Evidence of meeting #11 for Health in the 43rd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was pandemic.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Len Webber Conservative Calgary Confederation, AB
Thank you for that, Dr. Mohammad, and for the work that you do on the front lines. I appreciate it very much.
Mr. Ian Culbert, I have a similar question about your thoughts on these current practices in our health care system here in Canada. Is that something your organization should consider lobbying the government for, namely, funding for triage areas throughout the country?
Executive Director, Canadian Public Health Association
Yes, thank you for the question.
In fact our organization is focused much more on the upstream side of the health system, looking at actually keeping people out of those triage systems in the first place.
I do want to point out regarding the previous question that Justice Campbell's report was an Ontario-specific report. If you look at the recommendations, most of them have been applied in Ontario.
It was Dr. David Naylor who did the federal report, and many of its recommendations have yet to be implemented fully.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ron McKinnon
Thank you, Mr. Webber.
We go now to Mr. Fisher.
Mr. Fisher, you have five minutes.
Liberal
Darren Fisher Liberal Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank every one of you for being here. We're so fortunate on this health committee to be able to hear from brilliant people, week in and week out.
Mr. Culbert, modelling isn't data, but data informs modelling. Today Dr. Tam and Dr. Njoo presented modelling based on the best data they could get from the provinces and territories. I'm interested in your thoughts on this modelling and on the measures, whether effective or not, that all levels of government have been pushing on Canadian citizens.
Also, just how important is individual action by Canadian citizens?
Executive Director, Canadian Public Health Association
You're right that modelling is helpful. It's helpful for the system to be able to anticipate what might be coming down the road. It is not an exact science by any stretch, as so many variables can impact where those numbers go.
As I said in my remarks, I still believe that the individual behavioural change we're seeing among Canadians is probably the most important factor. It's not the only factor, but it's certainly the most important factor. If we maintain physical distancing and working from home—all of those different factors—to keep people healthy, first and foremost, all of that is focused on keeping people out of emergency rooms. If we reduce the number of people who become infected, we reduce the number of people who become seriously ill and therefore reduce the number of people who need to go into an ICU.
Liberal
Darren Fisher Liberal Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS
To talk about PPE for just a moment, normally provincial and territorial health authorities or provincial and territorial governments would order it and stock it and distribute it to their health authorities.
What are your thoughts on what the federal government is doing right now, whether it be speedy procurement or any of the efforts to invest in Canadian companies to retool to do this made in Canada approach to provide PPE for the amazing health care workers we have in this country?
Executive Director, Canadian Public Health Association
I think the government is fundamentally pulling out all the stops to get as much PPE out to communities as necessary.
It does speak to the issue of the national emergency stockpile and how it is managed. I think closer collaboration among the federal government and provincial and territorial governments is key in this regard because it's extremely wasteful to have a national stockpile of equipment that has expiry dates. We could have reciprocal arrangements for the provinces and territories that, on a yearly basis, we sell that equipment to the provinces and territories so that we can keep renewing the emergency stockpile and don't have a complete waste of resources of just throwing stuff out once it becomes expired.
I think we can improve that system dramatically if there is greater collaboration.
Liberal
Darren Fisher Liberal Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS
Yes, and Mr. Dingwall spoke about the collaboration between PHAC and the various health authorities, and I agree with Mr. Dingwall on that.
We always talk about the rapidly evolving pandemic. Can you tell us a little bit about how it's evolved, how science has responded and maybe how the government has responded? How have we learned, or should learn, from countries that are maybe a little bit ahead of us in the pandemic?
Executive Director, Canadian Public Health Association
Certainly. I'll contrast it to SARS.
SARS we knew very little about. We didn't know it was airborne until the crisis was fundamentally over. In contrast, with COVID-19 we've done the genomic sequences in an incredibly fast turnaround. We have a variety of diagnostic tests and we have made them available in a very short time. However, unlike what happened with H1N1, we're not able to produce a vaccine in a similarly short time, because it's a novel coronavirus. It's not something we've seen in our environment before.
