Health Committee on Jan. 18th, 2022

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

I think you're entitled to and deserve to receive accurate answers to your important questions—

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON]

I respect that—

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

—and therefore I think it's important to turn to the right people to have the right information in recognition of the hard work that you've done to prepare those questions.

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON]

Indeed. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Go ahead, Mr. Thompson.

[Paul Thompson]

I'm not aware offhand of any other contracts, but I would note that the contracts are all disclosed through proactive disclosure, so that's a relatively easy one to verify through the disclosed contracts that we have.

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON]

I guess from here I'm going to move on to a question with regard to travel restrictions, assuming that my time allows it.

For the last two years we've been preaching about social distancing and maintaining small groups to prevent the spread of COVID. I have constituents who have been crammed into waiting areas at airports for hours just to be tested. They have been putting themselves into compromising positions with other travellers. What are we trying to do to prevent that?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Go ahead. When completed, that is the time.

Go ahead, please.

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

The first thing I would say is that this is obviously a very difficult situation for everyone in Canada, meaning everyone would like COVID‑19 not to exist.

The second thing is that we all need to be vaccinated. That's a message I'm sending to all members of Parliament.

The third thing is that now is not the time to travel. We need to do everything to protect everyone's safety and health, and the current circumstances are difficult for everyone.

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON]

Perhaps I'll just compliment—

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Ms. Kramp-Neuman.

We will go to Mr. Jowhari for five minutes.

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to welcome the minister and all the officials to our committee. It's good to see all of you.

First of all, let me thank you once again on behalf of millions of Canadians for the great work that you've done, and also our health care workers, who have been [Technical difficulty—Editor].

Minister, in response to the high number of infected health care workers and to mitigate the worker shortage in health care settings, several provinces have shortened the length of time that infected health care worker must self-isolate. As of December 21, the federal government's self-isolation period of 10 days has remained the same for those with symptoms or for asymptomatic cases following testing.

What advice have you or your department given to the provinces and territories, and especially to the provincial public health authorities, with respect to the isolation guidelines for health care workers?

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

Thank you, Majid. It's nice to see you again. I'll limit myself to one comment and then turn briefly to Dr. Tam.

On the gratitude that we want to express to our health care workers, this is so important—not only the words of gratitude but also the actions of gratitude, meaning that by following public health guidance by wearing a mask and by being vaccinated, we all show our gratitude to health care workers, who have had a very difficult time for many months now.

On the advice on isolation and quarantining, I will turn to Dr. Tam.

[Dr. Theresa Tam]

Thank you for the question.

Mr. Chair, we have been trying to update our information on the period of communicability, which means how long you can potentially spread the omicron variant once you're infected. There is very little information on that, but the studies that we've managed to amass, including a recent one from Japan, suggest that the period of communicability is no shorter than for the other variants because the viral shedding and the viral load don't decrease until day 10 following symptom onset or specimen collection after the diagnosis.

We do recognize that because so many people are infected with omicron at the moment, maintaining business continuity and continuity of critical services is extremely challenging on the front line for the province and territories, so they have reduced some of these requirements in order to maintain that health care workforce.

Of course, any reduction is associated with a certain amount of risk, so the other layers of protection, such as masking, are particularly important, as is supplementing them with testing in order to reduce those isolation periods.

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

Thank you both, Minister and Dr. Tam.

You talked about Japan and about some of the data. Is PHAC collecting data to determine whether the shorter isolation guidelines are potentially resulting in more COVID-19 hospital cases? If we do and we are, what are the indications so far?

[Dr. Theresa Tam]

I think that information is being collected and is actually in the jurisdiction of the provinces. As they are testing health care workers coming back after five days, for example, they are going to be generating some of the information that we need. This is simply what has been available in the literature, particularly in preprint as well. This data are constantly evolving.

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

With about 45 seconds left in my time, I'd like to ask a question. Anybody can answer this. It is regarding the requirements for trucking.

At the outset of the pandemic, our borders were quite open. We definitely suggested that truckers should be vaccinated, but we left the borders open so that truckers could move back and forth.

However, those guidelines have changed. Can the minister or Dr. Tam give us an idea of why we have changed those guidelines?

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

Thank you. I'll answer that question briefly.

First, the best economic policy that we can put into place to exit from the crisis is a health policy. That obviously has to be around the importance of vaccination for everyone, not only to protect supply chains, businesses and the flow of goods and services across Canada, but also to protect people—truckers, workers and everyone else across Canada.

The second thing I would say is that as we move through this crisis, we will have to reinvest in all sorts of ways to build back. Our country has suffered tremendous damage in all sorts of ways, and that's why the significant investment we announced in the campaign and prior to the campaign will be important from a health, economic and social perspective, because all of these perspectives go hand in hand.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Minister, and Mr. Jowhari.

Mr. Thériault, you have two and a half minutes.

[Luc Thériault, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Is there any data on the rate of spread among truck drivers?

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

Good question.

I'll turn to Dr. Tam right away. This information falls under the jurisdiction of the provinces and territories, but it may be shared with the Public Health Agency of Canada.

[Luc Thériault, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

Okay.

I'm listening, Dr. Tam. I would like to have an answer, but if there isn't one, that's fine.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Dr. Tam, are you with us?

[Dr. Theresa Tam]

Yes.

We do not get provided with the occupation of the cases as it pertains to transportation workers.

[Luc Thériault, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

So we don't have any data on this. They're still essential workers. Even when we didn't have a vaccine, they maintained the supply. With the new rules, there may be issues in this area. I'll move on to another question.

You renewed a nearly half-billion dollar contract with Dynacare that will run through April 30. We know that the turnaround time for results is disproportionate. It's over five, six or even seven days. One person even told us that, after 14 days of quarantine, he was informed that he could return to work.

Are there any clauses in the contract regarding unreasonable delays in obtaining results?