Health Committee on Feb. 7th, 2012

Evidence of meeting #26 for Health in the 41st Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was injuries.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

Health Promotion and Disease Prevention

Committee Business

MPs speaking

Also speaking

David Skinner President, Consumer Health Products Canada

Pamela Fuselli Executive Director, Safe Kids Canada

Gerry Harrington Director, Public Affairs, Consumer Health Products Canada

Rebecca Nesdale-Tucker Executive Director, ThinkFirst Canada

Paul Kershaw Human Early Learning Partnership, University of British Columbia

9:45 a.m.

Conservative

Patrick Brown Conservative Barrie, ON

Thank you.

In regard to health promotion, I have a question in general. What advice do you have for this committee, given the fact that there are so many more distractions for young Canadians? I remember my mother saying that Wellington Street in Barrie, where she grew up, used to be full with kids playing after school. You don't see that any more. You see kids using their video games and watching TV. Instead of there being one channel, there are 300. So the culture we have right now encourages a more reclined lifestyle.

How do we get young Canadians actively involved in sports? When we were studying this before, one mention was of these complexes in Nordic countries where the whole family can do their different activities. Do you have any general suggestions for us on the best ways to do this, through the scope of the federal government, and realizing that we're a jurisdiction that at times is detached from direct recreation? Obviously we looked at the physical fitness tax credit, but are there other things we could be doing to encourage that healthy lifestyle? Do we want to have young Canadians actively involved in sports for their lives?

9:45 a.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Joy Smith

Who would like to speak to that?

9:45 a.m.

Executive Director, ThinkFirst Canada

Rebecca Nesdale-Tucker

My colleagues talked about child care. We found at Injury Prevention that a safe space can reduce injuries. National child care programs and investments in infrastructure can certainly help. Another way is the federal government investment in active and safe programming. My colleagues and I want kids active. We want them out there playing. So what measures do we need to make sure that kids have the gear they need and the rules they need? Continued investment in that will be fruitful. Maybe there are other opportunities, such as affordable child car seats and helmets, and tax exemptions from those essential safety items. We make immunization available to Canadian children. What about other essential items, like helmets?

9:45 a.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Joy Smith

Thank you so much.

We're now ready to go into our second round. This is a five-minute round for questions and answers, and we'll begin with Madam Quach.

9:45 a.m.

NDP

Anne Minh-Thu Quach NDP Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I want to thank everyone for coming here today to discuss disease prevention and health promotion. It is very important to determine what must be improved and what the government can do as a leader in health.

With all due respect to the witnesses who have made presentations today, I would like to move the following motion:

That the committee undertake as soon as possible a study of the federal government's role in sustaining health care funding after recently announced changes to the Canada Health Transfer; that this study look at the importance of federal collaboration with the provinces and territories in exploring measures of accountability in health care practices across the country; that it hold at least five (5) meetings on this study to hear witnesses, including the Minister of Health [...]