House of Commons Hansard #99 of the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was aircraft.

Topics

Secure, Adequate, Accessible and Affordable Housing ActPrivate Members' Business

6:05 p.m.

Some hon. members

Question.

Secure, Adequate, Accessible and Affordable Housing ActPrivate Members' Business

6:05 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Barry Devolin

The question is on the amendment. Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the amendment?

Secure, Adequate, Accessible and Affordable Housing ActPrivate Members' Business

6:05 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

No.

Secure, Adequate, Accessible and Affordable Housing ActPrivate Members' Business

6:05 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Barry Devolin

All those in favour of the amendment will please say yea.

Secure, Adequate, Accessible and Affordable Housing ActPrivate Members' Business

6:05 p.m.

Some hon. members

Yea.

Secure, Adequate, Accessible and Affordable Housing ActPrivate Members' Business

6:05 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Barry Devolin

All those opposed will please say nay.

Secure, Adequate, Accessible and Affordable Housing ActPrivate Members' Business

6:05 p.m.

Some hon. members

Nay.

Secure, Adequate, Accessible and Affordable Housing ActPrivate Members' Business

6:05 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Barry Devolin

In my opinion the nays have it.

And five or more members having risen:

Call in the members.

And the bells having rung:

Pursuant to Standing Order 98, the recorded division stands deferred until Wednesday, November 24, immediately before the time provided for private members' business.

A motion to adjourn the House under Standing Order 38 deemed to have been moved.

6:05 p.m.

Liberal

Hedy Fry Liberal Vancouver Centre, BC

Mr. Speaker, a while ago in this House I asked the Minister of Health a question about maternal and child health. At the time, the government professed this to be at the heart of its millennium development goals that it wanted to achieve at the G8 and G20. It wanted to bring down the rates of maternal and child mortality.

While this was laudable in itself, I think many of us were concerned and were asking questions. Given that the four biggest causes of maternal death in developing countries are post-partum bleeding, infections, hypertension or chronic diseases such as HIV/AIDS, and unsafe abortion, which are recognized by the World Health Organization and physicians around the world, why was it that out of those four causes the government only picked three to deal with and ignored one?

We know that approximately 70,000 women a year die in the developing world from unsafe abortions and that the number of women in Canada who die from unsafe abortions is practically negligible, if there are any. I think it is zero at the moment.

Therefore, why would a government that professes to care about the health of mothers and their children presume that women in Canada deserve better than women in the developing world? Why would the government not understand and apply those same principles of care to women in the developing world, given that 70,000 women dying each year from unsafe abortions is an astounding number and given that we know these women need access to safe abortions, where legal. This in fact is one of the ways of achieving the millennium goals, which was to bring down the maternal mortality rate and to bring down the infant mortality rate?

We know that the millennium development goal looked at bringing down maternal mortality by 75% by the year 2015. In order for that to happen, the decline each year would have had to be about 5.5%. We have only achieved 2.3% annually, which means we are not going to achieve those millennium development goals.

When we know the four reasons for women dying and we are prepared to do something about three of them, the question is: Why would we ignore one of the most important ones that takes the lives of such a large number of women?

It means that we are not making these decisions based on evidence. When we seek to help women in the developing world, we are not making decisions in this country based on empirical data, based on information and knowledge that we hear from physicians and health care professionals. We are basing the decision on some sort of ideology, some sort of moral imperative. As a developed nation in which women have access to safe abortions whenever they need it, how dare we suggest that women in the developing world should not?

We also know that when women die in the developing world, their children under one year of age have an 80% chance of dying within a year of the mother's death. We know that children under five years of age have about a 50% chance of making it to adolescence. We are not just condemning the 70,000 women a year who need access to safe abortion; we are also condemning their children.

My question is: What makes these women and their children less worthy than the women who die from infection, chronic disease and hypertension, and post-partum hemorrhage? That is my question, and I am hoping to hear an answer to it this time.

