Debates of Sept. 20th, 2016

Genetic Non-Discrimination Act

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

When the debate resumes, the hon. member will have six minutes and thirty seconds from there.

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

Taxation

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in this late sitting to continue the debate I had in question period with the Minister of Small Business and Tourism. While I am not going to read her answer, I basically asked a question about Canadian-controlled private corporations, which are the preferred tax structure and business structure of dentists, doctors, engineers, and architects to conduct their business. I am specifically interested in their impact in my community on clinics, especially medical clinics.

Dr. Melanie, who emailed me a while ago, says that I met her father, as well as the many other members of the local community. These include doctors who are providing front-line clinical services to their patients. She basically says that like many of her colleagues, she provides medical care for patients as an incorporated, self-employed professional. She is involved in a primary care network through which she connects with many other family physicians. Through her work with the primary care network, it is clear to her how important CCPCs are in the operation of many medical practices.

What the Liberal government is proposing to do is very unclear and so the crux of my question to the minister was, what are you going to do to CCPCs?

In the case of my riding, it will lead to less clinical hours and to clinics closing. That is a big deal in a riding as large as mine. For a very long time in Alberta we have had a difficult time attracting new doctors and bringing new graduates into the GP field, the general practice field, to practise in their community and provide a front-line type of service.

The simple question I had for the minister was, would the government stop these tax hikes, because that is the only possible solution for this?

I understand that the Liberals are desperately trying to find new tax monies everywhere to try to balance their budget maybe some day in a decade or two. However, the crux of my question was, what are they trying to do with CCPCs? That is what many professionals in my riding have been asking, whether they be accountants, or architects, or dentists.

The specific example I have affects doctors in my riding. Their experience is troublesome, because, for many of them, according to MNP and a Globe and Mail article that I am going to cite, as of November 27, 2015, the estimates are that their taxes could go up by as much as $5,700 for every $50,000 of taxable income, or $40,000 on taxable dividends. Seventeen thousand dollars on $40,000 is a substantial amount of money. These are not rich professionals, but are providing front-line services to people in my community, especially medical care. It is not as though we can just switch and go to the hospital, which would have far higher costs for emergency room physicals than a GP would.

My question for the government is, as always, what is it planning to do with CCPCs? Why was it not clear in the budget document? Has it even consulted with anybody on this?

[Gudie Hutchings, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business and Tourism]

Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to be back in the fall sitting of this beautiful House. I am sure I can speak for all my colleagues. We have enjoyed travelling about our ridings meeting with constituents from, in my case, coast to coast to coast.

I would also like to say an official welcome to the pages. This is an exciting time, a chapter in their life, and I hope they leave here with the passion that we have for this place.

I am pleased to have the opportunity to respond to the comments of the hon. member for Calgary Shepard regarding taxation. Our government understands the importance of small businesses to the Canadian economy, and that is why we are working hard to support our small businesses.

In January, the small business tax rate actually went down from 11% to 10.5%. The small business deduction has always included rules intended to prevent access to the same deductions among partners of the same corporation or partnership. The clarification of these rules will ensure that the application of the guidelines reflects the initial intent of the small business rate and will continue with a taxation framework that is supportive of SMEs.

Small and medium-size enterprises are crucial to the continued growth of our economy as well as to the creation of wealth and jobs for Canada. To put things in context, SMEs account for 99% of all businesses in Canada, represent 90% of the private sector workforce, and contribute about 40% to the GDP.

Recognizing the important role of SMEs and the hard-working middle-class Canadians who own and work for them, this government is committed to creating a strong business environment that ensures opportunities for growth within Canada and within our global market.

Prior to budget 2016, this government held many consultations across the country to ensure that all Canadians' voices would be heard. Therefore, the government is confident that the current tax environment supports growth and job creation for all small businesses, including health care professionals and small manufacturers.

As the Government of Canada continues to support small businesses in becoming more competitive in the global economy, I would like to highlight some of the initiatives that clearly enable SMEs to grow and thrive.

Our budget 2016 made available $800 million to support innovation networks and clusters to help businesses work more strategically and accelerate growth.

To assist firms in realizing their full potential, the government has launched the accelerated growth service to better coordinate support for high-potential firms to help them grow and increase their global competitiveness. Business advice and guidance are the keys to success for all SMEs.

