Okay.
Evidence of meeting #48 for Health in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was children.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #48 for Health in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was children.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:50 p.m.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I have a question on the meals. Under “miscellaneous”, it refers to three working meals, and then it says there's a $500 unit price totalling $1500. Does it cost $500 for each meal?
12:50 p.m.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
So one meal costs $380, so the $500 is just overbudgeting, that's the limit of what we can spend, but we don't expect to spend that much.
12:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bill Casey
Are there any other questions? Do I have a motion to approve the budget for M-47?
(Motion agreed to)
Now we have Ms. Harder with a point on the schedule.
12:50 p.m.
Conservative
Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB
Chair, in the calendar you've proposed, we will bring forward the thalidomide witnesses on May 9 and 11. This isn't something that has been decided concretely by the committee, so I want to ensure that we will solidify these dates as the ones that we will indeed discuss thalidomide.
12:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bill Casey
My understanding is that the committee approved those dates subject to certain information from Health Canada, which has not arrived yet. If we get that information, those two meetings will go ahead.
12:50 p.m.
Conservative
12:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bill Casey
Mr. Oliver, would you like to...? Mr. Oliver specified the information we needed.
12:50 p.m.
Liberal
John Oliver Liberal Oakville, ON
I don't have the exact wording. One was the number of people who had been denied access to the fund. The second was more complex—it was the rationale in respect of factors that would lead to somebody's not qualifying.
12:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bill Casey
It was mostly statistics and the rationale behind the approval or denial. We have not received an answer yet. If we do get an answer, the committee has agreed to have those dates for that study.
12:50 p.m.
Conservative
Len Webber Conservative Calgary Confederation, AB
Mr. Chair, I see here on April 10 that there is a response from Health Canada on the thalidomide question.
12:50 p.m.
Conservative
Len Webber Conservative Calgary Confederation, AB
That's the deadline for the answer, so we will have an answer by then.
12:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bill Casey
That's the deadline. We've imposed that deadline, but they haven't agreed to it. If we don't have an answer by then, I think we will press for it.
12:50 p.m.
Conservative
Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB
Would it then be appropriate for me to put forward a motion that we push forward for this study on May 9 and 10?
12:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bill Casey
We've already agreed to those dates subject to information from Health Canada.
12:55 p.m.
Conservative
Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB
Let's say Health Canada doesn't get us the information by April 10, which is the deadline we've given them. What are the next steps?
12:55 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bill Casey
We will delay those meetings until we have the information, I would say. That would be my opinion. The committee would have to decide, but that would be my suggestion. We wanted that very specific information.
Any other questions?
The clerk is suggesting that yesterday was the deadline for witnesses for our Bill S-211 sickle cell study. He's suggesting that we move it to Friday. So April 7, this Friday, will be the deadline for the witness list for the sickle cell bill.
We asked Dr. Gahagan to send us a study she referred to. She sent us 124 pages. That is going to take a lot of work to translate. We have a scientific summary and we're proposing to translate those four pages and distribute them. Is that all right with the committee—instead of 124 pages?
12:55 p.m.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
That would be fine, Mr. Chair, but could we provide a link to the study? Would that be okay even though the study is only in English?
12:55 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bill Casey
I'll find out. I don't know if we have a link or not. If I hear of one, I'll let you know.
That's it for official business, unless there's anything else.
Ms. Harder.
12:55 p.m.
Conservative
Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB
Mr. Chair, I would like to make a proposal. With regard to the thalidomide study, in the interest of time, if the Health Department does not get back to us with the information that we need by April 10, it would seem appropriate to me that we propose to go forward with the study on May 9 and 11 and bring forward the department as our first witness.
We already have the answer to one of the questions. When the minister was here with regard to the opioids study, she said that there are 24 affected individuals. We have that on record. We can recall that record if you so wish, but there is no reason why Health Canada can't be our first witness for this study and why this cannot go forward on May 9 and 11. I would propose that we solidify those dates.