Health Committee on June 8th, 2016

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

Yes. The challenge, though, in being a local MP is that I had this ex-teacher come up to me saying his kids have these products or their friends do, and they're eating it going to school and giggling all afternoon because they're having these edibles.

It's interesting because the Prime Minister actually said they're legalizing it to keep the proceeds out of criminal hands. My understanding is that these dispensaries are not legal, but nobody is doing anything about it. These edibles in Colorado, they've seen a huge increase of kids going to hospitals as a result of eating them.

I know that Health Canada has the mandate to inspect vitamin stores. I'm just amazed. Are you meaning that the minister hasn't given you a mandate to put money to inspect these areas to see if there are safety issues in these things that are getting into the hands of our kids?

[Jamie Tibbetts]

That's correct. At this point the inspections that we do are in the licensed provider areas. We've seen much more activity in places like Vancouver, Toronto, and larger centres where the local governments are doing policing and other ways of combatting this. This will be fully discussed through the engagement process that the minister has put in place with the provinces and territories to come up with a new framework—

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

I'm just concerned because I'm hearing from my local constituents.... You'd think that if the Prime Minister and the minister's putting this out there, that they're going to be legalizing it, they'd at least give you the resources to make sure these dispensaries aren't selling unsafe and dangerous things that could be diverted to our kids, and that the proceeds are not going to organized crime, because that was the promise. I'm just a little disappointed.

Let's move on to another question. It's about tobacco, and I know the minister wants to, interestingly enough, take down tobacco advertising at the same time as legalizing marijuana. However, there was an article in the Financial Post about Australia's experience with these plain labels. I was wondering whether you guys have done an investigation on the best science to make decisions on this plain packaging issue. Have there been any studies done on that?

[Jamie Tibbetts]

Yes, there have been studies done by Health Canada over several years on tobacco labelling. We've been actively involved in evolving labelling in this country for many years now.

Plain labelling is one of the areas where we're coming forward with options to government for decisions on how to implement the direction that is in the mandate, which is a model similar to that in Australia, as you've mentioned. That will be used to inform the Canadian solution in that sort of realm, so some of the pros and cons of that model will be looked at and I would imagine slightly modified as we move forward with implementation.

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

Yes, I was concerned—

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

That's it. Thank you.

Mr. Davies.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you for being here today.

During the election there was a promise by the Liberal Party to invest $3 billion in home care funding over the course of a four-year term. No funding that I can see appeared in budget 2016.

Now, assuming the economy stays the same is there room for an additional $3 billion in home care investments over the coming three fiscal years within the fiscal projections made in the budget or in these estimates?

[Jamie Tibbetts]

I represent the finance of Health Canada and not the Department of Finance or the Treasury Board.

The money is in the mandate, and it is part of the negotiations around the renewal of the health accord as are things such as mental health and other estimates.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

I'm asking if the money's in the budget or in the estimates.

[Jamie Tibbetts]

It is not yet in the 2016-17 estimates. It was not in budget 2016 either. It was likely, however, in the fiscal framework planning through the Department of Finance.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Similarly, in terms of the health accord escalator we know that the previous government altered that to go from a 6% escalator down to a floor of 3% in 2017, or inflation.

Has there been any provision made by this government either in the budget or in these estimates for any change to that 3% escalator after 2017 that you can point me to?

[Jamie Tibbetts]

Not that I'm aware of.... Again, at Health Canada we deal with annual lapse in preparations and some planning in our reference levels. That funding, though, will not come through Health Canada.

It will go through the Canada health transfer that is done with the Department of Finance likely following the renewal of the health accord, which, with an aging population as well as the fiscal challenges all governments are facing for an affordable health care system, will be part of the dialogue and discussion that are under way now.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Now, the Assembly of First Nations has called for the establishment of at least 80 mental wellness teams to service the mental health needs of indigenous communities across Canada. I'm told there are currently only 10 mental wellness teams across the country.

On May 31, just a month ago, Dr. Tom Wong, from Health Canada, told the indigenous affairs committee that Health Canada is “Right now...doing the calculation on how much that would cost” to close the funding gap.

Do you have any timeline or any further information on that costing to share with the committee?

[Mary-Luisa Kapelus, Director General, Strategic Policy, Planning, and Information, First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, Department of Health]

This is one of our initiatives that we're working very closely on with the Assembly of First Nations. We have an engagement protocol with them, so we are well aware of Regional Chief Day's request.

Again, it's a very complex sort of calculation, but we are working closely. We do not have a number at this point in time, but we continue—

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Any rough timeline?

[Mary-Luisa Kapelus]

It depends on the timeline of the assembly as well.

Right now, at this point, I would say we're making progress with our partners.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

That's good to hear. Thanks.

I want to move to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. There's almost $11 million in the supplementary estimates (A) to be spent to maintain daily inspection presence in federally registered meat processing plants.

Can you tell me if, today, inspectors are present every day at all federally regulated meat processing plants?

[Paul Mayers]

Yes.

It is not just every day, but every shift that occurs in a federally registered meat processing facility. CFIA is present in all processing plants that are federally registered.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Mr. Mayers, I'm advised, and maybe I'm wrong, that they are present in all federally registered meat plants, but not in federally regulated meat processing plants.

Is that a distinction that is incorrect?

[Paul Mayers]

To clarify, for federally registered meat slaughter plants, there is continuous presence of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. It's not just that they're present every day, but they're present for every minute that product is processed.

For meat processing plants, CFIA inspectors visit those plants every day, every shift, but they are not present 100% of the time. It is an inspection done every single shift.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Okay.

Now I'm also told that there are a number of food safety inspection positions that are currently vacant.

Is that the case?

[Paul Mayers]

As you can imagine, with a workforce the size of the agency's, we do have departures and hiring. Occasionally, there are vacancies, absolutely, and that fluctuation is also impacted by the seasonal business that the agency undertakes. There are certain areas of our inspection activities, for example, that are seasonal in nature because of the nature of the products that they're associated with, so we do see seasonal variations in terms of our workforce.

Of course, we respond to departures with hiring, but it isn't instantaneous. So, yes, there are occasionally vacant positions in the agency.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

I'm advised that we're not just talking about seasonal or normal, typical vacancies, but chronic, established vacancies. I've been told that inspectors working in northern Alberta are short-staffed by 33%, and six of 18 inspection positions were not staffed.

According to a recent Abacus Data survey, almost 60% of meat inspectors say that the shortage of inspectors is so acute that the daily presence at meat processing plants is possible only some of the time.

Is that an overstatement?

[Paul Mayers]

I believe it is.

We have an obligation for not, as I said, just daily but every single shift, and many plants run more than one shift a day.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Are you saying that's being met?