Francesco Sorbara

[Business of Supply, November 26th, 2020]

Madam Chair, can Canada expect Health Canada to approve vaccines in line with the timelines of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other international regulators?

[Business of Supply, November 26th, 2020]

Madam Chair, the minister can continue.

[Business of Supply, November 26th, 2020]

Madam Chair, Canada has been accused of vaccine nationalism, securing far more doses for its population than it needs.

Why did the government adopt this approach?

[Business of Supply, November 26th, 2020]

Madam Chair, it is great to rise this evening. I will be speaking for 10 minutes, and then have five minutes of questions and comments with the minister.

The Government of Canada remains deeply concerned about the devastating impact the overdose crisis continues to have on people, families and communities across the country. Since 2016, over 16,300 Canadians have lost their lives to opioid-related overdoses.

Tragically, thousands more Canadians are experiencing harms related to problematic use of various substances, including methamphetamines and alcohol. Problematic substance use impacts families, friends, communities and loved ones from all walks of life, creating losses felt by tens of thousands of people. The crisis is so severe today, no community remains untouched.

We have been living with the overdose crisis for a long time and the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated this tragic crisis. A year ago, we could see an improvement as the number of overdoses and deaths in some of the most affected areas was steadily decreasing.

However, everything changed with the emergence of COVID-19. Since March 2020, several provinces and territories have reported historic levels of opioid-related deaths and harm.

Recent reports from Ontario have shown that there was a 38% increase in opioid-related deaths in the first 15 weeks of the pandemic compared with the 15 weeks prior. It is predicted that if opioid-related deaths continue at the current weekly rate, there will be over 2,200 lives lost in the province by the end of the year. This will be a 50% increase in deaths compared with 2019.

We know that 1,048 people in British Columbia died between March and September of this year as a result of overdoses. To put this in perspective, this is approximately four times the number of people in British Columbia who have died from COVID-19.

Other jurisdictions across the country are pointing to similar trends. For example, Alberta reported a record high of 301 opioid poisoning deaths from April to June 2020. This was more than double the number that occurred from January to March 2020.

Saskatchewan has reported 296 suspected and confirmed drug-related deaths so far in 2020, breaking the record total in 2018.

In Quebec, Montreal recorded the highest number of overdoses in over five years in July. Unfortunately, this spike lasted until October in Montreal.

In short, in light of these reports and the available data, 2020 is on track to becoming the deadliest year in Canada's history in terms of overdose deaths.

There is no doubt that several contributing factors have led to the surge in overdose deaths, yet there are two that are particularly significant.

First, public health measures related to COVID-19 for physical distancing, self-isolation and worker safety have contributed to reduced availability, and utilization of, substance use treatment and harm reduction services. For example, there are reports of significantly decreased foot traffic at supervised consumption sites. In some cases, there have been site closures. With over 2.3 million visits nationwide and not a single overdose death, we know that these services save lives when they are utilized. Social distancing and lockdown measures have led to the unintended consequence that more people have been using drugs alone, which considerably increases the risk of overdose and death, and when people are isolated they cannot reach out for help.

Second, border closures have had an impact on the supply of illegal drugs. We are hearing from law enforcement, and from people working on the front lines, that the availability and composition of street drugs has worsened during COVID-19. They are seeing highly toxic synthetic opioids such as fentanyl and carfentanil appearing more frequently in street drugs. The consequences of this reality are unsurprising. More people are experiencing overdose deaths and other drug-related harms.

Since 2016, the government's approach to the overdose crisis has been comprehensive, collaborative and guided by our federal drug strategy: the Canadian drugs and substances strategy. The Canadian drugs and substances strategy takes a public-health-focused approach and lays out our framework for evidence-based actions to reduce the harms associated with substance use in Canada. It includes four pillars: prevention, treatment, harm reduction and enforcement.

We conducted and coordinated our work with other levels of government, indigenous peoples, addiction experts, service providers, first responders, law enforcement, those directly affected and other partners.

The government adopted a comprehensive approach with specific measures in the four pillars to deal with the overdose crisis and the problems of substance abuse more generally.

