Mr. Speaker, I am also very pleased to speak to the importance of creating and maintaining an organ and tissue donor registry for every province and territory in Canada.
There are currently far too few Canadians on the list of organ and tissue donors, and that needs to be remedied. The Government of Canada is firmly committed to improving the organ and tissue donation and transplantation system in Canada for Canadians to have quicker and more efficient access to this care.
I have to thank the member for Calgary Confederation for bringing attention back to the issue of organ and tissue donation by introducing Bill C-210, an act to amend the Canada Revenue Agency Act with regard to organ and tissue donors. Making this change to the Canada Revenue Agency Act will certainly benefit Canadians by considerably increasing the number of potential donors in Canada.
The Government of Canada will support Bill C-210.
The Government of Canada recognizes the value of organ and tissue donation and transplantation. It also recognizes the important role it has to play in protecting the health and safety of Canadians, and has made several investments to date to support this goal. For example, since 2018 Health Canada has been leading the organ donation and transplantation collaborative. In addition to Health Canada's professionals, this collaborative engages with the provinces and territories, patient and family groups, representatives, researchers, clinical organ and tissue donation organizations and Canadian Blood Services.
I want to note that Canadian Blood Services, a not-for-profit charitable organization funded by the Government of Canada, manages the national waiting list and interprovincial organ-sharing registry. Part of the collaborative's mission is to improve the efficiency of the donation and transplant system in Canada. I can assure members that, in partnership with the Government of Canada, it is working hard to establish leading practices, strengthen professional education and raise public awareness to improve organ tissue donations in Canada.
Second, as a reminder of the Government of Canada's commitment to organ and tissue donation and transplantation, I would like to mention the investments made in budget 2019.
Our government allocated $36.5 million over five years starting in 2019-20 and $5 million a year after that to Health Canada. This money is earmarked to develop a pan-Canadian data and performance system for organ donation and transplantation. Improving consistency and quality in data and allowing more donors and recipients to be effectively matched are priority objectives of this investment.
The Government of Canada is investing these significant amounts to help Canadians move to a more coordinated and effective approach to organ and tissue donation and transplantation. Bill C-210 would do this through the addition of subsections 63.1(1) and (2). I firmly believe that we will be taking another step towards increasing the number of donors on the waiting list in Canada.
Currently, each province and territory in Canada is responsible for creating and maintaining its own organ and tissue donor registry. Each province and territory is also responsible for obtaining informed consent from every enrolled donor. The legal requirements for donor suitability and informed consent, which fall under provincial and territorial jurisdiction, are complex and vary widely across Canada.
For this reason, the amendment to Bill C-210 would allow the CRA to work in partnership with each jurisdiction to reach an agreement under the modification of paragraphs 63.1(1) and (2). In implementing some of the amendments in Bill C-210, the CRA would continue to respect the important role of the provinces and territories in organ and tissue donation, as well as to ensure the personal information of Canadians is handled in a secure manner.
The Government of Canada has full confidence in the CRA's ability to negotiate these agreements and to prioritize the safekeeping of Canadians' personal information. Ultimately, this initiative would advance the partnerships with provinces and territories that are essential to making real, positive changes for Canadians in organ and tissue donation.
That said, I should point out that the member for Vaughan—Woodbridge proposed a much simpler, faster and more direct method that would have achieved the same result.
Rather than having the Canada Revenue Agency directly collect donor consent on behalf of the provinces and territories, which would involve long negotiations because each province and territory has different eligibility criteria, the member for Vaughan—Woodbridge proposed asking Canadian taxpayers whether they would like to receive information about organ and tissue donation in their province or territory so they could decide whether to register to be added to the donor list.
The CRA would then confidentially provide the names of these potential donors to the provinces and territories in question, which would then send documentation to these potential donors and get the appropriate registration process started.
For this reason, the amendment proposed by the member for Vaughan—Woodbridge would have deleted the reference of proposed subsections 63.1(1) and 63.1(2) in the current bill, which refer to the income tax returns filed under paragraph 150(1)(d) of the Income Tax Act.
This method was inspired by the approach taken by the Government of Ontario, which includes a separate page in the Ontario taxpayers' income tax return for provincial benefits. Once the CRA has processed an Ontario tax return, this benefit information is forwarded to the Ontario government, which processes the benefit using its own system and methodology.
While I regret that the amendments proposed by my colleague from Vaughan—Woodbridge were not adopted, the government and I will nevertheless continue to support this bill.
In conclusion, there are far too few organ and tissue donors on waiting lists in Canada. However, by working together at the national level, we can improve the organ and tissue donation and transplantation system to ensure that Canadians have timely and effective access to care. Furthermore, if this bill is passed, which we hope it is, the government sincerely believes that the Canada Revenue Agency can play a significant role in this process.