Don Davies

[Business of Supply, November 26th, 2020]

Madam Chair, experts and public health authorities across Canada, including B.C.'s provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, and the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, have called for the decriminalization of substance use and the provision of safe supply to bring this crisis under control. The evidence shows conclusively that criminalization exacerbates the harms to those suffering and does not work to help them recover.

The government has repeatedly claimed that it follows expert advice in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, yet the minister has unequivocally ruled out this evidence-based response to the overdose epidemic. Could the minister please explain this contradiction?

[Business of Supply, November 26th, 2020]

Madam Chair, the government's 2019 throne speech called universal dental care an idea worth exploring. What steps has the government taken to explore this idea?

[Business of Supply, November 26th, 2020]

Madam Chair, according to industry documents reviewed by Reuters, the pharmaceutical industry has made a last-ditch offer to the Government to Canada to spend $1 billion over 10 years to block the coming into force of the amended patented medicines regulations set to go into force on January 1.

According to an industry estimate, the regulations would reduce drug companies' revenue by $20 billion over 10 years; $6 billion by the estimate of the PMPRB.

Will the minister confirm that the Government of Canada will refuse this blatant attempt to buy regulatory benefits from the drug industry?

[Business of Supply, November 26th, 2020]

Madam Chair, as health minister, does the minister support public pharmacare or instead a private-public patchwork system?

[Business of Supply, November 26th, 2020]

Madam Chair, the minister knows the NDP introduced Bill C-213 in the House to create a structure to establish universal public pharmacare in Canada.

She is also aware this bill mirrors the Canada Health Act by allowing any province that agrees to provide necessary prescription drugs to its residents, at no direct cost via our public health care system, to receive federal funds to do so. This is exactly the same way we fund all other covered medical services, from hip replacements to cataract surgeries and broken arms.

Will the minister support our bill?

[Business of Supply, November 26th, 2020]

Madam Chair, Canada's pandemic warning system, the Global Public Health Intelligence Network, was the cornerstone of Canada's pandemic response capability, yet the federal government effectively shut down GPHIN prior to the outbreak of COVID-19. Former Liberal federal health minister Ujjal Dosanjh called this decision a colossal failure.

How does the minister explain her government's decision to shut down GPHIN?

[Business of Supply, November 26th, 2020]

Madam Chair, is the minister confident that current provincial and territorial control measures are sufficiently robust to address the resurgence of COVID-19?

[Business of Supply, November 26th, 2020]

Madam Chair, with COVID-19 cases surging at an unprecedented rate across Canada, the Prime Minister has called on premiers and mayors to “please do the right thing”, and “act now to protect public health”, but growing numbers of public health experts are calling on the federal government to use its emergency authorities to coordinate a national response.

Is the federal government prepared to follow this advice? If not, why not?

[Business of Supply, November 26th, 2020]

Madam Chair, the Liberal government has rightly pointed out that Conservatives seriously eroded Canada's pharmaceutical capacity, perhaps most starkly when the Mulroney Conservative government privatized Connaught Labs, a publicly owned laboratory that helped produce vaccines and low-cost prescriptions for Canadians. However, that was in 1986. The Liberals made no moves to create a public drug manufacturer, despite many years of government since then.

Will the current government do so?

[Business of Supply, November 26th, 2020]

Madam Chair, Australia is a mid-sized federal parliamentary democracy like ours. It has a clear road map and strategy on vaccine distribution in just 12 pages, with clear lines of responsibility between its federal government and states, outlining its options and priorities. It is also producing 30 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine domestically.

In contract, in Canada, we have a federal government that speaks in vague terms and will not give us firm answers on basic vaccine readiness.

How does the minister account for this difference in approach?