Health Committee on May 28th, 2019

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

Welcome, everybody, to meeting number 148.

We are going to have a little chaos today with the votes and everything. I managed to meet with the minister on the way in and I asked if she would forgo her opening statement to allow for more questions. She said to table the statement. I appreciate that very much.

However, before going to questions, we'd like to invite the minister to say some opening words.

[Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Since we're pressed for time, I'll just say—

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Excuse me, Minister.

Mr. Chair, could I first just clarify the procedure? We did have some discussions when you weren't here. It will require unanimous consent to go past the ringing of the bells. I think there's consensus in the room that we will do the first round, which will be two times seven minutes, one for the Liberals, one for the Conservatives.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

Okay.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

That's what we thought was the fairest way to proceed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

I'll just ask for unanimous consent right now to extend.

Once the bells ring, can we continue on until the very last minute? Do we have unanimous consent?

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

No, it's to continue until the first round is complete, which would take us to about 4:10 p.m.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

We'll have one round of questions as long as we have time. Okay.

Well, thanks very much and welcome, Madam Minister. Sorry for the confusion. I'm just going to launch right in and invite you to give us greetings and then we'll go to questions.

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

Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you so much. It's a pleasure to be here and thank you for agreeing to allow me to table my remarks. We'll jump straight into questions. It's always a pleasure to be here. Thank you for the invitation.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

All right. We're going to open our seven-minute round with Mr. Ouellette.

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

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Minister, for being here with us.

I'd like to talk briefly about mental health. According to Statistics Canada, one in three Canadians is affected by mental health problems during their lifetime. This affects many aspects of life, including socio-economic conditions. In Manitoba, there are many people with addiction problems, homeless people.

I want to know exactly what you are doing to help Canadians with mental health and addiction issues on the Prairies, in aboriginal communities and across Canada.

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

Mr. Ouellette, again, thank you very much for your extremely important question.

I don't know if you're aware of this, but before entering politics, I was a social worker by training, and I worked in front-line services. A large part of my work was with people with mental health and addiction problems. This makes it an issue that is close to my heart and a priority for me. I must tell you that I am happy to be part of a government that has made mental health a priority.

I assume that each of you, when you went door-to-door during the 2015 election campaign, probably heard several topics raised by our fellow citizens. For me, mental health was often a key element and people asked us for services. In 2017, I was very happy with our budget. We have made a historic investment in mental health of $5 billion over 10 years.

I am also pleased to be able to confirm to the committee that we have finally been able to complete the bilateral agreements with the provinces and territories. What was even more important than giving them money was that for one of the first times, all provinces and territories agreed on common indicators, which was really historic. We compiled a list of indicators for subsequent analysis to see where these investments went and the difference they made. This analysis begins this year. We have been collecting data for two years. I look forward to seeing the details.

On the issue of addiction, in your region and province, the methamphetamine crisis is obviously very real, but there are also other addiction issues. In the west and across Canada, the opioid issue is also a devastating one. We realize that there are many problems and that many people have lost their lives. Once again, this is a priority for our government. So we have made historic investments to ensure that provinces and territories are well equipped so that there are more resources on the ground to help people with addiction problems.

We have signed bilateral agreements, particularly in the area of addictions, with the provinces and territories. In addition to the health transfer, additional funds will be provided so that additional services can be provided. In addition, we have made regulatory changes to make it easier and more effective for people with substance abuse problems to use medication. We will continue to work with our partners in the field.

In addition to the federal government, provinces and territories, not-for-profit organizations play a key role. Let us not forget that. These people are the first on the ground and, I repeat, they are doing an exceptional job. It is very important to involve them in our interventions so that they too can offer services.

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

Thank you.

I am going to share my speaking time with Mr. Eyolfson and Mr. Fragiskatos.

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, London North Centre, ON]

Thank you to my colleague, and thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister, I'm only an associate member of this committee. I'm not a regular committee member. I'm sitting in for Sonia Sidhu today. It's my good fortune that you're here, because I want to ask you about diabetes research in Canada.

As you might know, London, Ontario, is home to Sir Frederick Banting and Banting House, which is a wonderful local organization that continues to advocate for diabetes research right across Canada.

