Health Committee on March 11th, 2020

[Robert Gordon Kitchen, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Correct. We're challenged.

[Dr. Theresa Tam]

There are needs globally and some of these are global supply chains. We're looking at all of those, but we're also looking at the possibility of some domestic capacity as well.

We've pulled a few departments together to see if there's someone else in Canada who isn't really making it now—

[Robert Gordon Kitchen, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

We have people in Canada who are producing these tests for us. Is that correct?

[Dr. Theresa Tam]

It is for some components of this.

[Robert Gordon Kitchen, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

We're not dependent on another country like China to produce these tests and bring them to Canada.

[Dr. Theresa Tam]

Where we can, of course, we'll continue to purchase it, but where we're looking at an additional surge, we are looking at some domestic capacity.

[Robert Gordon Kitchen, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Thank you.

Minister, in an answer to one of the questions you received earlier on the demand for access to primary care, you talked about the billions of dollars we're giving. The question was about wait times. Again, you talked about the money being given to that. That's great we're seeing this money, but you didn't answer the question, which was what steps are you taking to improve our primary care services and what steps are we doing to decrease the wait time.

Can you give us at least one answer—not the financial one—on what steps the government is taking to answer these questions?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

What's important to remember is that, historically, there haven't been any outcome measurements with health transfers, as you know. There have been very few kinds of accounting for where exactly the transfers go and how they actually result in better care.

[Robert Gordon Kitchen, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

There's no accountability for where that money goes.

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

I'm saying, “historically”. Those are the kinds of things we've been working on with provinces and territories. There's a shared sense of outcome measurements.

You can imagine that provinces and territories—given that they have the jurisdiction to deliver services—obviously have a desire to continue to do that in a way that's appropriate to their populations. We continue to work with the provinces and territories on setting standards that we can all agree on, such as the mental health standards that I spoke about earlier, so we can ensure we have better accountability.

[Robert Gordon Kitchen, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Can you tell us here today where we can find one of the steps that has been taken on the mental health issue?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

As I said, this is an ongoing piece of work. The provinces and territories have agreed that mental health standards are important, but now it's the process of creating a shared set of standards, which as you know will require negotiations with the provinces and territories.

I profoundly respect the work that the provinces and territories are doing and I profoundly respect that they have jurisdiction over delivery of services. That's why it's important that we work together as a federal partner and that we don't impose standards they may feel are unrealistic or don't meet the needs of their population, so that we arrive at a set of standards that Canadians can count on and can measure themselves.

[Robert Gordon Kitchen, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Minister, in the last government, the health committee—

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Dr. Kitchen, that's time.

Ms. Sidhu, you have five minutes.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Thank you, Minister for your leadership.

Panel, you're doing an awesome job. I thank you very much for being here today.

Minister, my riding is Brampton South. It is known as a hot spot for diabetes, especially polyuria. Too many in my community are feeling the affects of diabetes. I have put forward a private member's bill to establish a national diabetes framework.

Can you tell us what the government is doing to decrease the number—which is rising each year—of Canadians with diabetes?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

Thank you, Ms. Sidhu, for your work on diabetes. I know it's been a passion of yours for a very long time. I look forward to reviewing your private member's bill with you, and working with you on reducing the incidence of diabetes and supporting the treatment of diabetes across Canada.

About three million Canadians are living with diabetes, and 200,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. We've been making investments in research, prevention and early detection of diabetes, so that fewer Canadians develop this condition and that better treatments are available when diabetes occurs.

Over the last five years, we've invested approximately $229 million toward diabetes research, with over $48 million funded in 2018-19 alone. We've recently launched an initiative to celebrate 100 years of insulin, accelerating Canadian discoveries to defeat diabetes. To date, it represents a total commitment of approximately $47 million over seven years, $29 million from CIHR and $18 million from a range of provincial, national and international partners.

The work will continue, and some of the work that we do as federal politicians around improving people's quality of life—increasing the Canada child benefit so people have access to fresh fruits and vegetables, ensuring we have a Canada food guide that's based on evidence so that it helps inform better eating, the work I will be doing on the Canada healthy eating strategy, including nutrition for children—these are all measures we can be proud of that will reduce the incidence of diabetes in Canada.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

In your mandate letter, there is a commitment to lead work, with the support of the Deputy Prime Minister and with other ministers, to strengthen medicare and renew our health agreement with the provinces and territories.

