Evidence of meeting #28 for Health in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was pandemic.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:55 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ron McKinnon
Thank you, Mr. d'Entremont.
Ms. Sidhu, please go ahead for 30 seconds.
12:55 p.m.
Liberal
Sonia Sidhu Liberal Brampton South, ON
My question is to Ms. Metz.
As we have said, the federal government has been there to support Canadians, providing eight out of every 10 dollars. Did you notice the impact of the support on Canadians?
1 p.m.
Executive Director, Consultant and Leadership Coach, Tri-City Transitions Society
In the last year with COVID, there certainly was an increase in support from the federal government. Where we noticed the biggest support was through the Canadian Women's Foundation. That came from federal dollars. That certainly has helped us over the past year. That support has also helped us to boost the services for sexual assault victims.
1 p.m.
Bloc
Luc Thériault Bloc Montcalm, QC
Dr. Soulez, talk, if you would, about the importance of overhauling how appointments are booked and investing in artificial intelligence?
April 12th, 2021 / 1 p.m.
Vice-President, Canadian Association of Radiologists
As you know, most provinces in Canada don't really have a central booking system or a system to prioritize appointments appropriately.
A number of systems have the ability to ensure that all the examinations requested at the primary care level are appropriate. However, improving the patient experience is absolutely crucial. You've probably all received a letter in the mail or by fax indicating that an appointment had been scheduled for you, only to realize that it's during your workday. It's absurd not to have an online system where people can book appointments at times that suit their schedules, a system that gives them access to contraindications and instructions to prepare for the examination. We are way behind the curve on that.
We really need to do a lot more to leverage information technology and move the process online. It would then be possible to analyze the workflow and streamline the process from beginning to end.
1 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ron McKinnon
Thank you, Mr. Thériault.
Mr. Davies, please go ahead for 30 seconds.
1 p.m.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Thanks.
Ms. McQuaig, Canada seems to be opposing the move at the WTO to override private patent rights for COVID vaccines so poor countries can get access to COVID vaccines. What's your comment on that?
1 p.m.
Journalist and Author, As an Individual
I think it's such a terrible position for Canada to be taking. Canada is essentially siding with big pharma, which wants to protect their patent rights, and frankly it's quite out of line with what Trudeau would normally be expected to do. He's very interested in his image as a progressive.
I think what this speaks to is the fact that the Trudeau government is very anxious to do what the big pharmaceutical companies want, because Canada feels so vulnerable when we don't have a vaccine supply of our own. I think this is just exactly the kind of problem that we would be correcting when we recreated something like Connaught Labs. We shouldn't be so much at the mercy of the big pharmaceutical companies, which is what we are.
The other thing that the big pharmaceutical companies are very anxious to push on the Canadian government—and I can see Sanofi trying to use the negotiations with Ottawa over this—is to push for Trudeau to back off from the changes he's announced to the patented medicines regulations, changes that are designed to reduce the price of drugs by billions of dollars for Canadians.
Let's not end up getting a vaccine supply through a private supplier, like Sanofi, in exchange for giving up the right to bring down drug prices in Canada. That would be a terrible trade-off.
1 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ron McKinnon
Thank you.
Mr. Thériault, I see your hand is raised. Do you wish to speak or have you already done so?
Mr. Davies, I see your hand is up.
1 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ron McKinnon
Yes. Sorry. Mr. Davies; we'll go with Mr. Thériault.
Mr. Thériault, go ahead.
1:05 p.m.
Bloc
Luc Thériault Bloc Montcalm, QC
It was just to talk about the work plan going forward, Mr. Chair.
This morning, we had two notices of motion. At Friday's meeting, we won't be discussing the motion relating to Standing Order 106(4). We were supposed to do that by April 7 and we didn't. We need to know what the plan is for Friday. We have witnesses to invite.
Do you have an idea of what's planned for the next few meetings?
1:05 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ron McKinnon
As I mentioned at the beginning of the meeting, we have confirmation of witnesses who we had wanted to have for our meetings last week. They are confirmed for Friday, so we will have that meeting on Friday.
We will then carry on with our schedule as we had previously decided, which will be to carry on with the Bloc portion of the COVID-19 study, and at some point in the next month we will schedule the minister for estimates as well.
Does that answer your questions?
1:05 p.m.
Bloc
Luc Thériault Bloc Montcalm, QC
Sorry, Mr. Chair. From the interpretation, I understood that we would not be hearing from witnesses on Friday, so that was why I asked.
Thank you.
1:05 p.m.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I think you answered, but I just want to clarify. Will all of the witnesses we were supposed to schedule for last week be scheduled for this Friday?
1:05 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ron McKinnon
I'll actually have to ask the clerk about that. I understand that both ministers are available, as well as Dr. Quach-Thanh. Dr. Quach-Thanh and at least one of the ministers were not available last week.
Mr. Clerk, could you advise?
1:05 p.m.
The Clerk of the Committee Mr. Jean-François Pagé
I was not aware the minister will have.... I have not received any confirmation from my contact in the department, so I don't know....
Last week, I was told that—
1:05 p.m.
The Clerk
In terms of the ministers, Minister Anand was available, but I haven't received any confirmation from the health department, from the minister, so I don't know.
I will ask and I will.... Go ahead.
1:05 p.m.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
If my memory serves me correctly, I believe we requested five witnesses. They were Minister Hajdu, Minister Anand, Mr. Stewart, Dr. Quach-Thanh and Dr. Tam. I think those were the five.
If we're scheduling for Friday, again I think we need to know pretty quickly whether some or all of those witnesses are going to be attending.
1:05 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ron McKinnon
We'll verify that as soon as we can and get back to the committee.
Ms. Rempel Garner, please go ahead.