Health Committee on April 18th, 2013

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Nunavut, NU]

I'm not really clear in terms of which voluntary recall. Can you clarify further? Maybe it didn't come across through the translation.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

I'll give you an extra minute to explain what you mean, Doctor.

[Djaouida Sellah, NDP, Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Minister, I am talking about the recall of Alysena 28—a birth control pill.

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Nunavut, NU]

Thank you for that question.

Our government is committed to protecting the health and safety of Canadians, and I have instructed Health Canada's officials to look into the issue and to assess whether the processes were followed and were sufficient within the rules that we do have in place.

In this case, Apotex indicated the recall of one lot, prior to advising Health Canada, based on their own assessment of the health risks. We encourage this with industry, based on their assessments, to do recalls as well. Once Health Canada's risk assessment was conducted, Health Canada immediately posted this information to the Healthy Canadians website.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

Thank you, Minister.

Now we'll go to Dr. Carrie.

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

I want to thank you, Minister, for being here again with your officials at the health committee. We always enjoy having you here and we do appreciate your forthright answers to our questions.

You're well aware of one of the things that I'm very interested in. As a chiropractor in Oshawa, before I got involved in politics, I had a practice full of people who were very wellness-oriented, preventive-care oriented, very much into personal responsibility for their health. Some of the things that I used in my practice were vitamins, minerals, herbs, and things along these lines.

Back in 2004, under the previous government, the Liberal government brought in these new regulations. Over the last several years I've heard from a lot of Canadian businesses and consumers who have expressed their discontent with regard to the bureaucratic backlog created when these regulations came into force.

I was wondering if you could provide an update for our committee on any progress we have made on this issue, because I think at one time there was a backlog of over 10,000 products. Would you be able to give us some insight?

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Nunavut, NU]

We're talking about the NHPs?

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

They're the natural health products.

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Nunavut, NU]

Okay.

Our government recognizes that Canadians want to be able to choose from a wide range of safe and effective natural health products, so we have introduced a new approach for NHPs, which enables more efficient processing of applications to increase consumer access to safe and effective products.

Review times for applications are now based on how much we know about each product, relying on the library of information collected from the licensing of over 60,000 natural health products. NHPs about which we know the most are reviewed in a shorter period of time than are those we don't know much about or those that are more complex. So the administrative burden for bringing lower-risk products to the market is reduced. Our target is now to have these applications reviewed in 30 days or less, with the majority of them being done in 10 days.

That means that our efforts can now be focused on the lesser known or more complex products. The target in that area is to have those reviews completed in 180 days or less. Ultimately the improvements have provided a stable and predictable approach to the industry, and these changes are having a very positive impact. The new approach played a key role in eliminating the backlog of over 10,000 NHPs, so we are making huge progress in processing those NHP applications in Health Canada.

Thank you.

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

Excellent.

I want to follow up with another question. Right now, as you know, the health committee is undertaking a study on technological innovation. We've had some of the most interesting witnesses we've ever had, and the potential we see is just huge.

I wonder if you could elaborate on how electronic health services will result in positive health outcomes. I know you've been very interested in Health Infoway and things along those lines, but could you specifically comment on how this will help change health care services, specifically in rural communities?

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Nunavut, NU]

Infoway and electronic health records are having a positive impact in many of the remote, isolated communities in Canada. I'm a big believer that we need to start looking at technology, e-health, or Infoway to address getting better services into our remote, isolated communities.

How can we use telehealth, for instance, to provide mental health counselling to individuals who require assistance or support that may not necessarily be there? There are examples of pilot programs out there through which psychiatrists can provide services to youth who require support. In isolated, remote communities, we're able to do assessments of X-rays and what not from the high Arctic with hospitals, etc.

Going forward, I think this technology has to be an integral part of our discussion in terms of how we are going to improve primary health care services, particularly in the most isolated communities in Canada.

That was a great question. Thank you.