The budget provided additional funding of $50 million to the highly successful IRAP, the industrial research assistance program. This support will increase the number of companies served by the program's highly qualified industrial technology advisors nationwide.

Throughout the development of the innovation agenda, we are encouraging creative entrepreneurs to innovate and to grow.

Consultations for the innovation agenda were launched in June, and innovation round tables have taken place across the country from coast to coast to coast throughout the summer. In the coming months, the ideas will inform the government's work to position Canada as a global leader of innovation in all fields.

For Canada to be globally competitive, we must continue to take a proactive approach to ensure we are best supporting our small and medium-size enterprises.

Our ongoing efforts and additional measures will catalyze further growth, innovation, and success for these critical companies in all areas of our country.

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I listened attentively to the parliamentary secretary. She spoke a lot about international trade and these innovation centres, but we are talking specifically about the impact on clinicians, medical doctors serving at the GP level in my community. The impact on them of the changing tax structure of the CCPC is that many of them will simply give up serving directly in the community because it simply will not be worth their time. While they care for their community and they care for their patients, they also have to look at their personal bottom line and make sure it is the right thing for them to do as well.

The parliamentary secretary mentioned the Liberals had reduced the small business tax to 10.5%, which is great because that was a Conservative promise, but they did not take it down all the way to 9%, and they also got rid of the small business job credit, which is effectively hiking a payroll tax.

The Liberals are not there for small businesses, and I will leave it at that.

[Gudie Hutchings, Liberal, Long Range Mountains, NL]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to respond to the comments made by my hon. colleague across the floor.

As I mentioned earlier, we are committed to ensuring that our measures support all small and medium-sized businesses and we reflect strong opportunities for success in addition to establishing the taxation framework that remains supportive of SMEs. As I said, we did reduce the tax from 11% to 10.5%.

We want to emphasize the fact that other measures support small businesses all throughout our country and that Canadian businesses have access to the resources they need. For example, in the tourism industry, we invested $50 million in Destination Canada and their connecting America program, which saw an increase in tourism in the first six months. From the end of June, there was an additional 11%. That is money in the pockets of small and medium-sized businesses all across the country.

I know our hon. colleague was referring to the medical system. We have consulted with Canadians from coast to coast to coast and we did hear from many doctors who are confident in the budget that we put forward and that we are going to help them along the way.

I look forward to many conversations with my colleague on how we can advance this further.

Health

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to welcome the pages to the House. I think they started this week and they play a critical role in Canada's democratic chamber here. I would like to welcome them and wish them a wonderful year.

The Minister of Health previously stated:

A strong public health-care system, grounded in the principles of the Canada Health Act, is key to a fair and just society....

New Democrats agree. However, surely the minister knows that when it comes to health care in Canada, we cannot call the shots if we do not pay the bills.

The Liberal Party's 2015 election platform pledged to negotiate a new health accord with the provinces and territories, including a long-term agreement on funding. However, in statements over the summer the health minister has backtracked on this promise. She stated:

I'm not convinced that putting more money in through the transfer is the most effective way for us to transform the health-care system....

Gaétan Barrette, Quebec's health minister, has confirmed that, rather than negotiating in good faith, the Liberal government is holding fast to Stephen Harper's cuts to the health transfer escalator. Minister Barrette stated:

We're not even discussing—we are being told—that the escalator will go from six [per cent] to three.... It hasn't been said (quite this) way, but it was close to: “Don't expect too much and don't call us”.

The federal government cannot have it both ways. If it refuses to pay its fair share of Canada's overall health care costs, it will effectively neuter the Canada Health Act and destroy medicare as a national institution. As Justin Trudeau was fond of saying on the campaign trail, you can't have Tommy Douglas health care on a Stephen Harper budget.

According to an analysis by Canadian academics, including former parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page, that is exactly what the Liberals are proposing to do. Mr. Page stated:

Federal spending in this sector is projected to fall steadily over the long term given the current program structure and weaker growth rate formula. In this regard, it is difficult to imagine the preservation of the principles of the Canada Health Act without more federal skin in the game.