The government has taken action to implement a number of measures to address the overdose crisis head-on at the ground level, including supporting communities so they have the tools they need to help keep people at risk of overdose safe. We listened to the provinces and public health professionals to ensure we understood their challenges. At their request, we changed federal regulations to make it easy for people with substance use disorder to access the medications they needed. Specifically, we issued a class exemption for pharmacists to make it easier for people to access medications during the pandemic, while following public health advice, such as physical distancing.

Through Health Canada's substance use and addictions program, we are providing funding for 11 projects to provide a safer supply of pharmaceutical-grade medications for people with opioid use disorder in British Columbia, Ontario and New Brunswick. This includes five multi-year pilot projects and six shorter-term initiatives, funded in response to the risk posed by the worsening toxic illegal drug supply as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. These innovative projects will be independently evaluated and this assessment will contribute to building the evidence base to support the scaling up of effective models.

In August, the Minister of Health reached out to the provincial and territorial ministers of health and regulatory colleges to encourage action at all levels to better provide people who used drugs with a full spectrum of options for receiving care from practitioners. This includes increasing access to safer pharmaceutical-grade alternatives to the contaminated illegal drug supply for people at risk of overdose.

We also talked to public health workers in the provinces and municipalities about the unique challenges that we were facing in trying to contain the spread of COVID-19, while also protecting homeless Canadians. To help address their needs, we made it easier for overdose prevention sites to be established rapidly in temporary community shelters and other locations.

We also facilitated the adoption of the services of the operators of existing supervised injection sites to promote physical distancing and follow public health guidance.

To help front-line service providers obtain all the information about these regulatory changes, we prepared a set of resources explaining the changes and encouraging their implementation.

These new measures have been enacted to help vulnerable people get the supports and services they need during the pandemic.

In addition to regulatory barriers, we also increased federal investment. For instance, in July the Government of Canada committed to providing $500 million to address immediate needs and gaps in the support and protection of people experiencing challenges related to mental health, substance abuse and/or homelessness.

These investments are part of the more than $19 billion invested in the safe restart agreement to help the provinces and territories safely restart their economy and to guarantee that Canadians will have the support they need in these difficult times.

We continue to work closely with the provinces and territories on the implementation of the emergency treatment fund, which was announced in 2018. The fund provided $150 million of one-time matched emergency funding for provinces and territories to support multi-year projects that would improve access to evidence-based treatment services in the context of the overdose crisis. We have heard—

[Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act, November 26th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, it is very important and great to rise today in the House on Bill C-12, which I have read extensively over the last couple days. It is the Canadian net-zero emissions accountability act.

Why is it important to rise? It is because of the opportunity that is ahead of us, the residents in my riding of Vaughan—Woodbridge, the residents here in the province of Ontario, and the residents and all the citizens across Canada, to achieving net zero by 2050.

What are the economic opportunities that we are speaking about? Why is the target of the legislation we have put forward in this House important to families like mine and to kids all over this country? It is because of the economic opportunities that it would create, the families that would benefit from it and a stronger, cleaner and healthier environment, which we all want to have and which should be a non-partisan issue to achieve.

I have read extensively on this topic. Even just yesterday, the Royal Bank of Canada laid out a plan on carbon sequestration with some comments from one of the economists there. I just want to read this out, because this is not a partisan issue, this is about growing the economy. We see this from Conservatives in the U.K. under Boris Johnson and in other places in the world. People are coming together and working together on getting to net zero.

RBC wrote in its report:

As it lays out long-term climate plans, the federal government has an opportunity to write a new chapter in Canadian climate policy: one that acknowledges the importance of the energy sector, encourages abatement across industries, leverages investment from the private sector, and spurs innovation in sectors that contribute the most to our climate challenge.

Yes, we want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Yes, we want to set those targets. The framework that is laid out in Bill C-12 is functional and workable, and within six months of the legislation enactment, a plan would be put forward to continually lower greenhouse gas emissions.

In my research, I saw this week “Canada's Energy Future 2020”. I encourage all members of Parliament to read it and look through that document. It is about Canada's energy future and how important it is that we have different sources of energy in this country to continue to power our economy going forward.

There is one company I need to highlight, because it is so important. There is an economic opportunity here in the world, because we are talking about a global economy that our country participates in. It is a global economy that our workers compete in. We need to make sure they have the right skills, training and know-how to compete against the best and the brightest, and we have the best and the brightest in this country.