I'm from Brampton. It has one hospital, Brampton Civic Hospital. It's chronically underfunded and faces overcrowding with hallway medical care on a daily basis. The City of Brampton declared a health emergency. What work are you doing with the Province of Ontario to ensure that the people of Brampton can access the services they need to stay healthy?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

We've met with the City of Brampton, you and other Brampton area MPs, to talk about the challenges that the Brampton hospital faces. It is profound. It is not unlike other communities that are serviced by one hospital. I understand the struggle for Brampton residents in terms of getting the care they need.

The significant investments we're making, the $42 billion, for example, that I mentioned that will happen this year through the Canada health transfer is an important step toward improving health care access for all. The work we'll be doing ensuring that everybody has access to primary care services will reduce the load on places like hospitals.

I refer to my colleague, who very recently has practised at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre. Sometimes people end up in hospital or in emergency rooms, because they don't have access to primary care. They can't actually get a different level of care. The work that we'll do on improving access to primary care will also help decrease the burden on hospitals all across the country. I'm looking forward to doing that work with my colleagues.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Canadians pay too much for prescription drugs. In the last Parliament, in the health committee, we conducted a study on national pharmacare. What are you doing to move us forward on national pharmacare, so that no Canadian has to make a choice between medication and paying their bills?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

You're absolutely right to indicate that too many Canadians have to make choices that lead to poorer health outcomes, or make them unavailable to actually continue living in a healthy way. That's why we've taken such important steps on the national pharmacare program.

In budget 2019, we significantly invested so that we can move forward with the Canadian drug agency. I'm working with the provinces and territories right now to assess their capacity and their desire to move forward. Of course, we will continue this work. It's very important we all work together to ensure people can afford their medications to treat their illnesses, to prevent further illnesses and to keep them healthy and active in their communities.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you, Ms. Sidhu.

Mr. Thériault, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.

[Luc Thériault, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

Minister Hajdu, you very skilfully answered my question earlier regarding the structural investments needed by the health care networks when it comes to health and providing care. They even agreed—and consensus is quite rare—that at least 5.2% would be required. Quebec has always said that it needs at least 6%.

You've invested $500 million today to support health preparedness efforts in particular. That's quite significant. A figure of 5.2% amounts to about $700 million.

However, we need recurrent funding. Your response didn't include a commitment in this area to ensure that people who have the expertise can benefit from structural investments to provide the necessary care.

If you create programs where you label the money, you then inevitably need an administrative body to manage the investment or program from coast to coast. Health care systems and networks need money, directly, on the front lines, on the ground.

Will you increase health transfers, as requested by Quebec and the different provinces, to 5.2% for all the reasons given earlier?

This concerns better public health management, medical assistance in dying, palliative care, and so on.

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

Thank you very much for the question.

We know there is incredible pressure on health care systems and that's why we've been working so hard with provinces and territories to increase the escalator so that we can actually address the growing cost of health care across the country.

As you know, all provinces and territories now have a commitment from the federal government for 3% growth each year, or nominal growth tied to the GDP growth, which obviously is the greater of those two. We're tracking the level of provincial spending. We're making sure that we are getting good value for the dollar, and we will continue to work with provinces and territories to understand their needs and to make sure that the transfers result in better care for all Canadians.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you, Ms. Hajdu.

Thank you, Mr. Thériault.

Mr. Davies, you have two and a half minutes. Go ahead, please.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Minister, it's been almost a year since the final report of the Hoskins advisory council on the implementation of national pharmacare was released. As you know, it recommended that Canada implement universal single-payer public pharmacare.

We know your cabinet colleague Finance Minister Morneau has been very clear that he would prefer a private patchwork approach rather than the universal single-payer plan that Dr. Hoskins recommends.

Minister, as the Minister of Health, and given that you have now had six months to assess Dr. Hoskins' report, what is your position? Do you agree with Dr. Hoskins or with Minister Morneau?