Health Committee on March 21st, 2022

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

I have been very succinct in my questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Yes, indeed you have.

Minister, I'm trying to allocate the time evenly between the two of you.

Go ahead.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

I've been exceptionally succinct in my questions. I would ask that you try to be succinct in your answers, Minister.

You brought up Moms Stop the Harm. One mom in Lethbridge with Moms Stop the Harm last year stated that their organization was directed by the former health minister to circumvent the province by getting municipalities to pass motions on decriminalization and safe supply.

Has either of your offices directed this group, in any way, to push the government's agenda in public, and how much funding does this organization receive?

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, Toronto—St. Paul's, ON]

Moms Stop the Harm is upset with us at the moment that we didn't intervene in the Alberta case, where Premier Kenney is making identification mandatory for people using safe consumption sites, which we know is a deterrent to using the sites.

So, no. Moms Stop the Harm is an advocacy organization that I think is motivated by the fact of losing a loved one.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

How much funding does this organization receive from your department?

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, Toronto—St. Paul's, ON]

I am not aware.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

Would you please table that with the committee?

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, Toronto—St. Paul's, ON]

Absolutely.

I don't know if the deputy....

[Dr. Stephen Lucas]

Mr. Chair, we can follow up, as the minister indicated, and table that information.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

Fantastic.

To the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, you've repeatedly talked about how the addiction crisis is a toxic drug problem and that the solution is safe supply. The last drug that was marketed as safe supply was OxyContin, which is pretty much responsible for our current opioid crisis. It's effectively a marketing term rather than medical terminology.

I'm wondering, what is your department, and your budget, doing to support recovery from addiction, not just safe supply?

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, Toronto—St. Paul's, ON]

Thanks for the question.

I think the Sacklers and the people who falsely claimed that OxyContin was not addictive, or was less addictive, are now paying serious consequences. That was a false claim by the pharmaceutical company.

Our safe supply is addictive. Heroin is addictive. Diacetylmorphine is addictive. Dilaudid is addictive. But replacing the toxic, poisoned drug supply with a regulated pharmaceutical-grade narcotic is saving lives.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Mrs. Goodridge.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

Do you mean that's better than treatment?

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, Toronto—St. Paul's, ON]

I will table.... There's lots of money on treatment. Obviously, there's the emergency treatment fund. There was $150 million that went to the provinces, up to $300 million. There's lots of money going to addiction, and $5 billion on mental health to the provinces and territories. The provinces and territories deliver treatment, and we give the money to the provinces and territories to do that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Minister.

Thank you, Mrs. Goodridge.

[Mike Lake, Conservative, Edmonton—Wetaskiwin, AB]

On a point of order, Mr. Chair, my colleague asked for information from the department in terms of funding. I'd like to make sure it's clear that we get information from the government as a whole.

Also, the minister referenced the serious consequences that the Sacklers and Purdue Pharma faced. I would like the minister to table with the committee the serious consequences that they face from the Government of Canada as well.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Mrs. Goodridge's request of the minister was clear. I think you may be adding another element to it. I'd welcome you to do that when you have the floor, not on a point of order.

We will now go to Mr. van Koeverden.

[Adam van Koeverden, Liberal, Milton, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My first question will be on the subject of mental health. Earlier in this meeting, the PocketWell app was mentioned. I downloaded it just before my 40th birthday, a couple of months ago. I was having some ups and downs, as a lot of people do. I've used it a couple of times, and it actually just gave me a notification that it's time to do another assessment. I have to say that anybody who has downloaded this as a result of my putting it on social media or through word of mouth has come back to me to say, “You know what? That thing identified a couple of things I can do, and it's making a difference for me.” So I want to say thanks.

I want to ask about PocketWell a little bit and about what else we're doing. I know there are lots of other concrete steps that our government is taking to address mental health. There are a lot, because it's a complex challenge and problem.

I also want to talk about kids. In the previous Parliament, I got to serve as parliamentary secretary for youth. On that file, I got to work with a lot of kids and youth groups. COVID-19 has affected all of us negatively and we've all made lots of sacrifices, but with what kids have lost—particularly when the pandemic has accounted for a quarter of their lives, in the case of my goddaughter—it's meant a really extraordinary upheaval of everything they know.