I think about the Enel Group. Most MPs know my heritage. My parents came from Italy and then immigrated to Canada. Here is a company from my parents' homeland, which just received the ranking of number one on Bloomberg's sustainability index. It is a company that is investing in green technologies all over the world.

I will read a comment from earlier this year. I believe it is from January 27. It says, “For the first time, the United Nations Global Compact has galvanized the chief financial officers...of global companies—responsible for investments worth $14 trillion—by establishing a taskforce to help close the gap in funding a sustainable future.”

That is what we are talking about. We are talking about a conversation for tomorrow. We are talking about our future, and we need to get with it. We need to get this legislation implemented. We need to develop that plan, work with the private sector, the provinces and non-profits to move Canada forward, because the opportunity is there. We have the skills. We have the know-how. We have the resources.

[Business of Supply, November 24th, 2020]

Mr. Chair, we know that gillnets are the most widely used and implemented salmon harvesting tool on the Fraser River both by first nations and commercial harvesters. Salmon stocks are of concern and sturgeon are incidentally encountered in gillnets targeting more abundant species. What is this government doing to help this species?

[Business of Supply, November 24th, 2020]

Madam Chair, it is great to see you again as we continue our conversation this evening. I will be sharing my time with the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands. I hope to speak for eight minutes or so because I have a question or two for the minister.

I am rising with a bit of nostalgia. It will be great to chat with my hon. colleague, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, as someone who now represents a very urban riding in Vaughan—Woodbridge but who grew up in a small town in northern British Columbia called Prince Rupert, and who still has family there and whose parents immigrated to Canada. My mother and her four or five sisters all, at one point in their lives, worked at a cannery, whether it was B.C. Packers or J.S. McMillan Fisheries or the co-op fisheries. Prince Rupert is known as the capital of halibut, as one sees when one drives into the town.

I have very many fond memories. I actually worked at a cannery growing up, and on the weekends my family would go out for a picnic along the Skeena River and go fishing for chum, sockeye, spring salmon or coho, and sometimes trout. It would be a very fascinating time.

I would like to echo some of the things that the minister has spoken about today, and let Canadians know about some of the great work that is being done at Fisheries and Oceans under the minister and this government.

Canadians know that climate change is real and we are witnessing impacts that are directly affecting Canadians and our coastal communities. With the longest coastline in the world, our oceans are home to diverse ecosystems that support not only marine life but Canadians across the country who depend on it. With warming temperatures, we are seeing warming waters and ocean acidification, which is leading to less oxygen in our waters.

These changes are threatening the health of the species that live in our waters, including our fisheries, which not only contribute to ocean biodiversity but to our ocean economy. Canada's commercial sea and freshwater fish landings is, on average, over $3.7 billion a year. Catches from our waters end up on dinner tables and in restaurants all across the country and, yes, around the world.

Supporting ocean biodiversity is helping to also support our economy. This is why it is imperative that we continue to invest in ocean protection and work with the provinces and territories with a renewed focus on collaboration to conserve this important resource. This is exactly what our government has been doing from coast to coast to coast. This minister is working with provinces and territories to ensure that our fisheries and oceans remain protected and healthy.

I want to first speak to the capacity building at DFO, undertaken by this government after being elected by Canadians, following the major and devastating cuts brought forth by the Conservative Party. When the Conservatives were in power, it was their mission to weaken science, to ignore science and to remove protections from our oceans and fisheries. They believed that by slashing science, this would help with project development.

On this side of the aisle, Liberals believe that we can still put in place strong protections and support industry development. An example of this is the Fisheries Act. In 2018, our government introduced Bill C-68 to modernize the Fisheries Act and restore lost protections to fish and fish habitat after the Conservative government gutted the act. Even more shameful, the Conservatives did this under the omnibus budget bill so that they could force changes through without due consideration from elected parliamentarians. It was so bad that four former fisheries ministers opposed the changes, two of whom were, notably, Conservatives.

Let me quote former Conservative minister, the Hon. Tom Siddon, who said:

The real scary part of this is that the one minister in Canada who has the constitutional duty to protect the fishery...is the Fisheries Minister. These amendments essentially parcel out and water down his fiduciary responsibility, to the point that...he can delegate his responsibility to private-sector interests and individuals....

