Francis Drouin

[Line 5 Pipeline Shutdown, May 6th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, on a point of order, I hate to interrupt my esteemed colleague from Scarborough—Guildwood, but I believe he meant to share his time with the member for Winnipeg North.

[Line 5 Pipeline Shutdown, May 6th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Repentigny for her speech.

I do not think anyone is disputing the importance of a green transition, but this evening, we are debating the importance of Line 5. I know one of the by-products of the oil transported through Line 5 is propane. During the 2019 strike, the propane shortage had a major economic impact on Quebec and eastern Ontario.

I would therefore ask my colleague if she thinks it is a good idea for Michigan to shut down Line 5 on May 12 and if she believes it will not really affect Quebec's economy.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2021, No. 1, May 6th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, I appreciate my hon. colleague's speech, although I disagree with some of the facts that he has presented.

The Conservatives often make the remark in the House that Canada has the highest debt. However, what they do not tell Canadians is that they factor in provincial debt as well. In fact, Canada has a much lower debt-to-GDP ratio than the U.K., France, Italy, Japan and the U.S. It is just a fact.

I have a question about a theme that has been developing on our side. The Conservatives continue to say that Canada is spending too much. Will they, for once, identify just one area where they would cut?

[Bob Hartley, May 6th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, last week, a Franco-Ontarian from Hawkesbury and a proud ambassador of hockey made international headlines.

Last week, Bob Hartley, coach of the Avangard hockey team, won the Gagarin Cup, which is presented to the winner of Russia's Kontinental Hockey League.

Bob Hartley has had a career that our region can be proud of, and it all started with a great local team, the Hawkesbury Hawks.

After taking home the President's Cup in 1993 with the Laval Titan, the American Hockey League's Calder Cup with the Hershey Bears, and the Stanley Cup in 2001 with the Colorado Avalanche, he went on to win the Jack Adams Award in 2014 with the Calgary Flames. Last week, he added the Gagarin Cup to his list of achievements.

Congratulations, Bob. We are all proud of you.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2021, No. 1, May 6th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, I believe the member meant to share her time with the member for Nepean.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2021, No. 1, May 6th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, I want to go back to the first two minutes of my hon. colleague's speech where he talked about the importance of broadband. I know this issue is extremely important for all rural Canadians, certainly an issue that is important to my riding. However, I do want to correct him. He said that the goal of the government was to connect every Canadian by 2030. That is actually false; it is by 2026, so five years from now, and we have invested $1 billion further than the previous investments in 2019.

His colleagues are saying “cut, cut, cut”, but obviously he is advocating for more funding for broadband. Therefore, what should we cut in the budget or should increase broadband funding?

[Federal Dental Care Plan, May 4th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to participate in the discussion on dental care for Canadians.

The government remains committed to its promise to work with Parliament to study and analyze this issue. Both the 2019 Speech from the Throne and the 2019 Minister of Health's mandate letter committed to support Parliament in studying and analyzing the possibility of a national dental care program.

Across the country, many Canadians have coverage for dental care through private employee health benefit plans, while many others are supported by government programs. According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, $15.9 billion was spent on dental services in Canada in 2018. Of this, 55% was covered through private insurance plans, 39% was paid out of pocket, and 6% was publicly funded by a variety of federal, provincial and territorial government programs.

We know that three-quarters of Canadians visit a dentist at least once a year, which is higher than the OECD average. Canadian wait times for dental care are amongst the shortest in the world. According to the results of the 2018 Canadian community health survey, over two-thirds of Canadians reported having dental insurance that covered all or part of their expenses. Approximately two out of three Canadians report having no dental needs.

Despite these figures, there is also evidence that many Canadians face cost barriers to accessing care. Approximately one-third of Canadians are uninsured, and 22% of Canadians, roughly 6.8 million people, have avoided visiting a dental professional due to costs. Those with dental insurance are more likely to have visited a dental professional, although 14% of Canadians with dental coverage have still reported avoiding dental care due to costs.

We also know that income is not the only barrier preventing Canadians from accessing dental care. By the time they are adults, 96% of Canadians have been impacted by dental decay. It is largely preventable and disproportionately impacts, and more severely impacts, our most vulnerable populations. Those in rural communities, in particular age groups, such as young adults and seniors, those with disabilities and racialized persons, including indigenous people, face unique barriers accessing dental care.

In 2017, the Auditor General of Canada found that Inuit and first nations persons have nearly twice as much dental disease as the rest of the country. Further, the Canadian Institute for Health Information has found that day surgery rates for early childhood caries, which are generally preventable and treatable, were 8.6 times higher amongst children from neighbourhoods with denser indigenous populations.

