Health Committee on March 12th, 2021

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Sure. I think—

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

If there are problems identified, those problems can be worked out together. The federal government has been very clear that we will be there in a heartbeat should we need to support provinces and territories in their—

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Sure. I understand your position, Minister—

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

—responsibility to deliver health care in their jurisdictions. Furthermore—

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Sorry, Minister, but I have limited time. I got your answer.

The Liberal-appointed Hoskins advisory committee on the implementation of national pharmacare recommended that federal, provincial and territorial governments launch national pharmacare no later than January 1, 2022, by offering universal public coverage for an initial list of essential medicines and then expanding to a comprehensive formulary.

Will your government honour this recommendation and meet the deadline of January 1, 2022?

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

We are working as we speak on standing up the Canada drug agency, and that agency will be responsible for working on a formulary with provinces and territories. That work is under way as we speak. It would be premature for me to set a deadline and our capacity to meet that particular deadline. I'm sure the member understands that we've had a year of disruption in terms of consultations and the ability to move forward, but we are indeed moving forward.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

On another deadline, on November 26, 2020, I asked you if your government was prepared to finally move forward with amendments to Canada's patented drug price regulations on January 1, 2021. That would save Canadians an estimated $6.2 billion over 10 years. At that time, your government had already postponed those changes twice.

You said this: “...the changes to the PMPRB are going forward. We agree with the member opposite that we must have lower drug costs for Canadians.” However, on December 30, not a month later, you reversed that position and once again delayed implementation of those reforms. Why?

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

Mr. Chair, perhaps the member doesn't realize how disruptive a pandemic has been to the process of consultations and the process of working in partnership, in particular with pharmaceutical companies that are right now pulling out all the stops to deliver vaccines for world citizens. This is the priority of our government: getting people vaccinated, making sure that we have the capacity and the tools needed to get people vaccinated to protect Canadian health. In fact, those amendments are slated to come into force on July 1.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

We've heard that before.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you, Mr. Davies.

At this point, we'll start round two with Mr. Barlow.

Mr. Barlow, please go ahead for five minutes.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister, in relation to the requested voted authority amount of $225.5 million for quarantine hotels, is the $2,000 being charged to Canadians a means of cost recovery?

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

The amount varies that a Canadian will need to pay for the stay in a quarantine hotel, and it is set and determined by the hotel they choose.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

You don't know if it'll be a cost recovery for that person. We kind of heard that number is between $1,800 and $2,000. You can't say if that's a cost recovery...?

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

The money doesn't go to the Government of Canada. It goes to the hotel that's providing the services. They are contracted services.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Okay.

What is the $225.5 million going to cover?

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

Well, there are additional supports, of course, for the travellers themselves. There are additional supports for the hotel associations and a variety of other supports in terms of booking, in terms of Red Cross support for folks who are travelling and a variety of other kinds of measures.

I'll turn to Iain Stewart to speak to what those expenses are related to.

[Iain Stewart]

Mr. Chair, that line item refers to a variety of things that we're doing in relation to the border and quarantine measures. We provide security. We provide medical backstops for our designated quarantine facilities. We also have costs related to reception at airports and points of entry. That item is a number that covers a bucket of things.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Thanks, Mr. Stewart. Would you mind tabling those criteria or that list with the committee? That would be very helpful.

Minister, is any of that $225.5 million going to be used for legal fees? If so, how much of it has been allocated to them?

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

As Iain Stewart indicated, the money is for very important components of the quarantine program, including testing. These are direct supports for the quarantine program.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

So none of that $225.5 million has been allocated to legal fees?

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

I will get Iain Stewart to confirm that.

[Iain Stewart]

No, that money does not include funding for legal fees.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Minister, has money been put aside for the government to cover legal fees when it comes to hotel quarantines?

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

As the minister, I'm focused on making sure we're doing our utmost to protect Canadians against the importation of the virus and the variants, and the additional quarantine measures are—

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Just a yes or no then, Minister. That's fine.