Health Committee on Sept. 27th, 2016

[Karin Phillips, Committee Researcher]

We have numerous witnesses from all different members. Right now as it stands, I've put—

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

Just one second. Are we going to name witnesses?

[Karin Phillips]

I can, but I thought I would talk about it generally and then—

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

Let's talk about it generally with no names, because we're not in camera. If we're going to talk about possible witnesses, whether they come or not, we'll have to go in camera, so no names, please.

[Karin Phillips]

There are five meetings listed. It could be more, because we've received the names of numerous witnesses. The witnesses I put on panels were those who were prioritized by members.

Broadly speaking, it starts with federal officials to give a lay of the land as to what the current response is and what's going on. Then it moves into hearing from stakeholders, and that's pretty much it.

As you can see, there are more witnesses here that you could hear from. I tried to make sure there was a balance of perspectives, so I didn't put two of the same kind of witness on the panel. It's up to the committee how many hearings they want to have on this study.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

This shows five.

[Karin Phillips]

Yes, this shows five. I would suggest looking at the alternates, and then you could say if you want to hear from more of them.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

Is there any discussion?

There's no discussion....

[Len Webber, Conservative, Calgary Confederation, AB]

I'll make a short comment here with regard to some of these possible presenters.

We've all heard stories of families and individuals who are afflicted by this opioid crisis. Do we need to hear more of that at these meetings? I would say not. I would prefer to listen to individuals who possibly could have a solution to this crisis. I'd be pleased to see the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canada Border Services Agency present to us on how to counter these drugs from being smuggled in and such.

As much as it breaks my heart to hear those presentations from individuals who've had afflictions with drug addiction, I think we already know there's a crisis and we should maybe eliminate some of those from of this list.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

Were these names all provided by members?

[Karin Phillips]

Yes. There's only one that was a request to appear, and that's the AFN, the Assembly of First Nations.They're on the list for the last meeting, which will focus on first nations communities.

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

I simply want to confirm what Mr. Webber said. I agree. We know that families have been affected by this and devastated by it. I don't know if there's value added; we need data and solutions. It's not that I'm not interested in their perspective. We know the tragedies they are going through and we're trying to prevent them. I think the best way is, as you say, through objective witnesses with data.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

Go ahead, Mr. Kang.

[Darshan Singh Kang, Liberal, Calgary Skyview, AB]

I think the more we talk about this, the more confusing it's going to get.

First Mr. Webber wanted to have witnesses here, and we should have been looking at the root cause of the problem very quickly. If we know the solutions, then we shouldn't have gone through the exercise of lining up all these witnesses, so I don't know where Mr. Webber wants to go with this.

I think we should bring in the witnesses and very quickly get to the root cause of the problem so we can give some direction to the minister on how to go about addressing this crisis. I don't know how many members already have the solutions or have the data.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

Go ahead, Dr. Carrie.

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

Mr. Chair, first of all, thank you for letting us have a look at this. This is a very complicated issue. Addiction is a hugely complicated issue. I do believe, though, that some of the individuals here and some of the families involved are actually now sitting on boards to give perspective to different boards and stuff. I think their insight is very valuable because they look at how it affects families and communities, and that gives a perspective on what the government can do to help in the future.

We're already past the time for committee business. I have another place that I need to go. Maybe we could end the meeting here and finish our discussions at the end of the meeting next time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

I have only one more speaker on the list, Mr. Davies, and then we can do that.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

I would second Dr. Carrie's point. I think we should pick this up and take a look at it. I think it's a very good list, but I think there's some tweaking that should happen. For instance, in meeting three, we have the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police. We already are going to be hearing from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in the first meeting, and I would rather hear from the Vancouver firefighters, who are front-line responders. I'd rather substitute them, for instance.

I have a couple of small tweaks to it, so maybe we can pick this up and finalize—

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

We'll do that, and we'll do it in camera so that we can talk about individual names in the next meeting.

In the next meeting, we're going to hear from the PBO. Then after they're done, we're going to talk about Mr. Kang's motion and we'll also talk about this work plan. We have to talk about the pharmacare work plan as well, and there are two private motions, one for Mr. Webber and one for Mr. Davies, that we have to deal with.

Go ahead, Mr. Oliver.

[John Oliver, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

Following Thursday, we have to hear witnesses on the opioid study, so can we give direction to the clerk to begin to confirm the first and second meetings so that we actually have witnesses lined up who are aware that they're coming to Ottawa next week?

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

Can we have consensus that the first two meetings are okay to book?

[Voices]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

Thank you.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

That's the first meeting for sure. In the second meeting, we have this Marie Agioritis, mother of an overdose victim. I don't think we should schedule her—

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

We're not going to talk names. No names.