Debates of March 7th, 2005

The Budget

[Steven Fletcher, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James, MB]

Mr. Speaker, this late proceeding is due to a question that I asked in November which dealt with the Auditor General's report in which the Auditor General outlined again numerous examples of Liberal mismanagement and waste.

In this case, specifically, Health Canada paid 400% more for certain drugs and spending increased by $88 million over the past two years. The Auditor General had pointed out to Health Canada on three previous occasions about the waste in drug programs and the Liberal government continues to do nothing.

Only after the fourth recommendation from the Auditor General in November 2004 did the government finally respond in any way to her proposal. Why it took so long still remains a mystery. However, based on the past record of Liberal inaction, how are we to believe that it will follow on its promised responses?

One of the most important issues is that of analyzing drug use trends, especially by looking at claims processing databases for high-risk patterns of drug use. This is especially important for high-risk groups like seniors.

The government's response to this issue was:

--electronic health records and electronic prescribing practices, as per the National Pharmaceutical Strategy commitments of First Ministers, will provide further tools to identify high-risk patterns of drug use and communicate information to health care professionals.

I agree wholeheartedly that electronic records are an important tool to limit drug problems. Almost 24,000 people die each year because of adverse events in large part due to complications resulting from errors in drug prescription.

To address this very problem of inadequate information, Canada Health Infoway was established several years ago by creating electronic records for all Canadians. Yet despite receiving $1.2 billion, the government foundation has only committed a small fraction of this to its goal.

The objective was to create electronic records for every Canadian by the year 2020. I wonder why, if people continue to die due to poor drug information, the government has not moved the deadline earlier, say to 2015 or 2010 or even two years from now. Why wait if people are dying? Why not commit all the money rather than let it sit in a bank account beyond the scrutiny of external audit? It is inexcusable that the Liberal government would use this foundation, which is supposed to create a program that will save lives, as a tool to hide money and fudge its surplus budgets.

People should not have to fear trips to the hospital. If the Liberals are serious about the Auditor General's recommendations, Infoway would be a good way to ensure that electronic records for every Canadian are implemented so we can regulate and follow the federal drug program.

Could the member tell us why the Liberals continue to waste and mismanage money at the cost of people, their lives and their quality of life?

[Robert Thibault, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, I welcome the opportunity to speak to the Auditor General's audit on federal drug plans. In particular, this is an issue that is fundamental to good governance. I am referring to accountability and value for money.

The public is very clear that its tax dollars should be spent on programs and services that improve the lives of Canadians. It is our jobs as elected representatives to ensure that the Government of Canada is responsible when it comes to public expenditures. It should come as no surprise then that the Auditor General should choose to look at the federal management of prescription drug benefits and the possible misuse by clients of prescription drugs paid for under Canada's non-insured health benefit program.

Health Canada has been actively working to address these matters and, while there remains much work ahead, we have already accomplished a great deal to bring us closer to these goals. The active agenda adopted by Health Canada to manage in an efficient manner the NIHB has meant that this program continues to serve the people it is intended to help while keeping expenditures low.

Let me tell the House of the progress we have made and the actions we intend to take.

On the matter of better coordination, we see that federal departments are working together to more effectively explore cost saving drug use and greater system efficiency. In addition, we are working with the provinces and territories to implement changes to improve the delivery of prescription drug insurance, as witnessed by the recent commitments of first ministers to develop a national pharmaceutical strategy.

Further, Health Canada will continue to be actively involved in the current federal, provincial and territorial pharmacy management group, and we have worked with our federal colleagues to develop a common action plan to implement the Auditor General's recommendations.

As we all know, first nations and Inuit populations are disproportionately experiencing both population growth and chronic disease. This makes cost management a key challenge for the NIHB program. However the need to contain costs must of course be balanced with ensuring access to quality health services and considering potential impacts on our relationship with health care providers. To this end, Health Canada has continued to encourage the use of lower cost drugs and to promote the use, where appropriate, of generic drugs.

Further, the Auditor General herself has recognized the department's own rigorous pharmacy audit program, and let us remember that despite the greater need and the rapid growth of client groups, the costs of the NIHB have risen at rates comparable to those of drug plans in other jurisdictions.

