Health Committee on June 15th, 2010

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Joyce Murray]

Ms. McLeod, you may continue with your line of questioning.

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Thank you.

The other thing before I get into some specific questions is that I want to indicate my appreciation for what I think was a very good take note debate. I noted the interest of the Prime Minister. I noted your significant interest last night and certainly a very strong presence from our side of the bench in terms of listening and hearing, in terms of making sure about where we might go next.

In terms of getting into direct questions, I note that in the opening remarks you talked about the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act. It was introduced as Bill C-36 last week. Of course, this committee has a special connection to that prior bill that was introduced, so could you tell us how this will be different from Bill C-6?

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Nunavut, NU]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

To the committee members who participated in last night's debate, I want to say thank you for the very important initiative that's now being undertaken in partnership with a number of agencies across the country as it relates to MS.

Going back to the question on Bill C-36, we have reintroduced that legislation, as we stated in the throne speech. In Bill C-36 there were four amendments made to further clarify the legislation and to address some of the questions that had been raised through stakeholders and the Senate. Basically, changing from Bill C-6 to Bill C-36 does not change the intent of the bill.

There are four areas where there were minor amendments made to further clarify a couple of points. The first is the further clarification of what we mean by personal property. That was a concern that had been raised by a number of stakeholders. The definition could be interpreted quite broadly, so we narrowed that. The legislation does not apply to individual personal property.

Another area in the legislation is that it was felt that the inspectors had too much power to initiate recalls. We made changes to that. The minister would be authorized to do recalls for any unsafe products that might be in the market.

Another area of change was related to trespassing and liability issues. Again, that was further clarified.

One more point was related to the timeframe in terms of investigating unsafe products. There was concern there would be prolonged delays that would not be useful to the retailers and manufacturers. So within that legislation, we've now included a timeline when we're doing an investigation to get back to the industry or the retailers within 30 days. Again, that's to further clarify and address the concerns that had been raised by stakeholders in December.

Thank you.

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Thank you, Minister.

We certainly appreciate your commitment to health promotion and illness prevention. As you're aware, healthy eating is an important part of that.

Can you elaborate on your recent announcement with Minister Strahl regarding Nutrition North?

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Nunavut, NU]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

We recently made an announcement in the north as it relates to what was known as the food mail program. The nutrition north program is offered in remote locations across the country to subsidize the cost of shipping. Over the last three or four years, Indian and Northern Affairs has taken the leadership in doing a thorough review of how we can improve a program that has been in existence since the 1960s—it's a program from the 1960s—to better reflect the environment we are in now.

The announcement is very important to many individuals who live in remote locations where the choice of nutritional food is limited. The program focuses on shipping subsidies for healthy foods to remote communities.

I come from a community where, for Thanksgiving last October, a turkey sold for $200 in Arctic Bay. In my hometown of Gjoa Haven, you go to the store and you're buying a watermelon for $60. I mean, it's not helping when we're dealing with the whole issue of nutritional foods, prevention, and healthy living.

The announcement was very important to modernize the program, to give availability to more consumers within the territory, and to allow a choice of retailers and individual places from which to order healthy foods. There will be more subsidy in healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables and less subsidy in areas like flour and whatnot, maybe.

But this was overdue. It affects every single person, particularly in northern communities, when it comes to affordable and nutritional food. We take for granted the choices we have down south. In the north, as you know, it's very difficult to ship products that are healthy.

The announcement Minister Strahl made was long overdue, to modernize the program and to allow consumers in remote locations the choice of purchasing healthy food, which we take for granted down south.

Thank you.

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

That's interesting. It's great news. This committee did our trip to the north prior to this announcement, and I think we heard very clearly that the old program wasn't working, that it was outdated. I think there was even an article in the local paper regarding the program at that particular time. It's great news to hear that we're moving forward in a more appropriate way.

If I have time for another question, I'd be interested in focusing on aboriginal people and some of their health challenges, and in particular, the aboriginal health transition fund. Can you tell me a little more about that particular program and how it might help improve aboriginal health outcomes?

