is an important issue that has not yet been discussed this morning.

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

There are a number of challenges with this issue, there is no doubt about that. We need to adopt a new tripartite strategy involving the provinces and territories as well as the aboriginal leaders.

For example, I signed a tripartite agreement binding the B.C. government, the first nations peoples of the province and the Government of Canada. This could perhaps be used as a model for the other provinces. I asked my counterpart in Quebec, Mr. Couillard, whether it would be possible to adopt this strategy in the case of aboriginal peoples in Quebec. I would like to visit Nunavik next winter to get a better understanding of the challenges facing this part of Quebec and Canada.

[Yvon Lévesque, Bloc, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

Mr. Chairman, I would like to tell the minister that, despite the matters that were included in the B.C. agreement, the aboriginal peoples find that this is inadequate. That is what we heard at the aboriginal affairs committee.

We know that the government wants to reduce the debt, but that will delay the investments required to keep first nations peoples and the Inuit healthy. The costs this could entail could be much higher than the amount that goes to pay down the debt.

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

The costs are high, but they are necessary. We have to find a better solution for health care for aboriginal peoples. As regards the agreements with the provinces, the intention is not at all that the federal government will abandon its responsibilities.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

Thank you, Mr. Minister.

Mr. Brown.

[Patrick Brown, Conservative, Barrie, ON]

Mrs. Chairman, last year I had the pleasure of meeting a young girl from my riding who came with a group of kids who have type 1 juvenile diabetes. I know they went to many offices about the challenges they face in living with juvenile diabetes. It was very distressing to hear. I met this individual again at a walk they had in Barrie where they were raising funds for research for juvenile type 1 diabetes.

I wonder if the minister could share the priorities for the renewed Canadian diabetes strategy with us.

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

Thank you very much.

First of all, maybe I could put on the record that in terms of research dollars, let's say for the 2006-07 fiscal year, as an example, CIHR spent $6.6 million for type 1 diabetes research, $15.7 million for type 2 diabetes research, and $10.6 million for research applicable both to type 1 and type 2 diabetes and their complications. Certainly that has been a commitment of this government as well.

In terms of the Canadian diabetes strategy, we are looking to renew and review that strategy. It has been around for almost 10 years now, and I believe it's time for a full-scale review. That's why I appointed a former premier from Newfoundland and Labrador, Premier Peckford, to lead the review on the diabetes strategy, to ensure we can target high-risk groups, look at early detection, and also support effective management of diabetes. These are going to be the focus points.

[Patrick Brown, Conservative, Barrie, ON]

That's certainly encouraging to hear, and that's news I will take back to Rebecca Morrison, the young girl who asked me to raise this question.

Could you also comment a bit on pandemic preparations in terms of what the government has done to prepare for emergencies that could arise?

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

That's a whole topic that the committee might be interested in having more fulsome detail on. But just to give you the 40,000-foot level on that, we have a national pandemic plan that has been recently reviewed and renewed. That plan is consistent with the international health regulations of the World Health Organization, so we fit like a hand in a glove with the international requirements.

We have a continental initiative with our partners in the United States of America and Mexico to make sure we know what everybody's doing and that we react in a concerted fashion that will assist us in keeping our borders open, for instance, in the event of a pandemic.

All of these initiatives are taking place. They then funnel down to the pandemic planning by each province and territory, and you probably see it in your local public health unit in their pandemic planning. So all of this has been integrated. This is relatively new for Canada. I've been spending a lot of time, because of my experience during the SARS outbreaks in Ontario, on the need for more communication, more planning, and more testing before an event. When you're in the middle of an event you won't have the time to test whether it's right or wrong; you have to act.

These are all things that are going on. This Friday I'll be in Toronto for the largest emergency response exercise in Canada's history. You'll probably be seeing some media on that. There are at least 900 participants who will be participating in this emergency response exercise.

These are the kinds of things we're doing that I believe will help us deal with the pandemic when it occurs.

[Patrick Brown, Conservative, Barrie, ON]

I have a bit of time left.

Last Christmas there were TV commercials that Health Canada ran in some of the movie theatres to combat teen smoking. I know the Simcoe-Muskoka health unit was a recipient of some of those funds. I thought the results were very effective, and I was very pleased to see the federal government get involved. I think that was a useful initiative. Are we going to continue to see campaigns like that to attempt to combat teen smoking?

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

Yes. I think denormalization campaigns are very important when it comes to reducing tobacco use. This is one area, certainly. Madam Bennett was mentioning targets and measurements. Based on our measurement, I think we can safely say that because the smoking rate over the last few years has gone down from I think 26% to 19%—somewhere around those figures for this country—it indicates that a lot of efforts are taking hold.

We have to continue to denormalize tobacco usage amongst our youth and combat the countervailing pressures by the tobacco companies and by popular culture, if you will. We will continue to do that. And we're continuing to look at additional ways within our constitutional mandate to restrict tobacco advertising. Sometimes there are new media that become available to the tobacco companies, like text messaging, for instance, which didn't exist ten years ago, but now might be a way the tobacco companies will try to get at the youth market.

So we will continue to protect Canadians, and particularly our young Canadians.

[Patrick Brown, Conservative, Barrie, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

Thank you, Mr. Minister.

Mr. Temelkovski.

[Lui Temelkovski, Liberal, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair, and Minister, thank you for coming to the committee.

You promised to honour the 2004 health accord in its entirety. This includes the “Blueprint on Aboriginal Health”. What is the current status of the blueprint?

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

Just to reiterate some of the points I made a few minutes ago, we have what I think is a very important health initiative when it comes to aboriginal health. We're working with the Assembly of First Nations, for instance, and we're also working through tripartite arrangements, the first being with British Columbia, to have a new vision for the delivery and the effectiveness of health programs in our country.

The B.C. one is important because you have a willing provincial government, the Government of British Columbia, which as we know has been very aggressive and focused on aboriginal issues generally; the B.C. first nations; and the Government of Canada working together so that we can continue to live up to our commitments in terms of funding, but also see if there is a way to deliver these services a bit closer to home, with more provincial and local input by first nations. I see that as a potential template for other provinces.

I have had discussions with other provinces, like Quebec and Ontario and others, to see whether they are interested in moving ahead in that regard.

[Lui Temelkovski, Liberal, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

Thank you. Do you have any intention of honouring the Liberal commitment to aboriginal health, Minister?

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

I'm going to do better than that. I'm going to live up to the Conservative commitment for aboriginal health, which is far better.

[Lui Temelkovski, Liberal, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

Well, let's get down to basics then. Maybe you can tell the committee how many Canadians don't have physicians.

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

Do you want an exact number or an approximate?

[Lui Temelkovski, Liberal, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

A rough number is good. If you have the exact number, that would be even better.

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

That would be even better.

[Lui Temelkovski, Liberal, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

You'd be really impressing me then.

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

We'll get back to you with a number on that.