In future, the department will improve cost benefit analysis to obtain the best price for drugs and the most efficient delivery practices. We will continue to implement cost saving strategies and streamline service delivery in accordance with the national pharmaceutical strategy.

The Auditor General has also raised concerns regarding the misuse of prescription drugs, an issue that Health Canada has been working on since the Auditor General first raised it in 1997. I am pleased to tell the House that Health Canada has adopted a comprehensive drug utilization review program and has recommenced quarterly safety reviews which are an important part in addressing client safety.

I have much to go through and I see that I am running out of time but I should say, as the member knows, that the Auditor General has appeared three times on the question of this report to House committees and has indicated that she is optimistic on the moves taken by Health Canada and other federal agencies to implement her recommendations.

[Steven Fletcher, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the fact is that the Auditor General has highlighted this point on three separate occasions over the period of almost a decade and the Liberal government continues to do nothing. It says now that there has been progress but why is it taking so long? Why have the Liberals not done anything? The reason is, of course, as we all know, that the Liberals seem to embrace lack of accountability, mismanagement and the waste of Canadian taxpayer dollars.

The member talks about the Auditor General. The member knows that the Auditor General appeared in front of the health committee as recently as today and I asked her if she thought that the Auditor General having the ability to audit the foundations that deal with issues of health would be helpful. She said absolutely and--

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. Marcel Proulx)]

The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health.

[Robert Thibault, Liberal, West Nova, NS]

Mr. Speaker, as to the question that the federal government has received recommendations from the Auditor General is correct, and in three separate reports is correct, but that the federal government has not acted is incorrect.

To date, the federal government has not fully implemented all of the recommendations. It has not met all of the objectives that the Auditor General has suggested, but important steps have been taken, such as reducing the climbing costs. Now that the privacy of information questions have been resolved, an action plan has been put together to the satisfaction of the Auditor General. I think the member will find in the blues of the committee that she used the term “cautious optimism” that things are going forward.

The foundations are audited. They can come to the House and some of them perhaps should. They can be asked to appear before committee. Some of them perhaps should be audited by the Auditor General.

[James Lunney, Conservative, Nanaimo—Alberni, BC]

Mr. Speaker, on December 7 I asked the Minister of Justice a question about an RCMP document which indicated that some 600 women, many of them just girls, are lured into Canada's illicit sex trade each year. It is estimated that reporting only identifies one in ten women so victimized.

Against this dismal backdrop the minister of immigration has been providing incentives to foreign women to apply as exotic dancers leaving them extremely vulnerable to further exploitation.

The question I asked was when was the government going to get serious about Canada's illicit sex trade and take action to stop the exploitation of these most vulnerable women and children?

I recently toured facilities in my own community of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island at the request of John Horn, the director of the Nanaimo Working Group on Homelessness. We toured the Salvation Army New Hope Shelter, the Tillicum Haus society's safe house for aboriginal youth, and also one of the Haven Society houses. There are several in the area. It is a transitional housing program for women at risk of homelessness due to poverty, drugs and the sex trade. It provides supportive sustainable housing in a secure and healthy home environment in which to initiate change.

It is estimated that even in Nanaimo some 2,000 women a year seek shelter relating to abuse in the home. We are trying to deal with these problems. This problem is across the country especially in large urban areas. Gangs are exploiting women.

Against this backdrop, at the Liberal convention the agenda seemed to be to legalize prostitution, to legalize marijuana and to change the definition of marriage. Canadians are frustrated by the lack of attention to this serious exploitation of the most vulnerable among us.

Why is the government not taking action to protect women from being exploited? Why does it not look at raising the age of consent from 14 years of age? Women are being abused by pimps and by those who lure them with drugs into a vulnerable position and then continue to exploit them. We are not satisfied that the government is taking this issue seriously.

[Paul MacKlin, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for his question on the government's response to combat the trafficking of women and children for the purpose of sexually exploiting them, particularly through the sex trade. The question addresses a very serious issue and I rise tonight to confirm the government's commitment to address it through concrete measures.

During the Prime Minister's address to the United Nations General Assembly in September 2004, he spoke of the need to remain vigilant in the face of new forms of abuse, such as international trafficking of people and children in the sex trade.

