Evidence of meeting #48 for Health in the 40th Parliament, 3rd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was kids.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Past President, Canadian Medical Association
I'm sorry, Mr. Dosanjh, that is far beyond my capabilities as a family physician. I personally have not costed it, no.
Liberal
Associate Director, Public Health, Canadian Medical Association
No, we haven't.
Liberal
Ujjal Dosanjh Liberal Vancouver South, BC
My colleague went out and did some quick work. I understand if the federal government did a meal program nationally, it would cost less than a billion dollars a year. Of course, if you partnered with the provinces it would be half a billion dollars each—a half billion for the federal government, a half a billion for the provinces.
I was struck by some figures we were given in the previous meeting here that the U.S. spends about $1.14 per child, per day, for their meals throughout the U.S., and we spend less than five cents per child, per day, in Canada. We believe we are a more inclusive, more just, and more compassionate society, so I think we need to take a look at that.
That's just a comment. I would actually be considering that issue.
The other issue is about the lights you talked about: the red light, the amber, and the green. The tobacco industry was so hard to beat in terms of that issue. Do you think anyone in Canada is going to allow any government to do that system in terms of the green, the amber, and the red? Then you're talking about foods. It's the food industry. It's everyone that sells everything. I'm not being a pessimist; I'm just thinking of the humongous battle that might be if one engages in that.
Had you given any thought to that as you made your recommendations?
Past President, Canadian Medical Association
I've always been someone who, faced with someone telling me I can't do something, will find it's the only stimulus I need to make me turn around and do it.
I would encourage all of you at the committee level to take that challenge.
Just because there are powerful lobbies out there that will tell you they don't want to do this does not mean that it isn't the right thing to do. If it is the right thing to do to provide Canadians with the nutrition information they need, then I'm sorry, we'd better do it.
If somebody wants to lobby against the point of view that I've taken, they're free to lobby. That's what being in an open and democratic country is about. But in the final analysis, government has a responsibility to do what is right for the citizens.
Responsible for the file on weight-loss products, services and methods, Association pour la santé publique du Québec
All health logos and health claims should also be cleaned up. On food packages, we often find a number of references to health, but the product in question is not healthy at all. We have a lot of cleaning to do, and regulations have to be established on nutritional value. We really need to clean up health logos because it is astounding to see the logos that companies use when the food is not healthy.
Liberal
Ujjal Dosanjh Liberal Vancouver South, BC
I was actually going to come to you next to ask exactly that question. You mentioned in your submission that we should toughen up the regulations. Do you have any specific proposals, other than the general recommendation?
Responsible for the file on weight-loss products, services and methods, Association pour la santé publique du Québec
Are you talking about the Natural Health Products Regulations?
Liberal
Ujjal Dosanjh Liberal Vancouver South, BC
Yes, you mentioned that specifically.
Do you have any specific regulations that you've developed?
Responsible for the file on weight-loss products, services and methods, Association pour la santé publique du Québec
The Natural Health Products Regulations were supposed to come into force on March 28. All products were supposed to have a natural product number or an exemption number—
Responsible for the file on weight-loss products, services and methods, Association pour la santé publique du Québec
—then the measure was postponed.
There is no deadline anymore, but the regulations exist.
Liberal
Ujjal Dosanjh Liberal Vancouver South, BC
So what you're saying is that those regulations would be sufficient?
Responsible for the file on weight-loss products, services and methods, Association pour la santé publique du Québec
That would be the first step, but then there should be an assessment since the regulations state that information should be provided to support the products' efficacy.
Liberal
Conservative
Bruce Stanton Conservative Simcoe North, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Ms. Doig, I am happy that you tackled the topic of nutrition in the north, in isolated and remote communities.
This is a subject that we've been studying in our other committee, on aboriginal affairs.
Perhaps this is not so much a question, but just to address the subject, one of the things we have looked at is that the government has just changed the program by which it subsidizes nutritious food to not just communities in the northern territories but isolated communities in northern Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Quebec. The focus has been entirely on moving away from giving any kind of subsidy for foods that, for example, have a long shelf life, that could be shipped in on, say, winter roads or by sealift during the summer and stored, to putting all of the subsidy on foods that are perishable and of a high quality.