He also said, “it’s appalling that they should be attempting to do this under the radar.”

However, I am proud to say that, in the last year, our government passed the renewed Fisheries Act that restored lost protections that were previously stripped by the Conservatives, and modernized it to include important inshore owner-operator policies, fish-stocking rebuilding provisions and more certainty for industry.

Not only is the Fisheries Act strengthened when it comes to fish protection, but there is a clear permitting framework for development projects to ensure that industries have the regulations they need to move forward when it comes to large and small projects.

I would also like to add that our Liberal government introduced further amendments to Bill C-68 last year, which included a ban on keeping whales in captivity and a ban on shark finning. Both these issues had previously been identified as individual private member's bills that the Conservatives were trying to block. Following royal assent, Canada became the first G7 country to ban shark finning, and that is something that Canadians should be proud of.

On top of making important changes to legislation, our government has been making investments and taking action to build science capacity at DFO. Most Canadians will remember that the former Conservative government made $100 million in cuts to DFO, eliminated 500 jobs, and muzzled scientists. In fact, it even closed seven of DFO's 11 libraries, which contain world-class research, and attempted to close down the Experimental Lakes Area, a facility that boosts leading scientific research regarding freshwater systems.

Since 2016, our government has hired almost 300 new science staff, and between 2016 and 2021, this government will have invested over $500 million in marine and freshwater science.

This is real progress. It is without a doubt that science underpins decision-making at DFO. Investments in science are important in ensuring that we have the information we need to protect our fish stocks, our coastal areas and our marine ecosystems. That is precisely why this Liberal government has made investments in science, not just at DFO, but across departments, a priority.

I also want to touch quickly on marine conservation. Protecting our oceans is important. It not only ensures that we are conserving ecologically significant areas to maintain biodiversity, but supporting marine conservation also means helping keep our fisheries healthy, which supports many of our coastal communities. It is in everyone's interest that we find ways to work with communities to protect our oceans.

Over the last five years under a Liberal government, Canada has protected almost 14% of our marine coastal areas, up from just under 1% under the former Conservative government. Indeed, this is something that Canadians should all be proud of.

I do wish to ask the Minister of Fisheries a question, going back to the province I was raised in. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans invested heavily to support the migration and improve Pacific salmon stocks. How much has been invested to support British Columbia salmon restoration and innovation? How is this improving Pacific salmon?

[Digital Charter Implementation Act, 2020, November 24th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, I hope to see this legislation brought forth to, I believe, the ethics committee, where it would be sent from the House and we would see a vigorous debate on the bill.

I am very happy that for the first time since 2001, when PIPEDA was introduced, we are seeing the modernization of our privacy act, if I can use those terms. It is great to see because we know data, technology and the importance of data have grown exponentially throughout the years and even more so in our daily lives. We need to ensure laws are updated and revamped to protect Canadians. That is what we are doing with Bill C-11. I will be happy to see it go to committee, and as a member of that committee I will be involved in that vigorous debate.

[Digital Charter Implementation Act, 2020, November 24th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, I hope to see Bill C-11 come to committee in an appropriate fashion. We are having a vigorous debate here in the House on the merits of the bill, and when it comes to committee suggestions can be put forward.

What I am very happy to see in the current form of the bill is that we would have some of the highest fines in the G7 under the CPPA, which would be introduced with this bill and ensure organizations are maintaining and controlling the data of Canadians in an appropriate and safe manner. It is great to see the bill has highlighted the fines and penalties that could be instituted on organizations if they fail to do so.

[Digital Charter Implementation Act, 2020, November 24th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Rivière-des-Mille-Îles for his question.

COVID-19 has brought many things to the forefront, and data protection and identity protection are first and foremost. What Bill C-11 brings forth is the idea of consent and also the idea of data destruction. If someone is moving their information from one provider to another, they would be able to indicate to the first provider that they wished to have their data and personal information destroyed so it would not be leaked or hacked.

There are several protections built into this. Consent is one of them, and I am happy to see this. I am happy to see the update to a number of laws within Bill C-11 for the protection of data and information for all Canadians from coast to coast to coast.