Human Resources Committee on Nov. 26th, 2020

[Deb Schulte, Liberal, King—Vaughan, ON]

Thank you very much. There's quite a lot in that question.

[Jamie Schmale, Conservative, Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON]

There was.

[Deb Schulte, Liberal, King—Vaughan, ON]

I want to re-emphasize what we did put in the throne speech that is important to seniors. Obviously, we are recommitting to that old age security increase once a senior turns 75. We're going to take action to help people stay in their homes longer. This is an important initiative that I hear from all across the country, that people don't want to go into long-term care and want to stay in their homes, so we're going to be working on additional actions to help with that. Obviously, we will work with the provinces and territories to set new national standards for long-term care.

Also, we mentioned about accelerating steps to achieve national universal pharmacare, and we're going to bring forward a new disability benefit that's modelled after the guaranteed income supplement that's going to help—

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Peter Kent]

Thank you, Minister.

[Deb Schulte, Liberal, King—Vaughan, ON]

Thank you.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Peter Kent]

Thank you, Mr. Schmale.

[Deb Schulte, Liberal, King—Vaughan, ON]

There's lots to say.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Peter Kent]

We go to the Liberals now, and Mr. Turnbull, for five minutes.

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister Schulte, it's great to see you, and thank you for being here this afternoon. I know we can always count on you for your genuine commitment and authentic leadership. I have a few questions for you.

Minister, while I know you work with the Minister of Health and closely with provincial and territorial governments, the COVID-19 situation in long-term care homes and seniors homes across the country has perhaps been the most significant pandemic wake-up call for us as elected officials and for leaders at all levels.

Canada's seniors deserve the best care after a lifetime of hard work. I'm sure you agree. Right now seniors of today and tomorrow are looking at the system that is designed to support them as being full of cracks.

Folks in my riding, including my local seniors' council, say that this is one of their top issues, so I wanted to ask you if you can tell us what the federal government is doing with partners at all levels on this topic.

[Deb Schulte, Liberal, King—Vaughan, ON]

Thank you very much, Ryan.

I want to let you know that this issue is very close to my heart. I had my mother-in-law in a long-term care facility, and she passed away in the summer. I also have my father-in-law in a seniors residence, so I am very aware of the challenges that Canadians are facing with their loved ones in these facilities.

I am as shocked and outraged as all of you at what we've learned has been going on in terms of the lack of care for seniors, especially with the crisis of the pandemic. Therefore, you have our commitment that we will be, and are, working with the provinces and territories to establish long-term care national standards. Okay?

What's really important—and it sounds as though it's rhetoric, but it's not—is that we need to be working with them right now. They're on the ground, and they have jurisdiction over health delivery and over long-term care. They are not the same across the country. Right now, we need to be working very closely with the provinces to make sure we're giving them the resources they need and that they are aware of what they need to do, and they are. I know they are working hard on it.

We've been supporting with PPE, supporting with wage subsidies, supporting with training personnel through the Red Cross and through what you already are hearing in supplementary estimates (B). We're going to be continuing on that important work to make sure we have enough resources and enough people trained to be able to go in and support our loved ones in these facilities.

We also provided funding through the infrastructure program to be able to do upgrades in long-term care and to be able to do it through the safe restart funding of $740 million. We provided a lot of money and a lot of resources to the provinces and territories just to beef up their long-term care facilities and better support the seniors who are living those facilities.

There is lots more to be done. We are working very closely with them. When they ask for more support, which they are doing again, we are there, and we are going back in with support from the military where it's being requested and where it's required.

Therefore, we're there. We have been there all along, and we'll continue to support our provinces and territories to deliver, but we also will be working with them on creating national standards.

However, right now it's a pandemic time; it's all hands on deck, and that's what we're focused on doing.

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

Thank you, Minister. That's reassuring for people such as my mother, who is in long-term care as well, so I can relate.

I have another question. It is related to mental health, which has come up a lot among my seniors council members.

Do you have a message for the seniors, their families and the provinces and territories as we go into a challenging winter? It has been eight months at least, which has strained the mental health of everyone, but none more than seniors, who are isolated and have been isolated for long periods of time. What can we do to connect with folks, the seniors who are out there? They need our help more than ever.

[Deb Schulte, Liberal, King—Vaughan, ON]

Thank you very much for that.

You're absolutely right, but I do want to send a message to seniors, your loved ones.

There is light at the end of tunnel, but we need to recognize that we're not there yet. We still have to be implementing and holding on to those public health measures that we're being asked to practise, such as keeping a safe distance, keeping your family circle close and wearing a mask.

Wear a mask. I think that's pretty much a good message. Wear a mask when you're interacting with other people. Keep yourself safe and keep them safe. Wash your hands frequently. These are things that we need to keep doing.