The changes to this program, which used to be called the food mail program and was costing anywhere up to $45 million per year in subsidy.... The new program, inspired almost entirely by the voices of citizens in the community, have restructured this so that the subsidy will be put on right at the retail level. Shoppers in the North West or the Northern Store will be able to see the amount of subsidy through the Nutrition North Canada program right on the ticket, so that they can see exactly how much the price has been lowered to get milk or produce or fruit, all of which would be essentially transported by airlift, throughout the season.
It has also been increased; it's a $60 million a year commitment to make sure that all of that subsidy for the isolated communities is going directly to high-quality perishable foods.
The second part is that Health Canada is working with INAC and with the retailers to inject the health information that goes with this.
I encourage, by the way, any of our witnesses who are here today—and all of your presentations, I must say, were spot on and extremely valuable for our population to consider.... Particularly for people in northern communities, this is going to be of some great interest in the years ahead. There is a steering committee comprised of members of the communities to work out some of the details, and there will be a process in place to hear the successes of the program. Perhaps in a few years, down the line, we'll be able to re-evaluate this. I would encourage our witnesses who are here today to look at Nutrition North Canada. It's new. We'll be watching closely, but I think it's going to be right on target for the kinds of theme you talked about in your presentation.
That's all I have, Mr. Chair. It's not so much a question as a comment. I thought, considering our witnesses' timely mention of that particular topic, it would be good to know.
Conservative
The Acting Chair Conservative Tim Uppal
Very good. If there are no comments by the witnesses, we'll go to Ms. Leslie.
NDP
Megan Leslie NDP Halifax, NS
Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Madam Mildon, you talked a little bit about interprofessional collaboration. Ms. Ostiguy and I have chatted about this informally in the hallways, and I know the CMA talks about it as well. When I think about interprofessional collaboration, I think in particular about a community health centre in my community that does incredible collaboration and really is holistic when it looks at people's health: you can see a nutritionist and you can see a social worker and you can see a doctor and you can see a nurse practitioner.
I wanted to throw that out to the three groups. What would interprofessional collaboration look like from the perspective of your professions—as it relates to physical activity, but I think health generally?
President-elect, Canadian Nurses Association
Thank you. It's a wonderful question. Certainly we see it across professions. Of course we have nurses, we have physicians, we have occupational therapists and nutritionists, all well represented today. We also need engineers, we need urban planners—the broad spectrum of professionals—to bring the collective wisdom about how to make all these things happen to improve physical activity.
CNA would see a very broad coalition brought together to inform. Doing that and being open to all of the professions that can inform the planning and the realization of the goals is, I think, the way to go.
Past President, Canadian Medical Association
I think hidden in your question is more than just interprofessional collaboration. I absolutely agree with what Barb just said. The key to this is not just the health professionals—even broadly written, if we include coaches and people like that as health professionals. It's much broader than that; it is the urban planners, it is the engineers, it is everyone in society. It is all the ministries that I named in the presentation I made to you. This is more than just a doctor-and-nurse issue; it is more than just a health professional issue. It is a community issue, and it is multi-sectoral and multi-level. I think that's the message you've been hearing consistently from all of us today.
Megan Leslie NDP Halifax, NS
Thanks. And with the regulatory framework coming from government, all I can say is hallelujah. Thanks.
Ms. Ostiguy and Ms. Schroeder.
Representative, Board Director for Manitoba, Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists
Again, I can't agree more with my colleagues. I think it has to go across the range of health professions and education professions into our communities to get the message across consistently. I'm going on Mr. Dupont's statement earlier that we need to be able to get it to the right segments of the population. We need to have a broad understanding across the different cultural groups that we have and the groups of different abilities. We need to look at our clients with disabilities. We mentioned the older adults with disabilities, but we have younger adults, we have children with disabilities. Looking at how we have all of those involved is going to take a broad approach, in which we need the health professionals at the table, the engineers, the urban planners. The educators, I think, are absolutely key right across the board, and not just those in the schools but those who are trained health educators, who can come from a variety of backgrounds. I think we need to be looking at those.