Health Committee on Oct. 2nd, 2025

[Greg Orencsak]

Clinical trials obviously play a really important role in advancing health research and the effectiveness of medical treatments, and it's a very active ecosystem.

What we're doing at Health Canada is introducing new regulations to streamline processes in a deficiency of establishing clinical trials, so that we can have more clinical trials take place in Canada to support innovation and access to drugs for Canadian patients.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

I'll pass, then.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you.

Mr. Thériault of the Bloc Québécois, go ahead for six minutes, please.

[Luc Thériault, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Ms. Weber, I want to talk about recommendations 48 and 42 in the final report of the expert panel that conducted the legislative review of the Cannabis Act.

You're no doubt aware that a number of problems have been created since the act came into effect. For example, the fact that four people can grow cannabis at the same address has led to abuses and excessive produced quantities. The Health Canada website still says that this is possible under the rules.

At what point are you going to implement the expert panel's recommendation to make it so that only one person can grow cannabis per location?

[Kendal Weber]

I do not have the numbers of the recommendations. Are you talking about personal production of cannabis and the number of licences we have in authorizations per home? Is that the question?

[Luc Thériault, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

It's for production for medical purposes.

[Kendal Weber]

The question is about medical use. Okay.

[Luc Thériault, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

Four people were allowed to produce cannabis in the same place. That has led to excesses. The expert panel said that the limit should be reduced to one person per site. When are you going to implement that recommendation? A number of people are waiting for that.

[Kendal Weber]

Thank you.

We do allow up to four individuals to have authorizations in their homes for medical cannabis. What we have done is taken significant measures to revoke or refuse those authorizations if we see that individuals are growing more than the amounts authorized by their physicians. They see their physician; the physician makes the recommendation—

[Luc Thériault, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

There's a problem: You don't intend to implement the expert panel's recommendation, but even police authorities can't intervene given that the act is set up that way. When police officers have to intervene, they have to intervene because someone's gone beyond what the act allowed.

That said, I'd also like to talk to you about the expert panel's 42nd recommendation, which states that pharmacists should be allowed to distribute cannabis products to individuals who hold a medical authorization. The Association québécoise des pharmaciens propriétaires tells us that pharmacists are in the best position to provide therapeutic monitoring of cannabis for medical purposes. Patients could then benefit from their professional advice, particularly when it comes to interactions. People who take cannabis for medical purposes often take other medications as well.

Do you intend to implement this recommendation by allowing pharmacist-owners to distribute cannabis for medical purposes? That is done in Australia, France, Germany, Israel, Italy and the United Kingdom.

[Kendal Weber]

Thank you for the question.

For distribution in retail outlets, the oversight is with provincial governments. If there is a desire for distribution in pharmacies, that is something that can be considered at the provincial level. The medical access is done through federal licence-holders, and it is something we continue to oversee. If there is an interest in retail outlets and pharmacies, that's something for provinces to also look at.

[Luc Thériault, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

However, there's a provision in the act that means that distribution isn't necessarily done by pharmacists. Yes, provincial governments can legislate in this area. However, will your department be proactive about this recommendation and argue that it is indeed a safer solution for patients?

[Kendal Weber]

It really does involve a collaborative approach with the provinces, given the jurisdiction in the space for retail and, also, oversight of pharmacies.

[Luc Thériault, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

Does that mean we have to wait and see?

A committee of experts is telling you that this is an important solution for patient safety. Are you going to promote that, or are you going to wait and see until, all of a sudden, the provinces decide to do it? Do you or do you not have a plan for that, or are you telling me that the expert panel overstepped its mandate?

[Kendal Weber]

No. The review committee did an excellent job, provided a number of recommendations and did extensive consultations. A number of them were directed specifically at the federal government, and a number of recommendations involved federal, provincial and territorial jurisdictions working together. In this space, it's important that we work with the provinces and territories that have an interest in exploring this.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you very much, Monsieur Thériault.

We go to the Conservatives for five minutes. Mr. Bailey, go ahead for five minutes, please.

[Burton Bailey, Conservative, Red Deer, AB]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I direct my question to Health Canada. The tobacco strategy has set a target of less than 5% tobacco use by 2035, countrywide. What is the current estimate of the number of Canadians who smoke cigarettes—just a percentage?

[Greg Orencsak]

According to 2024 data, approximately 11% of the Canadian population over the age of 18 smoked cigarettes during the last 30 days.

[Burton Bailey, Conservative, Red Deer, AB]

Does Health Canada have any updated data, which has been collected since 2022, to prove that the tobacco strategy is working?

[Greg Orencsak]

We continue to receive survey data of the rates of smoking and vaping by Canadians, so we continue to monitor that.

[Burton Bailey, Conservative, Red Deer, AB]

One of the four main themes of the strategy is to help Canadians quit tobacco by “giving information on and access to less harmful sources of nicotine”. In your evaluation, would a less harmful source of nicotine include nicotine replacement therapy pouches?

[Greg Orencsak]

As you know, cigarette smoking is one of the leading causes of preventable disease and premature death. We are committed to continuing to help people quit smoking, to keeping vaping products out of the hands of children, and to looking at ways in which we can help smokers quit.

[Burton Bailey, Conservative, Red Deer, AB]

Data from 2022-25 would suggest that the use of nicotine pouches as an alternative to smoking cigarettes led to a marked decrease in cigarette sales, from the point of Health Canada regulation, of about 4%. Why was the sale of pouches approved by Health Canada in the first place?

[Greg Orencsak]

Nicotine pouches were approved as one of the products that exist in terms of other ways in which people can consume nicotine and that are less harmful than cigarettes.

[Burton Bailey, Conservative, Red Deer, AB]

Madam Chair, I'm having trouble hearing. Can we turn up Greg's mic or...? I can't hear him.