Health Committee on Nov. 2nd, 2009

[Kathryn McDade]

Actually, that's been one of the major areas of investment under the internationally educated health professionals initiative. Most of the money goes to provincial-territorial governments, about 90% of the program funds. So investment is at the discretion of the provincial-territorial governments. Many of them have invested in bridging programs for foreign-trained doctors and nurses.There's a new bridging program in physiotherapy in the province of British Columbia. So that is one of the major areas of investment.

Right now we're coming to the end of the first five years of that program funding. We're starting to talk to the provinces about where they haven't been able to do bridging, whether there are emerging professions. You gave the example of paramedics. Physician's assistant is an emerging profession in some jurisdictions. We want to talk to provinces about whether this might be a stream for doctors who don't have the credentials to practise as fully licensed physicians in Canada.

[Tim Uppal, Conservative, Edmonton—Sherwood Park, AB]

Very good.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

Thank you.

You have time for another quick question, Mr. Uppal.

[Tim Uppal, Conservative, Edmonton—Sherwood Park, AB]

Great.

It's a little bit opposite of what we were talking about. I mean, it's important to get our foreign-trained doctors licensed and established, but on the other hand, in Canada we expect to have the best doctors, the best medical care. What checks and balances are in place to make sure that the doctors we are bringing in from overseas are qualified to Canadian standards?

[Kathryn McDade]

Health Canada does not have direct responsibility for the regulatory function in medicine, of course. That's with provincial and territorial governments, and they've delegated that responsibility, in most cases, to their own regulatory agencies. All of the work we've done on new initiatives to integrate foreign-trained professionals, we do with a steering committee of the regulators and the leading national organizations.

For example, the work we've done on a common assessment for international medical graduates was led by the Medical Council of Canada. It included regulatory agencies from across the country. It included provincial-territorial governments. We don't try to substitute. We don't have the expertise. We depend on the expertise of those partners to make sure that the balance is right, that we're not working so quickly to integrate that we've kind of lost sight of the health and safety considerations that are primary for the regulators.

[Tim Uppal, Conservative, Edmonton—Sherwood Park, AB]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

Thank you very much, Ms. McDade. That brings us to a close.

Before we close this meeting, I would like to bring to the attention of my colleagues that I have two constituents in the audience. I know Doris Quinn is just coming through the door. Doris, welcome to my committee.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

And Jack Armstrong, welcome.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

I have to thank Ms. Wasylycia-Leis, who has been showing them around and being such a gracious hostess. I would invite you to drop into my office, Room 434, Confederation, if you're here tomorrow, and we'll certainly treat you like kings and queens. Ms. Wasylycia-Leis has made me aware you're here, so thank you very much.

Let's give Ms. Wasylycia-Leis a hand.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

Having said that, we will suspend the meeting for two minutes because we're now going into our business meeting. I thank you for being here, and I would graciously ask anybody who is not staff or not a part of the committee to withdraw. This is an in camera meeting.

We will reconvene in three minutes.

[Proceedings continue in camera]