Health Committee on Nov. 18th, 2025

[Marjorie Michel, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Again, I would have to say that we are supporting provinces and territories, because as soon as the person is in the system, they are under provincial or territorial law, I would say, and we are there to support the provinces and territories. We are not the one delivering services. It's really on provinces and territories.

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

If I could just add—again, putting on a different hat that I had years ago—that's exactly right. As the provincial minister at the time, I did do programs to support those who were internationally trained, whether it was doctors or people in health care.

The rural communities also did stuff. Communities did it. The province did it. We struck in programs and provided a bit of funding for settlement services to welcome them, to actually do barbecues and things like that.

Believe it or not, and I know some people are looking at me, that is exactly what the communities do. It worked extremely well in my corner of eastern Canada.

[Marjorie Michel, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

I would add that budget 2024 put $77 million towards supporting this integration work with provinces and territories. We have the agreement and are well on the way, and we are working closely with the provinces and territories on this.

We are funding, but our funding is to help support provinces and territories, which are responsible for doing the work.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

I met this morning with the CMA, and they are welcoming the health infrastructure fund, the $5 billion that is in this budget. You are meeting with them and talking with all the provinces and territories.

We all know that health care delivery is provincial jurisdiction, but I just have one question.

Many Canadians are working in the U.S. or Australia as resident doctors or are doing residency. Do you have any plan to bring that...? They want to come home and want to work in Canada. What is your plan for that?

[Marjorie Michel, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Again, I will say it's on the provinces and territories to decide who they want to bring in as doctors or as health professionals. We are there to support. I'm also working closely with Minister Diab and with Minister Hajdu in ESDC to fast-track, but the province is the one responsible to choose who they want to bring in. If a province, for example, decides to put health as a priority, we will pick up on the part we can play, but they are the ones responsible for it.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Thank you.

Now I want to move to Minister Diab.

It is not a secret that, most of the time, older Canadians and their families want to be able to age in place or want to age in a multi-generation home. I'm from Brampton, so I know lots of seniors who don't want to go to a nursing home or to a long-term care home. They want to remain in one's home, which is usually preferred. How are you leveraging the immigration system to help with this stream?

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Immigration is part of the solution, and that is why we work extremely hard with the provinces and territories to help them when they do their provincial nominee programs in terms of selecting people. Over the last decade, over 114,000 home care workers and their family members were admitted as permanent residents through the caregiver program, for example. Again, as I said, we work quite a bit with the provinces and territories in determining pathways to residency.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you very much.

Ms. Sidhu, the time is up.

Ms. Larouche, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Since I want to make sure I do this before the end of the meeting, I would like to give notice of the following motion, in which I propose that, notwithstanding the committee's usual practice regarding access to documents, I, Andréanne Larouche, be added to the committee's distribution list, and that access to the committee's digital binder be granted to me until December 31, 2025, or until a change to the membership list makes this measure unnecessary.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

You're tabling this. That's good.

Now you still have time to ask your question.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Ministers, what I see today is that we talk a lot about immigrants who come to work in the health care system. In fact, that is the topic of our study.

However, there are also Canadians studying abroad who can't come back to work here, as they would do under normal conditions. In my research in preparation for this meeting, I saw that this was an issue that has been raised before this committee in the past. In addition, as my colleague mentioned earlier, we know that international students contribute to medical schools and enable universities to obtain funding.

In short, don't these two problems expose the serious issue of underfunding by the federal and provincial governments in training, but also in the health care system? Those people are not coming back to work here because they are not provided with adequate conditions. They are not given the means or the resources to do so. What do you think?

[Marjorie Michel, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

The federal government is there to support the provinces with its funding, but health is a provincial jurisdiction. You know this very well because you've repeated it to us quite often. The choice belongs to the provinces or Quebec. If a Quebecker can't come back to practise medicine in Quebec, for whatever reason, that doesn't depend on the federal government. It depends—

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Minister, over the years, there has been a disinvestment in transfers to the provinces and Quebec. It's easy to offload the problem onto Quebec and the provinces, but you know as well as I do that health transfers have eroded over the years, to put it politely.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you, Ms. Larouche.

Now I will go to the Conservatives with Mr. Strauss for five minutes please.

[Matt Strauss, Conservative, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Minister, I have another question about the IFHP, and it's really important for the Canadians following along at home to understand. This program—the $900-million program—includes pharmaceuticals, vision care, mental health counselling, assistive devices, physiotherapy, occupational speech therapy and all sorts of things that seniors in Kitchener do not get, unless they have supplemental health coverage.

I asked you this: If somebody's refugee claim is denied, do they continue to get all of this coverage? You said no. Here, I have your website. It says, “As a refugee...claimant, you'll get IFHP coverage if...your claim for refugee protection has been rejected by the IRB”. Did you lie to the committee, or is your website lying?

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Excuse me?

[Matt Strauss, Conservative, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

I said, “Did you lie to the committee, or is your website lying?”

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Be careful with your language, Mr. Strauss.

[Matt Strauss, Conservative, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Did you mislead the committee, or is the website misleading?

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

I'm not in the job of doing that, thank you very much. It's not something that is in my dictionary either.

What I said is that the interim federal health program provides temporary health care coverage to address urgent and essential medical needs for refugees and asylum claimants while they wait to become eligible for provincial and territorial health insurance plans.

[Matt Strauss, Conservative, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Then I asked if they continue to receive coverage if their refugee claim is denied, and here your website says they continue to receive coverage if their refugee claim is denied by the IRB.

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

I said they continue to receive...claims...until all the refugee process is concluded.

[Matt Strauss, Conservative, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

What part of the process comes after the claim is denied by the IRB?

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Well, again, it's the IRB that takes care of that. There is a process. There is a legal process.

[Matt Strauss, Conservative, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Am I to understand that you, as the minister who looks after this interim federal health program, who is the minister of refugees, doesn't know what part of the process comes after the IRB denies someone's refugee claim?