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Nunavut, NU]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

As you know, there's renewal in the supplementaries for aboriginal health programs. We know that aboriginal people in Canada face a number of significant health challenges. The budget in 2010 renews funding that is important to aboriginal health programs in areas of diabetes, suicide prevention, maternal and child health, health human resources, and the aboriginal health transition fund. The programs were set to expire, and I'm proud to say that our government has provided an additional $285 million over two years to renew these important initiatives across the country.

The renewed funding provided in 2010 will continue to address the high rates of chronic disease among aboriginal people. As an example, in an area such as diabetes it will allow us to continue to provide prevention programming for over 600 first nations and Inuit communities across the country, and also in areas on which questions were raised earlier, on maternal and child health services, healthy pregnancy initiatives, and suicide prevention programs. These are all important areas that we hear time and time again are important to aboriginal first nations people across the country. I'm very pleased that our government was able to continue supporting those important initiatives.

Thank you.

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Are there any matters from your opening comments that you particularly would like the opportunity to highlight, if you didn't have the opportunity to actually present them to the committee?

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Nunavut, NU]

One of the areas I wanted to highlight is to thank the health committee for its work and the research it has been doing in a number of areas. I'm looking forward to reviewing the recommendations coming from this committee around health human resources, as an example. That is important work that I need to look at in terms of the advice coming from the health committee.

The other area is related to the sodium reduction initiative. This summer, the working group will be releasing its report, and I want to thank the committee for the work and research you did around sodium, as an example.

I particularly want to thank the committee members for the important work they did last night in the debate around MS. This is a very important initiative that we've undertaken with CIHR and in partnership with the MS Society.

At the same time, every jurisdiction is looking to Health Canada for the research they need to deliver their health care. I'm proud to say that CIHR is taking leadership in mobilizing the research community within Canada that would specifically target research in this particular area, in partnership with the MS Society. We've been moving very quickly on that, and I want to thank the committee members for their contributions last evening.

At the same time, I will state that every jurisdiction across Canada that delivers health care is looking for this research. Through the leadership of Dr. Beaudet, we'll be able to mobilize the research team not just within Canada but within the international community.

I wanted to share that information with you, because I think everyone recognizes the importance of the work in this area, as we discussed last night.

Thank you.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Joyce Murray]

Thank you, Madam Minister.

There is one more time slot.

Dr. Duncan, please proceed.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister, for coming.

I'm looking at your notes. I see that $16 million has gone to CIHR. That's good news. The statement then goes on to say, “Good news for those who want to further research in the experimental treatment for MS...”. I'm wondering how much of that $16 million is specifically devoted to CCSVI, please.

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Nunavut, NU]

To start off, I'm going to just give a summary.

There has been $120 million invested—

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

No, Madam Minister—

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Nunavut, NU]

—related to neurological research, and—

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Joyce Murray]

Excuse me. The questioner has directed a question here—

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Nunavut, NU]

I heard her question—

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

We heard this last night.

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Nunavut, NU]

—but it's important to also identify the investments made on a broader scale of research related to MS.

In regard to MS—

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Joyce Murray]

Madam Minister, in this committee, could you please address the question of the committee member? Thank you.

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Nunavut, NU]

I'm addressing her question. Within the budget of $120 million—

[An hon. member]

We already heard that.

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

Madam Chair, on a point of order, the minister is attempting to answer the question in the big scheme of things, and she should be allowed to answer the question as she wants, to put it into perspective. And that is an important part--the $120 million is an important part of it.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Joyce Murray]

Excuse me, Dr. Carrie, this is not a point of order.

And this committee is for the members to ask the questions. If they don't believe their question is being answered, it is for them to make that clear and to request that their specific question be answered.

Thank you.

Please continue, Dr. Duncan.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I will ask again. This was discussed last night. I do not need the broader context.

I would like to know specifically how much of the $16 million is being devoted to CCSVI, please—the number.

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Nunavut, NU]

Dr. Beaudet.