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House of Commons Hansard #375 of the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was documents.
House of Commons Hansard #375 of the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was documents.
The Assistant Deputy Speaker NDP Carol Hughes
Order.
Again, the hon. member had an opportunity to ask a question. He may not like the answer he gets, but I would just ask him to please be respectful.
The hon. parliamentary secretary has the floor.
Chris Bittle Liberal St. Catharines, ON
Madam Speaker, one of the mayors of the community he represents received housing accelerator fund money, and he said that he is grateful and that it will help “meet the critical need for more housing in our community”, with “our” being the member's riding and the member's community.
The member can point all across the country and all across the province. His own community received housing accelerator fund money. He stood up for it. He still wants it. The question remains: Will he stand up for his constituents or will he just bow to the whims of the office of his leader, who does not want to see any funding or any benefits to his constituents?
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
Madam Speaker, I am rising again to question the government on its lack of investments to ensure every Canadian has access to a family doctor. No Canadian should need to use a credit card to access basic health services in this country.
The House will recall, of course, that the NDP has been instrumental in this Parliament in ensuring we start to broaden health care, including dental care and pharmacare, and pushing for home care and mental health care as well. This has been a fundamental priority of the NDP since Tommy Douglas, the founding leader of the NDP, pushed Parliament 70 years ago to put in place universal health care in Canada. When he forced the government of the day to bring in universal health care, he always envisaged that we would move from there to dental care and pharmacare to ensure that, essentially, we have health care from the top of our heads to the soles of our feet.
This makes sense for a whole variety of reasons. When we have comprehensive health care, there is less of an impact on acute health care. For example, putting in place pharmacare means saving $4 billion for Canadians. Putting in place dental care, according to emergency room physicians in Ontario alone, saves about $1 billion a year as Canadians have to show up at the emergency room when they do not have access to dental care.
It is fundamentally important that, if a health care system is going to work, we make the required investments to ensure Canadians have access to a family doctor and are not paying extra fees. The government has been very slow on that. It has been quicker on what the NDP has forced it to do. When it comes to the number of Canadians who do not have a family physician, there has been very little work put into play. This is a criticism not just of the Liberal government but also of the Conservative government, which did absolutely nothing for a decade either.
The reality is very simple. We need to see more investments to ensure there are more spaces in our universities and medical schools to train doctors and nurses. We need to ensure the funding is there so we get the health care professionals we need. We cannot stop there. We have to recognize foreign-trained credentials as well. There are so many foreign-trained doctors and nurses who come to Canada whose credentials are not recognized because the current and previous governments did not do the work to put in place all of the infrastructure for those credentials to be recognized here.
For those who would criticize and say it would cost a lot of money, I will mention a few of the investments the government has made, and the previous government as well. Between both Conservatives and Liberals, there was $1 trillion in liquidity supports for Canada's big banks, $600 billion going to overseas tax havens over the last 15 years and $100 billion going to oil and gas CEOs over the last 15 years.
The reality is Canada can afford it. We need to make sure health care investments come before the banks, the oil and gas CEOs, and overseas tax savings. Why is the government not putting health care first?
Chris Bittle LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Housing
Madam Speaker, it is quite the contrary. The federal government is putting health care first. Canada's universal health care system is a pillar of our national identity. It represents Canadians' ongoing commitment to the values of equity, fairness and solidarity, to ensure that everyone has access to medically necessary health care services based on medical need and not on their ability or willingness to pay. Our government is investing in our public health care system so it delivers for Canadians. It is why we are making investments of close to $200 billion into the system.
The Canada Health Act does not preclude private facilities from providing medically necessary services as long as the patients are not charged for these services. Our government works with the provinces and territories to ensure the federal government's investments are used in a way that respects the principles of the Canada Health Act. As jurisdictions institute reforms to their health care systems, including using private facilities to deliver insured services, access to medically necessary services should remain equitable and based on medical need.
There is, of course, a legitimate concern that some facilities may attempt to charge patients for access to medically necessary services in contravention of the act. Our government's position remains that when provinces and territories permit private facilities to deliver medically necessary services, those services must be covered by public health care insurance plans. That is why, under the Canada Health Act's diagnostic services policy since March 2023, we have levied a total of $149 million in deductions to Canada health transfer payments to provinces that have not covered the cost of medically necessary diagnostic services provided in private clinics, leading to patients paying out of pocket for these services. Patients' charges are something our government will never take lightly. Since 2015, we have levied over $267 million in mandatory health transfer reductions to provinces that have permitted patient charges for medically necessary services delivered at private facilities. I want to assure my colleague that we will continue to take action whenever such charges occur.
The goal of the Canada Health Act administration has never been to levy penalties, but rather ensure patients are not charged for the medically necessary services they have already paid through their taxes. That is why provinces and territories that face mandatory deductions have the opportunity to be reimbursed by Health Canada when they develop an action plan to take the necessary steps to eliminate patient charges. Since the Canada Health Act reimbursement policy came into effect, $175 million has been reimbursed to the provinces in recognition of their efforts to ensure patients do not face financial barriers when accessing needed care.
Our government will continue to work with provinces and territories to ensure the public health care system continues to be there for Canadians to access medically necessary care. As our system evolves to meet the modern-day needs of Canadians, our government will continue to work alongside the provinces and territories to ensure the foundational values are respected so we can deliver the results Canadians expect and deserve, both now and into the future.
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
Madam Speaker, I appreciate the parliamentary secretary running a number of different shifts over the course of these adjournment proceedings, but the reality is the government has already chosen to put other things first by giving so much money to the banks, to oil and gas CEOs and, of course, to overseas tax havens. The government has already made that choice. The reality is what we are seeing, and this is shocking, is that particularly in Conservative provinces, I am thinking of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario, we have Conservative governments that are simply refusing to put in place an adequate health care system. The outcomes are worse in those three Conservative provinces than elsewhere.
What are the fines that have been levied against the contracting out, the credit card medicine and the poor outcomes in those Conservative-governed provinces?
Chris Bittle Liberal St. Catharines, ON
Madam Speaker, I have enjoyed my multiple shifts here this evening. I did go through, in my initial speech, the deductions that were levied against the provinces. This is something that will continue. I do share the concern, especially being from Ontario, of the creeping privatization of health care in Ontario and beyond. That is why this government will continue to stand firm, continue to use the penalties available under the Canada Health Act and continue to deduct from transfer payments for provinces that do not have a plan to ensure Canadians are covered properly.
The Assistant Deputy Speaker NDP Carol Hughes
The motion that the House do now adjourn is deemed to have been adopted. Accordingly, the House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 10 a.m. pursuant to Standing Order24(1).
(The House adjourned at 7:27 p.m.)