In October 2004 in the Speech from the Throne, the government committed itself to table legislation to better protect against trafficking in persons. As well, in March 2004, the Minister of Justice identified trafficking in persons as one of his priorities.

All of this signals the Government of Canada 's commitment at the highest level to strengthen our response to human trafficking in all of its forms. The government has been working to address human trafficking, both at the domestic and international levels, by focusing on what we call the three Ps: prevention, protection of trafficking victims, and prosecution of traffickers.

For example, within the past year, and in support of prevention, the government's activities have included: the launch of a new trafficking information website that is located on the Department of Justice website, an anti-trafficking poster to raise awareness about the problem in Canada, and an anti-trafficking information pamphlet available in 14 languages for potential victims, which has been widely disseminated within Canada and abroad through our Canadian embassies.

The government has also partnered with others, including the Canadian Ethnocultural Council and the British Columbia Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General, to co-host round tables at the community level to educate and increase public awareness about the situation of victims of trafficking, especially youth, children and women, and to explore strategies to prevent and combat trafficking in persons.

The protection of victims is a matter of shared responsibility between the federal, provincial and territorial levels of government and as such, at the recent January meeting of the federal, provincial and territorial ministers responsible for justice, provincial and territorial ministers expressed support for the efforts of the federal Minister of Justice to strengthen the criminal justice system's response to trafficking in persons with a view to ensuring that traffickers are held accountable and victims are better protected against it.

Trafficking victims may receive protection at the federal level under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. For example, they may be a person in need of protection. Conventional refugees are eligible to remain in Canada for humanitarian and compassionate considerations.

Traffickers can be prosecuted under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which came into effect in 2002 and created a new trafficking in persons offence that is punishable by a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and/or a $1 million fine.

Traffickers are also being prosecuted and convicted under the existing Criminal Code offences that address trafficking related conduct, including prostitution related offences. On this important note, I want to emphasize that the existing criminal law prohibits prostitution of all persons under the age of 18 years.

As well I would note again, the government is commitment to table legislation to better protect against human trafficking, to which, I am sure, all of us look forward.

[James Lunney, Conservative, Nanaimo—Alberni, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the parliamentary secretary talks about speeches at the UN and throne speeches, but we need action. He talks about posters and websites.

In B.C. there is an organization called New Opportunities for Women Canada Society, NOW. Catherine Williams-Jones is the executive director. I would encourage the parliamentary secretary to get out and hear her when she comes to Ottawa in a few weeks. She estimates that of the 2,000 women and children with which the program has worked, only two have claimed that they were not sexually abused as a child.

We do not need more speeches and round tables. We need action to protect young people against child pornography. We need tough action from the government. We need action against those who exploit young people under age 14 and target them, who ply them with drugs like crystal meth and ecstasy, and date rape drugs. Then they compromise them, get them addicted, and continue to exploit them. We need actions on these matters.

There are inadequate penalties in place. We need adequate penalties for the johns and pimps, not conditional sentences. There is inadequate enforcement in these matters. The Liberal Party--

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. Marcel Proulx)]

The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada.

[Paul MacKlin, Liberal, Northumberland—Quinte West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the government is taking very seriously the problem of trafficking of women and children to sexually exploit them through the sex trade. The government has committed itself at the highest levels to strengthen our domestic response to combat the trafficking of persons and indeed, to work with the international community for a global response.

That commitment is being realized through many initiatives to prevent human trafficking, to protect its victims, and to ensure that traffickers are held accountable through prosecution. These initiatives include: raising public awareness about the issue; exchanging best practices in combating human trafficking; supporting victims of trafficking who are primarily women and children; and enforcing and strengthening our legislation response to human trafficking.

The government is working closely with the international community to ensure comprehensive and cross-sectoral responses to combat this global practice. The government acknowledges that more needs to be done and the government's commitment is to work together with domestic and other global partners to ensure a concerted long term and comprehensive response.

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. Marcel Proulx)]

Since the hon. member for Ottawa West—Nepean is not present in the House to raise a question during the adjournment debate, her notice is deemed to have been withdrawn.

The motion to adjourn the House is now deemed to have been adopted. Accordingly, this House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 10 a.m., pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).

(The House adjourned at 7:19 p.m.)