Evidence of meeting #24 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was family.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Noon
Liberal
Fayçal El-Khoury Liberal Laval—Les Îles, QC
Don't you think that if you had consulted the provinces and territories, you could have relied on their support?
Wouldn't that help you in your efforts at the federal level?
Noon
Conservative
Kyle Seeback Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON
Sure, I think it would.
I don't know what the process was when the federal government decided to say that you have to purchase private health insurance from a Canadian insurance company. Did they consult the provinces? I'm not 100% sure. I think they probably put something in place. I think they can probably do the same thing here, but if provinces want to have input on that, they should provide that input to the federal government, your government, as I anticipate your government very quickly moving to establish these parameters and approving certain insurance companies.
Noon
Liberal
Fayçal El-Khoury Liberal Laval—Les Îles, QC
For customers, one of the advantages of having local health insurance is that it often offers direct billing in the country it covers.
Do you know if international health insurance providers offer direct billing in Canada?
Noon
Conservative
Kyle Seeback Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON
I don't know. If that's what the government decides is the requirement, then that will be the requirement. The government has the authority to make the decisions on what those requirements are. I encourage the government to set those requirements in a way that's going to protect Canadian taxpayers and protect the health insurance system.
Honestly, I think you guys can do it.
Noon
Liberal
Fayçal El-Khoury Liberal Laval—Les Îles, QC
Have you considered the fact that the absence of direct billing may put an additional financial burden on super visa holders and their sponsors?
I'd like to give you an example of a situation that occurred in my riding.
A family came to Canada and the woman had a heart attack. The medical bill was over $60,000. They came to my office to get help.
Can you explain what would happen in a situation like that?
Noon
Conservative
Kyle Seeback Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON
Again, I think I put it back to the government; the government can make the decision. If they want to say that a foreign insurance company can only be eligible to provide this insurance if they have direct billing, then that would solve that problem. I leave it to the expertise of the government to make that determination.
Noon
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
Thank you, Mr. El-Khoury. Your time is up.
With that, I will take a moment to thank Mr. Seeback for appearing before the committee today and for bringing this bill forward.
Of course, parents and grandparents are an asset to all of us. I came here as an immigrant, and I missed having grandparents around for my kids. That is the cost I paid for living here.
Thank you for that.
We will suspend the meeting.
[Proceedings continue in camera]