As you know, 11 million Canadians have either diabetes or prediabetes. Can you tell us what the government is doing to advance diabetes research in Canada?

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

Yes, absolutely.

It's quite ironic that you're replacing Sonia Sidhu, because Sonia is absolutely passionate about the work in this area and is always making sure that we think about further investments in this very important area.

We certainly recognize that diabetes affects over 10 million Canadians. It's an area where we've done significant research. We've invested over $112 million in the area of diabetes research and also looking at what we can do with respect to common risk factors and approaches and other treatments. As the government, it's truly important to make sure that we continue to invest in research to come up with better solutions, and eventually to find a cure for diabetes. Ultimately, that is our goal. We recognize that insulin was created here in Canada and we want to make sure that all of the investments can be made in research to put an end to this disease.

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, London North Centre, ON]

Thank you very much.

[Doug Eyolfson, Liberal, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

Robert, thank you for sharing your time with me.

Minister, as you know, I've been very active in the file on a national pharmacare program. I wonder if you could tell me, since the working group on pharmacare has released its interim report, what steps the government has taken towards establishing a national pharmacare system.

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

As everyone is probably aware, in budget 2019 we were pleased to see investments for the creation of a Canadian drug agency. When we received the interim report from Dr. Hoskins in March of this year, he and the committee members made one recommendation for sure. They indicated that regardless of which model we use for a national pharmacare program, whatever option it may be, the foundational piece is the creation of this drug agency.

The drug agency in question will have a twofold mandate. First, the drug agency's role will be to put together and maintain a formulary. The second part of its job is going to be to negotiate drug prices. We certainly recognize, for a national pharmacare program, the need to address the area of cost and get the best value. As a result of that, this drug agency will be able to have better negotiation power, because from there they'll be purchasing more medications. I'm very pleased that we've received the funding in budget 2019 and will be moving forward with the creation of this drug agency.

Finally, with respect to budget 2019 as well, there was a significant investment made in the area of rare diseases. In fact, $1 billion will be invested.

Once again, those were two areas that Dr. Hoskins was very clear on in the interim report, so I'm extremely pleased that we received the funding in budget 2019 to address the two matters.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

Thanks very much.

Now we'll go to Mr. Webber.

You're going to share your time with Ms. Gladu.

[Len Webber, Conservative, Calgary Confederation, AB]

Yes, I will be. Thank you.

Hello, Minister. Thank you for being here today.

I have an important question to ask you about my private member's bill, Bill C-316, which would allow Canadians to indicate their intent to register as organ and tissue donors on their income tax forms.

Everyone on this committee supported it. We passed it unanimously in the House back in December and it is now in the Senate. I was also pleased that you and the government allocated funding as well for this implementation in your fall economic statement. The Canada Revenue Agency also says that if the bill is passed soon, they can get it on the 2019 income tax forms.

However, I am told by several senators, from all parties, that this bill might not pass because it has become a political football in the Senate. Senators do not have a problem with my bill, but they apparently are trying to use it to leverage other pieces of legislation, so it's a type of Mexican standoff. While I understand this happens in politics, we are now seriously risking losing a life-saving, sensible and affordable change to our tax forms, and of course, hundreds of Canadians will continue to die waiting for a life-saving organ.

Is there anything you can do, or are willing to do, to ensure that Bill C-316 can get passed?

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

Mr. Webber, first of all, thank you for the work you've done in bringing forward Bill C-316. It's a very important piece of legislation and one that I think will save lives of Canadians. Well done. I think you had the unanimous consent of all the colleagues in your caucus and the other parties to move forward with this bill.

As you've seen in budget 2019, monies were allocated there as well, because we are serious that we want to move forward with this. In no way do I want you to think that on this side we're trying to slow things down. It's just the opposite.

[Len Webber, Conservative, Calgary Confederation, AB]

It's the Senate. Can you do anything there?

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

Well, we know the Senate is independent—

[Len Webber, Conservative, Calgary Confederation, AB]

[Inaudible—Editor]

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

—but we certainly know there are quite a few bills right now in the Senate. I absolutely respect the work that the Senate does, the work they do on a daily basis. It's an important part of our functioning here. However, I truly hope we'll be able to see the passage of your bill and a few other bills.

What I can commit to you is that I will certainly speak to some of the senators I do know—