Indeed, when medicare was first introduced, the federal government agreed to pay 50% of the cost. That was the deal. However, a PBO analysis of the Harper-era funding framework shows that by slashing the health transfer escalator from 6% to 3%, the federal share of health care spending will fall precipitously and continuously in the coming decades. It is currently about 20%.

With the Liberals planning to limit annual increases to 3% under the Harper formula, Ottawa will be transferring about $1.1 billion less in health care funding to the provinces next year alone, and by 2020 this will mean approximately $5 billion less devoted to health care every year. In total, the provinces estimate they will receive about $36 billion less in health transfers over the coming decade.

Aside from the new health accord, the Liberal Party also made an immediate commitment during the election to invest $3 billion over four years to deliver more home care. However, the Liberal's first budget did not earmark a single dime in new funding for home care. Even if the government follows through on this commitment a year behind schedule, this funding will be more than cancelled out by maintaining Harper's cuts. The government is giving a little with one hand and taking a lot with the other. This means longer wait times, poorer patient care, more pressure for privatization, and that is no way to build Tommy Douglas health care.

Therefore, my question is this. Will the government commit to negotiate a new health accord backed by federal dollars to improve patient care in Canada or not?

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Before we go to the parliamentary secretary, I want to remind the hon. member that when referring to members in the House, he refer to them by their titles and not their names. I am sure it was a mistake, but I thought I would point that out.

The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health.

[Kamal Khera, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, let me assure the House that our government is firmly committed to actively defending our publicly funded health care system. Like all Canadians, we share the strong belief that all individuals deserve access to timely, quality health care, regardless of their backgrounds, physical needs, where they live, or how much they make. This is part of what defines us as a nation.

Our government has shown time and again that we stand behind the core Canadian values of equity and solidarity. These are the very values that underpin the Canada Health Act. This is why we will continue to work collaboratively with our provincial and territorial colleagues to ensure that citizens across the country can readily access and depend on our cherished health care system.

Publicly funded health care in Canada is based on five principles, contained in the Canada Health Act. These principles include comprehensiveness of insured health services; universality of population covered; reasonable access to insured services without the impediments of user charges; portability of health benefits; and public, non-profit administration of health insurance plans.

Canadians believe in the equality of citizens, and our health care system reflects that fundamental belief. For this reason, Canadians are proud of our publicly funded health care system. In fact, a Statistics Canada report on Canadian identity, published in October 2015, found that almost 80% of Canadians have pride in the Canadian health care system.

The federal government wants to ensure that Canadians continue to have this strong sense of pride, and accordingly, we are committed to working closely and collaboratively with our provincial and territorial counterparts to realize the aims of the Canada Health Act.

The Canada Health Act is clear. Under the act, provincial and territorial health insurance plans are required to cover medically necessary hospital and physician services. Any charges to patients for these publicly insured services are considered extra billing or user charges and are prohibited under the act. Ultimately, these fees create barriers to accessing health care, and our government would like to see such fees eliminated.

When Canadians elected our government, they chose a government that promised to focus on a new and more collaborative relationship with the provinces and territories. Therefore, our government's approach to the administration of the Canada Health Act will emphasize transparency, consultation, and dialogue with provincial and territorial health care ministries to resolve potential issues.

The Minister of Health has made it very clear that she upholds the principles of the Canada Health Act. That is why the federal Minister of Health recently wrote to the Quebec health minister underscoring her commitment to a publicly funded health care system, without charges to patients for insured services. She asked that his financial statement of extra billing and user charges for 2014-15, due to Health Canada this December, reflect information on these charges, as documented in the Quebec Auditor General's report this May.

It is important to remember that the ultimate goal of enforcement is not to levy penalties but to ensure compliance with the principles of the Canada Health Act so that Canadians have access to the health care they need when they need it. I am pleased that the Quebec minister of health recently announced concrete action toward removing barriers to access by eliminating fees charged to patients for insured services at the point of delivery.

Let me conclude by confirming that our government believes that any trend toward privatization resulting in a move toward a two-tiered system undermines the fundamental principles of the Canada Health Act and would be deemed a threat to our publicly funded health care system. As such, our government will continue to defend the principles of the Canada Health Act.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Mr. Speaker, according to Linda Silas, president of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions,

As in the 1990s, as the percentage of federal funding declines towards historical lows, it may mean bed closures and drastic layoffs, all of which will dramatically affect the sustainability of Canada’s health care system.

