Health Committee on June 6th, 2022

[Jocelyne Voisin]

In fact, we think that the $2 billion will be enough to support provinces and territories in reducing the surgical backlogs. We've done some analysis that is proxy-based, looking at the health human resources that would be required—

[Jean-Denis Garon, Bloc, Mirabel, QC]

I'm sorry for interrupting you, Ms. Voisin. Basically, the short answer is yes, and I'm happy with that.

For many years, the provinces have been asking for an increase of $2 billion in unconditional health transfer funding to help them do exactly what has just been done, which is to increase their capacity.

So you can confirm that an increase in unconditional transfers would allow the provinces to increase their hospital capacity. That is what you have just done and that is what the 10 provinces are asking for.

[Jocelyne Voisin]

Yes, the provinces have been asking for that. Indeed they have. The $2 billion in the one-time top-up, as we said, will support them in addressing a surgical backlog.

[Jean-Denis Garon, Bloc, Mirabel, QC]

If this $2 billion was needed today to catch up, it means that there is a gap in health funding and that we should be improving this unconditional funding, rather than trying to rely on all kinds of conditional microprograms.

Can you confirm that giving the provinces more funding unconditionally through the Canada health transfer is something that works?

[Jocelyne Voisin]

What I'm saying is that the government provided a one-time top-up to deal with a very specific issue related to the surgical backlogs that were accumulated over the course of COVID-19.

[Jean-Denis Garon, Bloc, Mirabel, QC]

We're talking about an extremely large number of surgeries postponed because of a lack of funding. Is that what you call a small targeted issue? Is that the federal government's approach?

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

[Jocelyne Voisin]

I'm sorry. I'm getting an echo. Was I supposed to answer that question?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Ms. Voisin, did you hear and understand the question?

[Jocelyne Voisin]

I did not hear and understand the question.

[Jean-Denis Garon, Bloc, Mirabel, QC]

I'll ask the question again very quickly.

You feel that the massive number of surgeries postponed in the provinces because of the lack of unconditional funding is a small, targeted issue. Is that the approach?

[Jocelyne Voisin]

I am saying that the government provided a $2-billion top-up to the provinces and territories to address the surgical backlogs created through the pandemic.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Ms. Voisin and Monsieur Garon.

Next is Ms. Zarrillo, please, for two and a half minutes.

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My question is for Madame St-Aubin. There was some mention of the statistics on physical activity. We already know that girls have different patterns from their boy counterparts.

I want to go back to the first thing I introduced, which was the changes in home life. I'm wondering if there is disaggregated data available through a gender-based analysis plus lens. Also, is there other disaggregated data about the impacts of COVID-19 on the family life of children in relation to their ability to have free time and maybe additional factors they took up in their home life?

I really want to understand if we're looking at that with a gender lens.

[Candice St-Aubin]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw increased risks for the health and safety of vulnerable Canadians as children and families faced increased stress and may have had difficulty accessing supports and prevention programs. There was the survey of COVID-19 and mental health collaboration with Statistics Canada and the Public Health Agency that looked at risk factors for child maltreatment and family violence, such as alcohol consumption, depression and parental stress. We saw that about 5% of Canadians reported concerns about violence within their homes, certainly during the third wave of the pandemic.

What I will also say, though, is that the next cycle of the upcoming CHSCY survey—the Canadian health survey for children and youth—will include information on child maltreatment. The Public Health Agency is also developing a national child welfare-based information system. This system will be a national public health information system that is based on case-level data. It will be disaggregated and distinctions-based as well, but with non-indigenous, first nations, Inuit and Métis children.

We will be looking at future disaggregated data information and will be happy to come back to this committee with more information.

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Thank you.

Can I get some clarity? We had some recent news in the census data that youth overindexed for non-binary genders or for diverse genders. I'm wondering if there is a gender lens on the youth data that we are working on or that is being gathered, so that we can understand what's happening with girls, boys and gender-diverse youth, and how they have been impacted differently.

[Candice St-Aubin]

I'll have to come back in writing on that one, beyond the non-cisgender. That will be disaggregated to take into account those non-cisgender identities.

I will be happy to do so in writing.

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

That would be so good, because we know on the physical activity side that girls tend to age out sooner than boys do. I would really be interested to know what the impact was on girls during COVID-19.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you.

Next is Mr. Lake, please, for five minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thanks to the witnesses.

When we're talking about some of these important programs, I like to ask my questions straight up. Do we have a “blank”—whatever that program is—and how is it performing?

I wrote down a few notes here. Do we have a suicide prevention hotline, which we passed unanimously in Parliament about 550 days ago? I know the answer to that, so we won't use time on it. The answer is no, at this point.

Do we have a national autism strategy? That's been discussed since, I think, the Senate did a report in 2007. In 2017, there was a fairly specific budget ask that the government rejected. Here we are in 2022, so the answer is no, we don't have a national autism strategy.

I want to focus on this question. Do we have a Canada mental health transfer? That was promised in the most recent election campaign by the government. It promised very clearly in 2021-22, the last fiscal year, that it would deliver $250 million and that in 2022-23, the budget year we are in right now, it would deliver $625 million.

I noticed in the testimony that several of you have commented on budget amounts that have been allocated for specific programs. This is very specific. Was any of that promised money—the $250 million for last year and the $625 million for budget 2022—actually in the budget?

[Jocelyne Voisin]

I can tell you that the government has committed to creating a dedicated Canada mental health transfer and, in addition, has made unprecedented investments to improve access to quality and timely mental health supports.

We talked about these, but there is $45 million over two years to develop national standards for mental health, $100 million over two years to develop projects to develop mental health—

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

Excuse me. I just want to break into that, because I know we could run the clock on those.

I'm looking at a statement from the minister's office in response to an interview the other day that was almost exactly, word for word, what you're saying.

The question is specifically to the Canada mental health transfer because the promise was for a Canada mental health transfer of $4.5 billion over five years, $250 million last fiscal year and $625 million in 2022-23.

It's a straight-up, yes-or-no question. Was that money in budget 2022?

[Jocelyne Voisin]

That money was not in budget 2022, but, as I said, the government committed to creating a dedicated—

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

Did any of your organizations provide advice that this transfer shouldn't move forward on the promised timeline?

[Jocelyne Voisin]

I can't speak to the advice we provided. We continue to talk to experts and stakeholders on the best path forward. Minister Bennett is engaging extensively with experts and stakeholders in mental health to understand the lay of the land in Canada and the best way to proceed.

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

Just to be clear, though, what was promised in the campaign wasn't engagement. I notice her statement talks about engaging with provinces and territories.

The Prime Minister in question period talked about jurisdiction and the Constitution.

Can any of you tell me: Did the Constitution change between the election campaign and today, in budget 2022?