Health Committee on Nov. 20th, 2020

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Thank you very much for that answer.

In her presentation, the Minister referred to the Speech from the Throne.

Last September 18, a few days before the Speech from the Throne, the premiers of Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and Manitoba spoke on behalf of all provinces and territories. They asked for the federal government contribution to the provinces for their health care costs to increase from 22% to 35%.

I would like to know whether the Minister agrees with that request, which did not appear in the Speech from the Throne.

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

Through the chair, thank you very much for the question.

We provided $19 billion to provinces and territories in May for their response to COVID-19. A large portion of that was for health care responses, whether it was for personal protective equipment or whether it was to augment testing, contact tracing and data capabilities. There was an additional $740 million for long-term care homes to augment the support that we provided through the Canadian Red Cross and the military in the spring to help protect seniors in a more effective way through this second wave. We're going to continue to be there for provinces and territories.

I know the Prime Minister has committed to a meeting at the beginning of December on health transfers, and I look forward to those discussions.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

My thanks to the Minister for her reply.

Can she give us the date of the meeting that will be held at the beginning of December?

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

I'm sorry, but I don't have the Prime Minister's calendar.

Thank you.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Okay. Thank you. I tried.

The government has indeed committed to transferring $19 billion to the provinces. It includes $10 billion for health care costs.

To date, of that $10 billion amount, how much has actually been transferred to the provinces?

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

The allocation for Quebec is $3.1 billion of the total $19 billion.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

My question was whether those $3.1 billion allocated to Québec have actually been transferred.

As of today, what part of that amount has been transferred?

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

Mr. Chair, I'll turn to an official for the answer.

[Dr. Stephen Lucas]

The funds were transferred to the provinces and territories in September of this year.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

My thanks to the Deputy Minister for his reply. It is very encouraging.

Provincial governments are asking for an unconditional and recurring increase of health transfers that are not just related to the current pandemic. With the aging population, we have seen the consequences of the underfunding in seniors residences and particularly in the CHSLDs.

I would like to ask the Minister whether she believes that the federal government should provide the provinces with more support on a recurring basis through the health transfers.

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

Through the chair, I believe the federal government has demonstrated a strong partnership with provinces and territories in the form of federal health spending, not only in the $19 billion of safe restart agreements but also in the procurement and deployment of the rapid tests and the procurement of the vaccines. The federal government has been there for provinces and territories throughout the pandemic, both financially and practically, and we will continue to do that.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

My thanks to the Minister for her reply.

My question was more about the health transfers. I recall that, when the program began at the end of the 1960s, the federal government covered half of the costs. In the 1980s, it still covered about 40% of the costs. Currently, it covers 22%.

Quebec and the provinces are asking that the percentage be brought back up to 35%, the equivalent of a little more than one third of the costs. My question was about that.

I would like to know whether the Minister believes that the government should increase its share of provincial health care costs.

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

Thank you very much.

Through the chair, I think, again, the federal government has demonstrated a willingness to support provinces and territories through additional health spending, through the contributions, as I mentioned, of the $19 billion through safe restart. That doesn't include other kinds of dollars of transfers, for example the $2 billion for safer schools that was made at the beginning of September to support safer and healthier schools.

We'll continue to be there for provinces and territories, Mr. Chair, as we have throughout the pandemic.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you, Mr. Ste-Marie.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Madam Minister.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

We go now to Mr. Davies.

Mr. Davies, please go ahead for six minutes.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the minister and the officials for being with us. I know we may disagree on certain policies and be critical at times, but I want to take a moment to thank you, Minister. I know that being the lead minister at a time of a global pandemic is not easy, so I thank you for your service to all of us.

Minister, first I'll direct you to vaccines. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has released a vaccine distribution strategy that sets a target date of November 15 for states to be ready for COVID-19 vaccine distribution.

Does Canada have a target readiness date for vaccine distribution and, if so, what is that date?

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

Thank you very much. Thanks, through the chair, for the member's kind words and support. I agree. This is a team Canada moment and a time when we all need to pull together despite our political differences.

I'll just say, in terms of the vaccine strategy and the vaccine readiness, we're working now with provinces and territories very diligently to make sure that we have a robust federal and provincial plan in place. Provinces and territories are submitting their plans. We're going through them together to make sure that we haven't overlooked any of the aspects of the logistics, the delivery and the plan. We'll continue that hard work together.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

I'm sorry; I don't hear a date there. I'm going to assume that we don't have a date fixed yet. Is that correct?

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

As I said, we are working very diligently with provinces and territories right now. The plan is being developed.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Thank you.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has also established that, once a vaccine has been approved, U.S. authorities have a plan to begin distribution within 24 hours.

Does Canada have a similar plan to distribute this vaccine within 24 hours, if and when a vaccine is approved?

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

The focus of the work we're doing together with provinces and territories right now is first to make sure that we have an expedited review capacity to support the rolling regulatory review of the vaccines as they come in so that we can rapidly approve them when we have data that demonstrates the vaccines are safe and effective. Second is to make sure that provinces, territories and indeed the federal government are well positioned to get the vaccine around the country and deploy it in a safe, effective and fair way.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Thank you.

Minister, I know that you know that this week the Ontario health minister came out publicly and stated, very categorically, that Ontario was going to be...announced that they knew that Canada was going to be receiving some six million doses of vaccine, four million from Pfizer and two million from Moderna. She even broke down how many of those doses would be for Ontario. She said 1.6 million of the four million from Pfizer would go to Ontario and 800,000 doses from the two million from Moderna would go to Ontario.

Minister, those are very concrete numbers. Is she making those numbers up?

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

Through the chair, as I've said, the work to determine the distribution of the available doses is ongoing. Provinces and territories know that we have a collaborative process whereby we discuss and agree on a distribution formula that works for everyone. We'll continue that work. I think it is premature for provinces and territories at this point to be stating doses that they may receive because, of course, those conversations continue.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

I know that certain drug manufacturers, like AstraZeneca, have given countries like Brazil, Japan, Australia and India the ability to manufacture the vaccine themselves. This, of course, will speed up vaccine manufacturing and also help secure access to any vaccine for their citizens.

Has Canada negotiated this same right with AstraZeneca to produce the vaccine ourselves in Canada?