6:10 p.m.

Calgary East Alberta

Conservative

Deepak Obhrai ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and to the Minister of International Cooperation

Mr. Speaker, Canada made maternal and child health a priority at the G8 summit in Muskoka because we recognize that the loss of a mother has a critical impact on the health and well-being of her children. It starts in pregnancy and carries on well after birth. Mother and child must remain healthy for each to have a real chance of surviving and thriving in life.

Within its children and youth strategy, CIDA has focused one of its priorities on maternal and child health in order to ensure that mothers stay healthy during pregnancy and are able to properly care for their children once they are born. However, it is not enough to simply keep women healthy during and after pregnancy.

CIDA also recognizes that women should be able to determine the timing and spacing of their pregnancies, which has a direct impact on their health and well-being, as well as the outcome of pregnancies. For this reason, CIDA annually provides approximately $15 million to support programs, activities and commodities in the developing world.

We are not alone in pursuing such a program. In fact, increasing access to services is also an area of focus for the international organizations that CIDA supports, for example, the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross and World Vision. Our G8 initiative is necessary to ensure the long-term health of mothers and children, and the work we are doing in this area is translating into much progress for maternal and child health in the countries of focus.

In western Mali, for example, skilled health care workers now attend almost half of all deliveries thanks to the CIDA project; and approximately 733 health professionals have been trained to improve the health of mothers and newborns during childbirth through CIDA's support of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada and its partner associations in Guatemala.

Beyond pregnancy, it is also critical that we work to give infants and young children a healthy start in life. Doing so greatly increases the likelihood that they will go to school as they grow up, contributing in a meaningful way to their communities. CIDA is fulfilling this objective by training and equipping front-line health care workers to deliver modern malaria treatments, bed nets, antibiotics for infections and other key health services for children and vulnerable groups.

Nutrition is also an important component of our efforts to keep mothers and children healthy. As a founding partner and principal donor of the micronutrient initiative, CIDA is helping to avert malnutrition by providing vitamin A, iodine and other micronutrients to mothers and young children.

Others in the world agree that maternal and child health needs to be a priority. During the G8 development ministers' meeting in Halifax last April, ministers were unanimous that improving the health of mothers and children should be the top priority of the agenda. There was similar agreement when it came to determining the scope of action required to address child and health issues.

In conclusion, Canada has made great strides and our $1.1 billion in new funding for maternal and child health will make a definite difference in the lives of the people in the developing world.

6:15 p.m.

Liberal

Hedy Fry Liberal Vancouver Centre, BC

Mr. Speaker, I am puzzled by the response. I mentioned that it is known and decided on by the World Health Organization and all medical professionals around the world that there are four causes for maternal mortality. The first one we said was postpartum bleeding. The hon. member speaks to me about the idea of helping to space pregnancies, because we know that if people have pregnancies within two years, their risk of postpartum hemorrhage is great. Good, we agree on that.

The second cause is infection. We have heard the member speaking about CIDA providing safe hospitals, clean clinics and all those things so women can have infection-free births. Good, we agree on the second cause of maternal death.

The third one is hypertension, malaria and chronic diseases. The member said the government and its partners are looking at lots of ways to assist. There are malaria clinics and they are doing all those kinds of things, including nutrition, to help women and children.

The fourth cause is abortion and the lack of access to safe abortion. Why is it that the government will not accede to the 70,000 women who die as a result of unsafe abortions? What makes them less worthy than others?

6:15 p.m.

Conservative

Deepak Obhrai Conservative Calgary East, AB

Mr. Speaker, in my response I said we work with international agencies and other groups to ensure that child and maternal health is a very important issue.

Let me assure the hon. member that this July, the African Union summit in Kampala used the same theme of child and maternal health. Everyone there agreed that the priority that we and CIDA have and working with other partners will produce results henceforth with our attention to this important initiative.

6:15 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Barry Devolin

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 6:18 p.m.)