The international collaboration around knowledge sharing has been tremendous. The international publishing houses that control the scientific journals around the world have been very open in sharing all of that data, even pre-published materials, so I think the level of scientific advancements in this period of time has been tremendous, but we're always catching up because we've never been here before with this particular virus.
Liberal
Darren Fisher Liberal Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS
I have a quick question, then.
Mr. Culbert, the federal government has an important role in the health care of Canadians, especially in this pandemic, but can you confirm for me that guidelines for health care workers generally fall to the provinces and territories?
Executive Director, Canadian Public Health Association
Generally speaking, yes. It is the role of the Public Health Agency of Canada, in an emergency like this, to develop supplementary guidelines so there is some consistency across the country.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ron McKinnon
Thank you, Mr. Fisher.
Mr. Berthold, you have the floor for five minutes.
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Culbert, my question will be quite direct. You said in a CBC interview that the fact that people know more about pandemics helps them make the right decisions for their own protection. Do you consider that Canada was quick enough in conveying the magnitude of the pandemic and the risks, since it is only today that we have learned about the expected health effects?
Do you not think that Canada should have acted much more quickly to convey the risks to the public?
Executive Director, Canadian Public Health Association
My view is that the government has been extremely transparent with the number of cases and the type of spread that we've been seeing.
I think everyone wants to see the modelling numbers, but they are so variable, based on how we as individuals respond. It's good for the system to know what we might be expecting, but it can also be fear-invoking for a lot of people. This is a period of high anxiety for Canadians, so we have to provide modelling figures very carefully.
However, I do believe the government has been transparent in—
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
Mr. Culbert, in an interview, you said this:
“Knowing more about the outbreak in their community could help people to follow advice from public health.”
I think people have been slow to react and protect themselves. You can't say one thing and then say the opposite. The sooner people are aware of the threat, the sooner they will protect themselves.
Executive Director, Canadian Public Health Association
In the CBC interview you're referring to, I believe I was being asked about how much information should be shared, as in how many cases there were and how specific the information should be, as opposed to protecting the anonymity of individuals and their confidential health information. I was saying that information should be shared as much as possible without compromising confidentiality. I do not think it's a disconnect from saying—
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
I agree with you. Thank you very much, Mr. Culbert.
I'd now like to ask Ms. Lapointe a question.
Ms. Lapointe, first of all, I tip my hat to all healthcare staff currently working in hospitals. You are indeed at the centre of the crisis, it's important to say that. I was absolutely flabbergasted to hear that people are still working without protection in establishments, particularly in CHSLDs, where there are outbreaks. We can see that the problem lies in those establishments.
Work is currently being done on technologies that will allow the manufacture of electronic devices to protect healthcare workers. Each healthcare worker could have their own device to filter the air they breathe in and out.
Do you think the government should consider this solution, given that we have learned today that the situation could go on for several more months?
Vice-President, Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec
As I said earlier, public health guidelines in Quebec are constantly changing. It's been determined that there is sustained community spread throughout Quebec. That was problematic, because in previous days they claimed that there was provincial community spread, but the INSPQ documents still contained a paragraph that said regional epidemiology had to be taken into account. We were still in a grey area.
As of yesterday, the INSPQ has changed its message on community spread. Indeed, the surgical mask or procedure mask—I am not talking about the N95—is required for all healthcare professionals and workers when within 2m of a patient or colleague, whether they are a presumptive case or have tested positive or negative. This is brand new. It took province-wide community spread to adequately protect workers.
There is still the dilemma of...
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
If there was a technological solution allowing each employee to have their own mask and not have to take masks from others, disinfected disposable masks, should we choose this option?
Vice-President, Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec
That would be a potentially very interesting option, but the type of equipment has yet to be determined. We are only asking for N95 masks and we don't have them. You understand, I will wait for the technology to arrive before I consider it.
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
Thank you, Ms. Lapointe.
Mr. Chair, do I have any more time?