Health Committee on April 30th, 2021

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

I disagree, Mr. Chair, and I will answer this one.

As the member opposite knows, the City of Vancouver has applied for a section 56 exemption to decriminalize substance use in Vancouver. We've received the first packet of their information and their proposal. I've spoken with Mayor Stewart many times about his plans and his vision. We've also been advised by the Province of British Columbia that they too are looking at decriminalization as a partial solution.

As the member opposite may not realize, there is no silver bullet to reducing suffering associated with substance use. That's why we have made it far easier for provinces and territories to, for example, set up safe consumption sites and prescribe safer supply options to patients. Some provinces have taken us up on that, Mr. Chair, and some have resisted the efforts.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Minister, the question is not about harm reduction. It is about decriminalization. Your government continues to criminalize drug possession through the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act., and my final question is on that exemption. It's been four months since the City of Vancouver requested a section 56 exemption, and it's followed by the request from the B.C. government. Every day that we fail to act, people die in this country. It's 10 people a day dying. Why are you taking so long to grant this request?

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

I don't know if the member opposite has spoken recently with Mayor Stewart, but in fact his office and mine have been working together very collaboratively and working through some really thorny issues about their proposal. As the mayor knows, we are standing ready to receive additional information. We'll continue to assess their plan with the City of Vancouver.

As I've said, we're always open to solutions that communities determine for themselves will be helpful in reducing the suffering and overdose deaths of opiate users and other substance users.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you, Mr. Davies.

That brings round one to a close. We'll start round two with Mr. d'Entremont.

Mr. d'Entremont, please go ahead for five minutes.

[Chris d'Entremont, Conservative, West Nova, NS]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Welcome to the minister and officials.

I want to go on and talk about Switch Health, the company that's responsible for managing COVID-19 testing for travellers. There were a couple of articles about people who are waiting 17, 18 or 19 days to get out of their quarantine because Switch Health is struggling to meet deadlines. For example, Dynacare has taken over processing in Quebec for language and other reasons. Users have complained about significant delays in receiving their test results. Medical test kits are being lost in process.

To date, how many samples have been lost by Switch Health, or do they even know?

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

I will start, Mr. Chair, and then I will turn to Iain Stewart.

I will just say that we have worked extensively with Switch Health, and yes, indeed we have replaced them in the province of Quebec. We insist on quality services that we have paid for, so we won't hesitate to replace Switch Health as well if we cannot get the quality we need for day 10 testing.

I will turn to Mr. Stewart to speak about that work.

[Iain Stewart]

Regarding the number of tests lost by Switch Health that the member asked about, I don't have that number in front of me. I'm not sure they have lost any sample tests, but we will investigate in order to respond. I don't believe it's any, but we will double-check.

[Chris d'Entremont, Conservative, West Nova, NS]

Okay. Well, according to that article about Tony Lavia, the guy from B.C., apparently they lost it three times. I don't know whether they are losing it or whether their courier service is losing it.

How many samples have taken more than 48 hours, let's say, to be processed by Switch Health?

[Iain Stewart]

Is it me you're directing your question to, sir?

[Chris d'Entremont, Conservative, West Nova, NS]

Yes.

[Iain Stewart]

Okay. Thank you.

We have had performance issues on turnaround times of the nature you're identifying. There have been delays. We have been working with the company to improve their turnaround time.

[Chris d'Entremont, Conservative, West Nova, NS]

How many samples have not been processed by Switch Health?

[Iain Stewart]

Within the 48-hour window you're asking about, I'm afraid I don't have that statistic off the top of my head, but I will affirm that yes, there have been delays.

[Chris d'Entremont, Conservative, West Nova, NS]

How many have been maybe mixed up by Switch Health, resulting in some people getting the wrong results?

[Iain Stewart]

I'm not aware of that occurring. These are medical samples that are identified to specific patients. I'm not aware of switches occurring of that nature, but we can investigate and respond to you.

[Chris d'Entremont, Conservative, West Nova, NS]

Okay.

Is the government tracking complaints to Switch Health? Is there a complaint mechanism for folks who don't seem to be serviced by the service?

[Iain Stewart]

We have complaints mechanisms for each of the stages of our testing and quarantine. Yes, we do track the complaints.

[Chris d'Entremont, Conservative, West Nova, NS]

How many at-home tests are being administered at this point by Switch Health, and what is their volume supposed to be?

[Iain Stewart]

The at-home tests are predominantly day 10 tests. We have done about 96,697 at-home day 10 tests. That would be, I think, the best answer for you in that regard.

We do track the complaints, as you have been mentioning. The number I have in my head is that about 182 complaints have been filed with us.

[Chris d'Entremont, Conservative, West Nova, NS]

Okay.

I know I'm getting close to the end of my time, so perhaps I will switch over to the minister.

When it comes to the PMPRB changes, I know that those are supposed to be coming in another month or so. We're still hearing from patient groups that are asking for some changes, or at least a phased-in approach. Have you considered changes to how PMPRB will be operating in the new regulations?

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

Thank you very much for that question.

As the member knows, Canada pays an extraordinarily high cost for prescription medication. The changes that we propose are really about making sure that medication is affordable for all Canadians. We have delayed the implementation of the PMPRB to reflect the incredible strain the industry has faced in trying to switch to a variety of different therapeutics and research related to COVID-19. We are going to continue on the path of making medication more affordable for all Canadians.

[Chris d'Entremont, Conservative, West Nova, NS]

How about the folks who are saying that they're not going to be able to get therapeutics into this country for up to nine years, in some cases? There's a different challenge there between what we're saying on prices and what groups are saying on those products being available.

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

I will just say that I'm always willing to meet with patient groups to talk about their concerns about drug pricing in the country and how we can better ensure that high-cost drugs are available. Many of those patients are patient groups that are supporting family members with rare diseases.

Of course, we do have a rare disease strategy that is under development as well that may be able to take into account some of their concerns. They have had an opportunity to weigh in on the development of the rare disease strategy, as have many other experts. That strategy is very specifically focused on some of those patient groups' concerns around the cost of these extremely expensive drugs for very few people. That needs a separate strategy.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you, Mr. d'Entremont. We will go now to Ms. O'Connell.

Ms. O'Connell, please go ahead for five minutes.

[Jennifer O'Connell, Liberal, Pickering—Uxbridge, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Committee members, unfortunately Ms. Rempel Garner has gone down the same path as Mr. Poilievre in terms of misrepresenting committee testimony. I'm going to do a little round of correcting the record here, if I may.

On Twitter, Ms. Rempel Garner just posted comments made at this committee just now, that “three doses of vaccine might be needed for those subjected to dosing interval delays”. I didn't hear that in the witness testimony just now.

Perhaps, Dr. Tam, we could clarify the truth here and correct the record in terms of potential third dosing. I don't know where this came from, this interval delay. Could you perhaps provide us some context here?