If you have a device, download the COVID app, because it will give you information on whether you've been close to someone who has tested positive, and then you can go and get tested. We need to make sure that we have the resources to keep people safe.

As I said, we are continuing to work with the provinces and territories, but be hopeful. We are very hopeful. We are working very hard to deliver the resources that people need, and the vaccines when they are certified safe. We will then have the mechanisms in place to deliver those as well.

I just want to send a message to be hopeful. There is light at the end of the tunnel, but please be careful. We need people to not let their guard down now. We really need everybody to pull together.

Thank you, Ryan.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Peter Kent]

Thank you, Minister; and thank you, Mr. Turnbull.

Colleagues and Minister, I see that our chair has landed, so I will return our virtual gavel to Mr. Casey.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you very much, Mr. Kent. Thank you for so ably fulfilling the duties of the vice-chair. It appears that everyone is still getting along, so by any measure that's a resounding success. Thanks again.

The next person to ask questions is Ms. Chabot, from the Bloc Québécois. She has two and a half minutes.

Ms. Chabot, you have the floor.

[Louise Chabot, Bloc, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

Thank you. A very good afternoon to you, Mr. Chair.

Madam Minister, I have a quick comment.

I feel that, in Quebec, the response was clear in terms of national standards for long-term care that you keep mentioning. We have no national standards in long-term care. It is up to the provinces to organize health care services. What we want, however, is for the Canadian health transfer to match the needs including, let us not forget. the aging population. The demographics are clear.

My question is about the guaranteed income supplement, or GIS. You are certainly aware that GIS beneficiaries are among the most impoverished in our society, with an annual income of scarcely $18,000. They have no real life, they just survive.

Last May, the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities heard from Canada's Association for Retired People. Their suggestion was to not count emergency benefits in the income of seniors when calculating the guaranteed income supplement for next year.

Is that a possibility you could foresee?

[Deb Schulte, Liberal, King—Vaughan, ON]

I'm not sure I understand. I don't know if the translation didn't come across properly or what. I'm quite fine if you want to turn the clock back and have the question asked again, because I don't think I understand the intent of the question.

[Louise Chabot, Bloc, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

Let me put the question a different way.

You know that those who receive the guaranteed income supplement do so because they are very poor. The GIS is based on the previous year's taxable income. Because of the pandemic, Canada's Association for Retired People suggested that emergency benefits not be calculated in income when determining the amount of guaranteed income supplement benefits for the following year.

Is that a possibility that you could foresee?

[Deb Schulte, Liberal, King—Vaughan, ON]

I understand the question now. Thank you so much.

What I was trying to get at is that we made sure that the benefit we provided to seniors in the summer was tax-free so that it would not impact on any of their benefits. We were very careful to make sure of that. The benefits that we provided seniors through the one-time payment and the GST credit were not taxed, which means that they wouldn't affect their GIS payments.

You're absolutely right. Those who are on the guaranteed income supplement are our most vulnerable seniors. I believe that you may be referring to other benefits that have been provided by the government. We are still looking at how those other benefits interact. We will see what their implications are. We'll have more to say in the near term.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Madam Minister.

Thank you, Ms. Chabot.

The floor now goes to Ms. Gazan.

Ms. Gazan, you have two and a half minutes, please.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The number of deaths in long-term care homes, including in my riding, where Parkview Place is located, has been a national tragedy. It's a Crown corporation. We know that seniors are not disposable, but they've been treated like that. We've seen that during the pandemic.

I have families in my riding that are trying to get their family members out of the long-term care homes to be with them at home, to try to save their lives. Unfortunately, they don't have adequate support.

You mentioned that your government is in the process of putting together a plan to provide more support for seniors wanting to live at home and to live closely connected with their families in community. I want to know a date when that plan will roll out and what the dollar figure is that's attached to that fund.

[Deb Schulte, Liberal, King—Vaughan, ON]

Thank you very much for the question.

I know you're quite aware that our government, back in the previous term, had negotiated an agreement with the provinces and territories for $6 billion to flow to support improved home care and mental health across the country. This is something that we are obviously very much wanting to see delivered through—

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

I only have two and a half minutes. My question is, when? I need a date, because people are currently passing away—

[Deb Schulte, Liberal, King—Vaughan, ON]

Well, that—

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

—from COVID in my riding. I'd like to respect their concerns and give them a date.

[Deb Schulte, Liberal, King—Vaughan, ON]

That money is already out to the provinces and territories. That has flowed. They are delivering those enhancements to the service.

For us, what we've been doing is making sure that we are supporting people in their homes through the New Horizons for seniors program in the short term for the pandemic, and we are also supporting them with additional funding of $19 billion to the provinces and territories through the safe restart program.