We must not allow history to repeat itself. If the Harper era cuts are maintained, each province will be left to fend for itself as costs outstrip their ability to pay. We will not have national pharmacare, we will not have national home care, wait times will increase, and patient care will suffer.

Tommy Douglas once said, “unless those of us who believe in Medicare raise our voices in no uncertain terms, unless we arouse our neighbours and our friends and our communities, we are sounding the death knell of Medicare in this country”.

Canada's New Democrats will never sit idly by and see that happen. Will the Liberals?

[Kamal Khera, Liberal, Brampton West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, our government is firmly committed to actively defending our publicly funded health care system. We will ensure that Canadian citizens continue to have quality health care in accordance with the principles enshrined in the Canada Health Act. This includes striving to eliminate extra billing and user fees, which create a barrier to Canadians accessing the health care system.

Our government will work collaboratively with its provincial and territorial counterparts to realize the Canada Health Act's goal of ensuring that access to necessary health care in Canada is based on medical need and not one's ability or willingness to pay. As a government, we take that goal seriously and our administration of the Canada Health Act will reflect that.

Indigenous Affairs

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am always proud to rise in the House, but I am certainly not proud to have to talk tonight about the fact that since January 2015, the Government of Canada has been found to be guilty of systemic racist discrimination against indigenous children. It is a black mark on everything this nation stands for, that the current government has continued to deny its obligation to respond. We have now had two compliance orders issued by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal that the current government is ignoring.

What does this denial of services, this discrimination, mean?

I think of the seven youth from Thunder Bay who were found dead in the rivers of Thunder Bay when they had to leave home at age 13 to go to school because they did not have schools in their communities. The government sent a bureaucrat to say under oath that the government did not think there were any shortfalls in education for indigenous youth.

I think of the youth who are being denied audiology treatments because the bureaucrats will save money. I think of the children who died in Treaty 9 from basic childhood illnesses because the government would not bother to provide medical care for them.

I think of the mother who said to me that she wanted to know where her babies were at night. They say that a nation cannot be defeated until the hearts of its women are on the ground, and yet in indigenous communities across this country, there are more children being taken away from their parents and their mothers right now than at the height of the residential schools.

We will hear from the government that, yes, they are putting money in, that they are putting a record amount of money into child welfare. The government is $130 million short this year. The Liberals decided they could shortchange the children.

They said they would close that funding gap in education. Not a dime has flowed. Guess what? The school year has started. The Liberals promised $50 million this year for post-secondary education for indigenous children. They broke that promise.

The Liberals say they are going to give a record amount of money based on Jordan's Principle, but they do not tell us that this will not include most children in this country. Here I would mention, for example, the young Cree girl who was denied emergency orthodontic surgery. We asked the government to look into that case, and we found out what the denial rate was. There was was a 99% denial rate for indigenous children needing emergency orthodontic surgery. Can someone on that side stand up and tell me that is not systemic racist discrimination?

What I find most shocking is that we have a Prime Minister who has named himself the minister of youth and said that this is the most important relationship in this nation to repair, but he decided that he can shortchange indigenous children this year, next year, and the year after. The Liberals were not going to shortchange the upper middle class when they gave them the tax breaks. That money flowed right away.

We have a government that is continuing to play games with the Canadian Human Rights Commission. It is continuing to play games with Cindy Blackstock.

We have children who are continuing to die. In my region, there were 700-plus suicide attempts in about four communities since 2009. It is because those children are regularly denied access to mental health services. They are regularly denied the ability to get out to get treatment. They are left on their own. What kind of nation thinks it can squander its children?

What is it going to take to have the government admit that it needs to comply with the decisions of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal and end this?

The cheapest and simplest of all the promises the Prime Minister makes would be to meet the needs of these children. The Liberals need to do it, and I am asking them to commit to doing that tonight.

[Kamal Khera, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for raising this extremely important issue. The events taking place in some regions have shown us some real challenges facing first nations across the country. Over the summer, the Minister of Health travelled to many first nations communities in Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec to see these challenges first hand. She met with both first nations and Inuit leaders.