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

How am I doing for time?

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

You have about two and a half more minutes.

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

Thank you very much.

We recently heard our most recent budget, budget 2013, and I know there was some really good stuff in there for the health care community. I wonder if you could comment on some of the really good things that are in budget 2013 with regard to health.

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Nunavut, NU]

The good thing about this one, for us in Health, is that there is long-term stable funding for transfers to provinces and territories, first of all. The second is in our primary responsibility, which is first nations' health. We have the budget for long-term predictable funding in this area. We have resources to provide more innovative services to first nations within that—accreditation is an example. Those, I think, are the highlights for us—a long-term stable area.

Other areas relate to better integration of our own services within the Public Health Agency and Health Canada, and in how we can better collaborate and work with similar resources internally, cutting down some of the red tape to provide better services. We've been able to make some improvements in that—in reducing red tape in processing applications, as an example.

So there are a number of great investments in health care.

At the same time, I think it has been very well received by the provinces and territories that they have long-term, stable, predictable funding that allows each jurisdiction to provide their own investments in areas of their priorities.

The other area is research. We have research funding. CIHR is providing funding to more than 10,000 research projects in our communities. That will also be very helpful in addressing some of the challenges we have in health care, particularly around tuberculosis. As an example, the pathways to health equity program is to basically bridge the health gaps between aboriginal people and the rest of Canadians. That program focuses on areas such as obesity, diabetes, oral health, suicide, and mental health, as well as tuberculosis.

This is the first time research investments are being made in partnership with aboriginal people. One key element that has changed is that we're not approving research projects in which aboriginal people are being studied from afar. It requires a partnership of health care researchers partnering with aboriginal people on the ground, so that we can bridge between traditional knowledge and modern medicine in how we address some of those challenges.

That area is very exciting, and it's new. I look forward to making some announcements around some of the proposals that are coming forward.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

Thank you, Minister.

Now we'll go to Dr. Fry.

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

I'm going to ask my questions, but because I have only seven minutes I want to get very succinct answers, if I can, please.

I'm going to start by asking about some of the cuts in the budget and why they were done and how the Department of Health is going to be able to cope, given some of the cuts. For instance, we see that the whole health portfolio since 2012 has had $200.6 million cut from it, so its ability to do the work it has to do is very compromised. My question, then, is not just about that but about, for instance, health promotion and disease prevention.

We have seen the tobacco strategy eliminated, and we have seen cuts to substance abuse and addiction funding, etc.—cuts of 35% in tobacco alone. Given that six million Canadians still smoke, how is this going to decrease the burden on the health care system for cardiovascular disease, lung disease, etc., which is going to obviously cost the system at the other end?

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Nunavut, NU]

On the issue of tobacco, Canada is a world leader in tobacco control impact. According to recent reports by the Canadian Cancer Society, Canada's world ranking for cigarette package warnings rose to fourth in 2012.

When flavoured little cigars became increasingly popular, we took immediate action in the House of Commons by cracking down on tobacco marketing for children. We'll continue to do that—

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

Minister, excuse me. I asked you a specific question. May I have an answer to it?

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

Order, please.

Dr. Fry, I will not have interruptions. Let the minister finish. Then you can ask your questions.

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

I'd like to get an answer to my question, Madam Chair. I have only seven minutes.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

No, I will stop right now, if you don't listen.

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

Yes, of course.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

Minister, would you continue? Then Dr. Fry can continue.

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Nunavut, NU]

The new tobacco regulations, which are also requiring health warning messages that are new as well, increase to 75%. This year there is also a pan-Canadian toll-free “quit line”, which we introduced in partnership with the provinces and the territories. Again, that was introduced in the last year.

Our government is quite proud of the record we have related to the rate of tobacco use in Canada, which is currently the lowest ever, at 17%. Only 8% of Canadian youth aged 15 to 17 smoke—another record low. Those are significant results from the investments we have been making.

Thank you.