Evidence of meeting #25 for Health in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was vote.
A video is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Conservative
Matt Strauss Conservative Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
Thank you, Chair.
Minister, earlier in your testimony for the committee today, you said that safe consumption sites save lives. Several other Conservative members have spoken to you about the study on what happened after the consumption site in Red Deer, Alberta, was closed.
Do you believe this safe consumption site was saving lives?
Liberal
Marjorie Michel Liberal Papineau, QC
I told your colleague that I was going to read the study carefully. I heard about it for the first time yesterday. I will read the study carefully and I will get back to you. As I have already told you, all I want is to work for the well-being of Canadians. We have studies that—
Conservative
Matt Strauss Conservative Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
Yes, I want that too, Minister, but you declared that safe consumption sites save lives—
Conservative
Matt Strauss Conservative Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
—and these researchers found, following the closure of this site—
Conservative
Matt Strauss Conservative Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
—that no lives were saved. There's no [Inaudible—Editor] that.
Liberal
Marjorie Michel Liberal Papineau, QC
When people are in crisis and are about to die, yes, it saves lives. It's clear. I have seen it with my own eyes.
Conservative
Matt Strauss Conservative Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
Were they not at the point of dying in Red Deer before this?
Liberal
Marjorie Michel Liberal Papineau, QC
I am saying that it saves lives immediately, yes. That's precisely why all the provinces grappling with this problem, even the conservative provinces, are asking to keep the centres open.
Conservative
Matt Strauss Conservative Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
Minister, please, would you show some open-mindedness on the finding of this study that this particular site was not saving lives? If it was, we would have seen an increase in the death rate once it closed. Could you hypothetically accept the finding, once you've read it?
Liberal
Marjorie Michel Liberal Papineau, QC
I will gladly look at the study. We will analyze the study. We will hold consultations and I will certainly talk to my colleague in Alberta about it, because we are committed to sharing best practices with each other.
Conservative
Matt Strauss Conservative Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
Minister, I've asked several times if you would potentially accept it. This kind of closed-mindedness is unscientific. It is not open-minded. I think Canadians will be disappointed to hear this.
I have a new topic. Last year, 500,000 Canadians left emergency rooms in Canada without seeing a doctor, after waiting for hours. My wife was one of them. She almost died. She was bleeding. She waited for six hours to see a doctor. Our son was two days old. I'm very happy that she made it, but many patients and families were not as lucky as my wife and me.
Stacey Ross died in Winnipeg. Prashant Sreekumar died in Edmonton. Allison Holthoff died in Nova Scotia. Finlay van der Werken died in Oakville. Adam Burgoyne died in Montreal. They all waited for hours to see a physician. After hours of waiting, many of them had not seen one.
Over the Christmas break, a friend of mine died. He was in the prime of his life. He was 53. His name was Gord. Paramedics came to see him when his wife called 911. They told him that emergency was chockablock full and that he might as well stay home and try again in the morning. He died over the Christmas break.
Minister, will you acknowledge that this is a crisis and that it's touching every region in our country?
Liberal
Marjorie Michel Liberal Papineau, QC
I am not going to use the word “crisis”, but the health care system is certainly under pressure. I see that everywhere. It is better in some provinces and not so good in others, but I am not—
Conservative
Matt Strauss Conservative Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
Which province do you believe is doing better? I have an example from each province.
Liberal
Marjorie Michel Liberal Papineau, QC
You always talk about emergency rooms. If that's an indicator for you, you can go around the country and see where—
Conservative
Liberal
Marjorie Michel Liberal Papineau, QC
As I said, health care systems in every province are under pressure.
Conservative
Matt Strauss Conservative Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
Okay, so some provinces are not doing well. There are 500,000—
Liberal
Marjorie Michel Liberal Papineau, QC
I am not going to say that there is a crisis. I can't talk about a crisis. I will say that I can see that the health care system is under pressure.
Conservative
Matt Strauss Conservative Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
I would, my wife would, and my kids would. My son was also not seen at CHEO, here in Ottawa.
Liberal