To address the urgent need for additional mental health supports in Attawapiskat, Health Canada has provided resources to add two mental health counsellors as part of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation crisis response unit. We are also working with the community, the Weeneebayko Area Health Authority, the province, and other partners to coordinate our response and enhance services for youth at risk.

To truly improve the wellness of indigenous peoples, we must focus our efforts on improving the social economic conditions that they face. We need to find a way to restore hope for these communities and to support healthy child development. This is why our government laid out a comprehensive plan of investment in budget 2016, which includes $8.4 billion for better schools and housing, cleaner water, and improvements for health infrastructure, including nursing stations.

Our government is already taking action to enhance care in all remote first nations communities. We are improving access to mental health supports, improving infrastructure and working to ensure needed equipment is available. To address critically needed health infrastructure for first nations communities, budget 2016 also provides an investment of $270 million over the next five years. This funding is supporting the construction, renovation, and repair of nursing stations and residences for health care workers.

Health Canada also continues to fund culturally appropriate mental wellness programs and services for first nations and Inuit individuals and communities. This includes activities aimed at mental health promotion, suicide prevention, addiction treatment and after-care services, counselling, and other crisis response services. We invested over $300 million in 2015-16 for these programs and services. This includes $13.5 million annually for the national aboriginal youth suicide prevention strategy, which supports 138 community-based suicide prevention projects in first nations and Inuit communities.

Strategies to prevent suicide and improve mental health for first nations and Inuit need to be developed, planned, and managed with first nations and Inuit. This is why Health Canada worked with the Assembly of First Nations and mental wellness leaders to develop a first nations mental wellness continuum framework, and is working with the ITK to develop an Inuit specific framework.

In response to ongoing mental health and suicide crisis in some indigenous communities, the Government of Canada announced a further investment of $69 million over the next three years for immediate interim measures to support first nations and Inuit communities. This funding will increase the number of mental wellness teams in communities from 11 to 43, as well as support an additional four mental health crisis intervention teams. It also provides $9 million in funding for Inuit specific approaches to mental wellness to address the unique needs of the population and to establish a culturally safe 24-hour crisis support line.

Our government is committed to a renewed nation-to-nation relationship with indigenous peoples to make progress on the issues that are most important, and health is one of them. It is vital to our nation's future that the federal government work in genuine partnership with indigenous communities and provinces to ensure better health, social, and economic outcomes for indigenous people.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I guess I have to say what it looks like on the ground. We hear all these slogans and numbers, but the reality is that the government is taking the approach of fighting families that are being denied their medical rights. It was the minister who decided she would rather fight a family in court that needed emergency orthodontic treatment. The minister decided it was worth spending three to four times the amount on lawyers than providing the children their medical needs.

This is not a new relationship. This is a very old one. This is the old relationship that has damaged Canada since before Confederation. The fact that the government is not in compliance with the Human Rights Tribunal, that it can say that it will throw money into this program and that program, that is the colonial attitude of Indian affairs and Health Canada. They figure as long as they create some program that will have a sunset in a year or two, they do not have to face the fact that the needs of children are still being denied, on child welfare, on education, and on health. The Human Rights Tribunal says that it is racist, system discrimination. It has to stop.

[Kamal Khera, Liberal, Brampton West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, our government is taking action to enhance care in all remote first nations communities. We are improving access to mental health supports, infrastructure, and working to ensure needed equipment is available. As I mentioned before, in budget 2016 our government invested $8.4 billion for better schools and housing, cleaner water, cultural and recreation facilities, and improvements for nursing stations. We also announced a further investment of $69 million over the next three years for immediate interim measures to support mental wellness in first nations and Inuit communities.

Our government acknowledges the release of the ITK's national Inuit suicide prevention strategy. This will be an important step to guide actions needed to address the high suicide rates in the Inuit population. Health Canada announced $9 million for Inuit-specific approaches to improving mental wellness.

I would like to emphasize our government's commitment to a renewed nation-to-nation relationship with indigenous people. As part of this commitment, we will continue to prioritize issues that are important to us.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The motion to adjourn the House is now deemed to have been adopted.

Accordingly the House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 2 p.m. pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).

(The House adjourned at 7:02 p.m.)