Health Committee on May 28th, 2019

[Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

First and foremost, I would disagree that the lobbyists have influence over us. I have to say that I'm invited to speak at a number of events over the course of a year as Canada's health minister and I'm very proud to do so.

When it comes to the national pharmacare program, if you were to see my notes—and I can provide them to the committee here—with respect to the message I gave to them, it's always the same message. It's always a very consistent message that our plan is to move forward with a national pharmacare program.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Is that a public plan?

[Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

I think we'll have to wait to see the recommendations of the committee and to see what the decision is as we move forward.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

Your time is up. We're over, actually.

Mr. Ayoub, you're up.

[Ramez Ayoub, Liberal, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister, for being with us once again.

Seven minutes is very short. There are several important topics I would like to address, including one that is particularly close to my heart. I am referring here to the tragedy surrounding the young Athéna Gervais, which occurred not very far from my home in Laval. I know you met her father. I met him too.

Modified and improved regulation on beverages with a high sugar and alcohol content has just been put into effect. I would like you to tell us what your department has done, as part of this new regulation, to prevent similar situations involving young people from happening again. In this case, the question of the product itself bothers me, but there is also its availability.

Could you give us some details about this?

[Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

Thank you very much, Mr. Ayoub, for your very important question.

This is an issue that has affected not only Quebeckers, but all Canadians.

Losing a girl that age is extremely tragic. I met her father, and the situation was difficult for her family members. We often think of them.

As a government, we wanted to take immediate action to address this troubling situation. For this reason, we undertook consultations relatively quickly and subsequently made regulatory changes.

Let us look at the particular situation of this young girl, Athéna Gervais. She had bought three cans of a sweetened alcoholic beverage. If we make a comparison, each can contain the equivalent of four glasses of wine. This girl consumed almost three cans. She had consumed the equivalent of 12 glasses of wine in a 30-minute period. She didn't realize this because the drink was so sweet.

In order to make immediate changes, we made recommendations for regulatory changes. Currently, these canned beverages are no longer available on convenience store shelves. Since the changes were made, the alcohol limit in each can is equivalent to 1.5 standard drinks. We made this recommendation following the consultation period we had. Of course, some people asked us for an equivalent of one drink, and others for 2.5 to 3 standard drinks. Finally, we chose the equivalent of 1.5 standard drinks.

I think the Standing Committee on Health recommended the equivalent of one or one and a half drinks. So we made these changes immediately. These regulatory changes came into effect last week. I was very happy that we were able to act quickly.

I recognize that a year may seem like a long time, but we believe that in terms of regulatory changes, they were made fairly quickly, as quickly as possible.

[Ramez Ayoub, Liberal, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

It was dealt with quickly, I'll give you that.

[Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

Yes, it was.

[Ramez Ayoub, Liberal, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

You mentioned in your answer that Athéna had bought the cans. You have to make the distinction. She had obtained them. I don't think she bought them.

This refers to the second part of my question regarding the availability of these products. We know that products from this particular brand and others are available in convenience stores in plain sight and within everyone's reach. Availability and accessibility were therefore also a problem.

I know that there is a provincial and a federal responsibility. We fully respect these jurisdictional differences. I wanted to address this part of the question because it is important in terms of availability.

[Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

Absolutely. As you correctly said, the issue of responsibility comes into play with regard to where these types of drinks are available. Our regulatory changes have not affected this aspect.

A question that was put to me a lot last week when we made this announcement was about educating young people so that they can recognize the risks associated with excessive alcohol consumption. Education should be provided not only to young people, but also to adults.

We recognize that alcohol is a heavily consumed drug and it is important to ensure that the public is aware of the dangers associated with excessive alcohol consumption.

[Ramez Ayoub, Liberal, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

I want to address the issue of home care for seniors and those in need of it.

I know that this is a very important area in which our government has invested a lot. I took care of my father-in-law and mother-in-law to the very end, and my neighbours take care of their relatives so that they do not end up in hospitals or health care facilities, which can be much more expensive.

I would like you to tell me what our government has done to improve this situation.

[Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

Budget 2017 provided for further historic investments in mental health, but also in home care. We are very happy about that. We recognize that seniors want to stay at home as long as possible and maintain their independence. They do not want to go to homes if it is not necessary, but to stay in their own homes they need help and support services. With the $6-million investment over 10 years, we are providing provinces and territories with additional funding to ensure that seniors have access to resources in their homes.

Budget 2018 provided $75 million for a research project for seniors in New Brunswick. This province was chosen because it is small, with 750,000 inhabitants. There is a bilingual population as well as an indigenous population.

We created this pilot project. Organizations can apply for funding to establish community programs. I will give you an example. The first project, entitled "Nursing Homes Without Walls", was approved last week and will be conducted in Moncton, in my region.

Four nursing homes in four rural areas of the province are part of this pilot project. These are often very isolated places. These homes will hire additional staff to provide seniors with home care services to ensure that they take their medications, eat well, have their nails clipped and even have their yard cleared. Aside from the results expected from this pilot project, we will be able to share the results of this experience with the other provinces. We look forward to seeing the results.

The issue of seniors is a priority for me. We recognize that the population is aging and that we need to care for the elderly, who have cared for us in the past.

[Ramez Ayoub, Liberal, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

I still have a lot of questions to ask you, but I don't have any time left.

Thank you for answering my questions in the seven minutes allotted to me.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

Thank you very much. That completes our round.

[Robert-Falcon Ouellette, Liberal, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

After hearing the testimony from Monsieur Webber and also from the minister, I would like to present a motion. I'd like to table it at the earliest opportunity.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

We had unanimous consent to end after the questions, so we can move it after....

[Robert-Falcon Ouellette, Liberal, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

I just wanted to make sure you're aware. I don't want it to fall by the wayside because it's too late. I want to get on with it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

All right.

Thank you very much, Madam Minister, for presenting.

We're going to suspend and when we come back after the vote, we'll continue with the officials.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

I call the meeting back to order.

Thank you very much. I'm sorry for the interruption. We'll return to our study.

I would like to introduce our guests. I didn't introduce them earlier because I didn't want to waste even a moment.

From the Department of Health, we have Mr. Simon Kennedy, Deputy Minister.

From the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, we have Ms. Siddika Mithani, President.

From the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, we have Mr. Michael Strong.

Welcome. This is your first time.

From the Public Health Agency of Canada, we have Ms. Tina Namiesniowski, President, and Dr. Theresa Tam.

Thanks very much for coming.

We will go right into questions, starting with Mr. Lobb.

You're up for five minutes.

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

This question will be directed to Mr. Kennedy. It is a follow-up question to one that Marilyn Gladu asked concerning medical marijuana.

There was talk about Health Canada inspectors going out to inspect the sites. Can you tell me roughly how many times a Health Canada inspector has gone out to inspect one of these sites?

[Simon Kennedy, Deputy Minister, Department of Health]

I realize there is limited time so I won't run on, but there are essentially two different kinds of activities that we conduct with regard to medical cannabis.

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

I'm just asking whether Health Canada has ever gone out to inspect a grow operation that a person would have for their prescription.

[Simon Kennedy]

Generally speaking, we don't inspect those kinds of facilities, because that requires entering a person's place of residence, etc., but with regard to the licensed producers—

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

I understand that part very clearly.

My next question—

[Simon Kennedy]

Very good.

This doesn't mean we have not gone frequently, for example, with the police services to actually inspect when there are concerns, but we don't do regular, scheduled inspections of people at home.