We also know that oral health is an integral element of overall health. Poor oral health and inequitable access to dental care is connected with multiple health conditions and challenges, including chronic pain, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease and certain forms of cancer.

The Canadian Cancer Society advises that in overall cancer incidence in Canada, oral cancer ranks ninth in men and 13th in women. The trend line is increasing. Fifty-three hundred Canadians will be diagnosed with oral cancer annually, and nearly 1,500 will die from it.

Though I have spoken to figures that indicate access issues exist, this data is limited, often quite dated and not available equally across the country. We do not have comprehensive data on unmet dental care need at a national level, nor do we have a full understanding of the needs of various subpopulations.

This is why our government has committed to support a parliamentary study on the issue. In addition, to address data gaps, the government has partnered with Statistics Canada to design an oral health component for upcoming cycles of the Canadian health measures survey, funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and in collaboration with leading researchers from all 10 of Canada's university faculties of dentistry and experts from the U.S. and the United Kingdom.

The survey is scheduled to begin next year, although findings would not be available until 2024. Once available, this work would help to update our understanding of dental needs and will provide key information for those developing oral health programs and policies for Canadians.

In addition to improving data on dental care, the federal government continues to provide coverage for dental care services for certain groups of people.

Through the non-insured health benefits program delivered by Indigenous Services Canada, the government provided dental coverage for recognized first nations and Inuit. In the period between 2016 and 2018, over 420,000 clients received dental services through the non-insured health benefits program. In addition to this, the children's oral health initiative provides dental coverage for many first nations children under the age of seven.

The government also offers dental coverage through the employment benefits for federal employees, federal retirees, Canadian Armed Forces members and veterans, and RCMP members and veterans. In addition, it provides limited dental coverage for federal inmates and for some newcomers through the interim federal health program.

Alongside these government programs, all provinces and territories fund and manage their own dental care services. As part of their medicare programs, this covers medically necessary surgical dental services performed by a dentist in a hospital, when a hospital is required for the proper performance of the procedure.

All provinces and territories also provide additional dental coverage at their own discretion, though these programs vary greatly between jurisdictions and are often limited to select groups such as children in low-income households, people receiving social assistance benefits, people with certain disabilities and senior citizens. The specific eligibility requirements, the type of service included and the financial coverage levels vary greatly depending on the province or territory. At the same time, stakeholders have raised concerns about the rising dental costs coupled with stagnant financial limits for the public dental coverage programs, creating a barrier by asking dentists to absorb costs or turn patients away.

Provincial and territorial health care programs, including those with dental coverage, are supported by federal funding through the Canada health transfer, or CHT. The CHT is a key federal funding mechanism for supporting Canada's health care system, providing long-term, predictable funding to provinces and territories. Provinces and territories are free to decide how to allocate those funds in order to best address their individual health care priorities, including dental care and related services. The CHT is providing $40.1 billion to the provinces and territories this fiscal year. This will continue to increase each year, in line with the growth rate of the economy, with a minimum increase of 3% per year. Over the next five years, this funding to provinces and territories is expected to exceed $234 billion.

To support the improvement of the oral health of Canadians and fulfill our international responsibility, the government works with partners and stakeholders nationally and globally, including organizations in the professional, regulatory and educational domains, such as the Canadian Dental Association and the Canadian Dental Regulatory Authorities Federation. We also collaborate with international health and dental organizations such as the World Health Organization, the FDI World Dental Federation and oral health authorities around the world.

These initiatives demonstrate that our government is playing a constructive role to support access to dental care for Canadians. We look forward to the outcome of the parliamentary work on this issue.

[Statistics Canada, May 3rd, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, in 2016, Canadians from coast to coast to coast, including those in my riding of Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, were so excited about the return of the long-form census that the response rate was the highest ever.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us that accurate, high-quality data is vital to helping governments, businesses, non-profits and researchers make informed decisions.

Unlike the Harper Conservatives, who, for no good reason, scrapped the long-form census and cut Statistics Canada's funding, our government understands the crucial importance of science and data.

Would the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry please tell the House—

[Business of Supply, April 29th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, I cannot speak for the past. Yes, obviously that would have helped, but I know that budget 2021 proposes to build more biomanufacturing capacity in Canada with a $2.2-billion investment. That is a serious investment that will make a difference in vaccine production in Canada.

[Business of Supply, April 29th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, we know that we will get 48 million to 50 million doses by the end of June. The date that we expect Canadians to be vaccinated fully depends on how quickly provinces can administer them.

What I hope will happen is that, if provinces need help, if they need the Red Cross or the military to ramp up capacity, those demands would come in this week. We know we are going to be getting two million vaccines per week of only Pfizer for the rest of May. After that it will ramp up to 2.4 million per week in June. If provinces need help, I hope those asks would be made now, so we can ramp it up right away.