Through you, Mr. Chair, could the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions talk a little bit about what else we're doing with respect to mental health for people, and particularly for kids?

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, Toronto—St. Paul's, ON]

Thank you so much.

I did have my youth council have a look at both Wellness Together and PocketWell. They're hard markers, but they were very positive about them. I've signed up too.

I think it's because of people like those at Kids Help Phone, Homewood, and Stepped Care that the consortium that Minister Hajdu and the department put together at the very early part of COVID has really worked. Now 2.2 million Canadians have used it, not only to browse the kinds of resources that are out there, but also to get 24-7 care and advice if they need it. We will continue to evaluate it, but so far we think the $62 million has been well spent.

For younger people using it, we're very happy that it is something they can access without stigma.

As I was saying to your colleague, I think the integrated youth services are one of the really exciting advantages now coming forward, in terms of consensus, in that you can get wraparound individual care for a young person. It's now building into a real movement across the country, because of places like Foundry in British Columbia. There are actually now training handbooks for peer support. They're getting all of the resources so this can take place coast to coast to coast.

With great leadership like Kids Help Phone, I think we're going to get there.

[Adam van Koeverden, Liberal, Milton, ON]

Thank you, Minister.

My next question is for the Minister of Health.

On a similar subject, my PocketWell app gives me advice. It asked me to create a little bit of a strategy to deal with some of those ups and downs. I made a list of things that I should be doing better. Two of those things are getting enough physical activity and exercise—I certainly don't get as much as I used to, but it's still a really important component in ensuring that I'm good at my job and I'm as happy as I can be. It also tells me to eat well and to remind myself that this job can be time-consuming and challenging, but diet and exercise are a part of my strategy.

I know that for us as a government, a big part of our strategy is to ensure that people have resources they can access, including physical activity programs and activities and the infrastructure to do those, and to ensure that we have information on how to eat well and access food, particularly in the era we're in with the rising costs of food.

Can you detail for the committee some of our strategies to help people eat well and exercise more?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Québec, QC]

Thank you, Adam. Thank you for referring to your former life. It would be hard for most of us to have the type of active living that you had when you were slightly younger. That would be a standard that, I think, would be of some concern to some of us.

You are correct. I have my five objectives as well: sleeping well, eating well, exercising, looking after my family, and spending some time with friends. When I do those five things, I feel fine.

It's all about recognizing, as you said, that COVID-19 has been hard on all of those five things, especially sleeping well and eating well. You're at home, and not necessarily always happy to cook your own food, so you cheat and buy fast food more often. Exercising is not necessarily the best option when you have to stay home. Spending time with your friends is, obviously, also complicated with COVID-19. Looking after your family, when everyone feels a bit stressed, is perhaps the right thing to do but not always straightforward.

I think the healthy food guide is something that we need to promote more often to better connect it to healthy living. That will increase mental health and physical health, combined together. Without physical health or mental health, there is no health. We as leaders, and you as a very global person, can show the way forward.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Mr. Minister.

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

[Luc Thériault, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

Let's talk about the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Mr. Minister.

We know that local producers have to compete with imported products that are often cheaper than ours but produced to lower standards. Our producers do not want lower standards, they want reciprocity of standards.

I have been here since 2015, and we have been discussing reciprocity of standards since then but it seems like the agency is having a lot of trouble in that area.

When I see the small addition to the budget, I wonder if the Canadian Food Inspection Agency really has the resources to do the inspections needed to ensure reciprocity of standards. If not, what are we waiting for? This is about people's health.

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Québec, QC]

Your questions involve three components: first, reciprocity; second, the agency's capacity to do its job properly; third, the budget it has to do it.

I will turn to Ms. Lapointe, who is vice-president of the agency. We are fortunate to have her with us. She will give us some quick answers to these good questions.

[Sylvie Lapointe, Vice-President, Policy and Programs Branch, Canadian Food Inspection Agency]

Thank you very much for the questions.

Whether food is prepared in Canada or imported, the same standards must be met.

We have enhanced our inspections, laboratory analysis and monitoring programs, and we're designing systems to target foods at a higher risk. We're also strengthening our relationship with the Canada Border Services Agency.

I hope that answers your questions.