Human Resources Committee on April 11th, 2016

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB]

That's great. We look forward to more information on how that review is being proposed and certainly on timelines. We're keen to see it be as transparent as possible so that Canadians who are deeply affected—and increasingly affected, I would say—by the rise of precarity are engaged as much as possible.

Mr. Duclos, in December 2013 you wrote a report entitled “Les dépenses en santé du gouvernement du Québec, 2013-2030: projections et déterminants”. Your conclusions suggest that the aging of the population will not spare the rest of the country, and will make health an increasingly costly budget item.

This budget does not demonstrate leadership in health expenditures. In light of your position on social development, do you think that you will have to show leadership as concerns the health care system, and adopt a comprehensive approach to health care for Canadians?

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

Thank you.

I thank you for having read my old report. I hope it wasn't too boring.

There are two things.

First of all, we have to think about the considerable impact that demographic change is going to bring about in our society. This will obviously impact health care, which I will get back to in a moment, but also many other social and economic dimensions of our lives. These are major changes. It is in our interest to reflect upon them carefully and to work on this with close attention.

That said, as you know, I am not the minister responsible for health matters. The fact remains that we all agree that these resources will be important, as the article pointed out, as well as the way in which we use them. I think that all of us around this table agree that even if the management of health care falls under provincial jurisdiction, the Canadian government hopes to play a role as facilitator and offer encouragement and financial support. As you said so well, we are not only talking about health care, but also about a more global approach to health. Since these issues impact almost all of the provinces and territories in a very important way, I think that the Canadian government will want to step up once again by offering its best cooperation and support.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Thank you.

Thank you to all the ministers and officials for being here today.

I know there are people itching to ask even more questions. I believe the officials will be here on Wednesday, so if there are questions, we can save them for then.

I would also like to thank our fantastic interpreters in the back, as always; our technicians; the analysts and the clerk team, for making me look good; and all of you for joining us. We meet every Monday and Wednesday at 3:30, so please feel free to join us. We don't usually get this kind of crowd.

We do have another committee meeting here right afterwards, so I ask that as we break up, we move out into the hallway if there is any further conversation.

Thank you very much everybody.