Jane Philpott

[Intergovernmental Relations, December 8th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, it has been my pleasure to work with my counterparts across the country over the past number of months to discuss how we can make sure that Canadians have access to the health care they need.

I am very pleased that the Prime Minister will be speaking with the premiers across the country about health care tomorrow evening, and then the Prime Minister will ask me to continue to work with the health ministers across the country to make sure that we invest in health care in a way that will transform the system and ensure that Canadians have access to the care they need.

[Health, December 8th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, like the member opposite, I am extremely concerned about the extraordinary circumstances surrounding the opioid crisis, which is the cause of hundreds of deaths across the country.

I can assure the member opposite that my department and I and our government are working on this matter every day. I am working with my colleagues, including the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, on this file. We are making sure that first responders have the resources they need.

This very day I was in communication with the Minister of Health for British Columbia to discuss making sure that all resources are being made available to respond to this crisis.

[Ethics, November 30th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, our government is pleased that a number of excellent, well-informed Canadians have met over the last number of months. They have received input from thousands of Canadians who have commented on the discussion paper related to the introduction of legislation, a new project that will require legalization, regulation, restriction of access to cannabis.

We look forward to receiving the report, which will be delivered by the task force later today.

[Ethics, November 30th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, we are very pleased that an excellent task force has been hard at work over a number of months. It has been tasked to respond to a number of questions that were put to it by myself as well as my colleagues, the Minister of Public Safety and the Minister of Justice.

We look forward to the task force delivering its document later today. In due time, it will be made public to all Canadians.

[Health, November 28th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, as the member knows, our hearts go out to thalidomide survivors, and we are deeply committed to offering support to them to live the rest of their lives in dignity.

There is no definitive medical test for thalidomide, so an objective review process has been used to assess the eligibility of individuals. Based on this process, I am pleased that dozens of new individuals have been added to the program, bringing the total to 122. Additional new survivors may still be identified, as I am pleased to say that there are still applications under review.

[Health, November 28th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I share the concern of the member for Victoria for this very serious problem. Members need to know that six or seven people die every day in our country as a result of opioid overdose. That is simply unacceptable. I share the member's grief and his passion.

I work on this file every day. I have already enumerated many of the actions that we have taken. We will take steps to make sure that safe, supervised consumption sites are available in the country. Every step that we can take will be done in collaboration with our partners.

[Health, November 25th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for raising this issue. The matter of opioids in this country is a serious public health crisis, and we have taken action on this from day one.

I was very pleased early on in my mandate to make sure that naloxone was available to save hundreds, if not thousands, of lives by being available at a non-prescription status. I was also very happy to make sure we got intranasal naloxone into this country and to make sure we got approval for it.

I was very happy to take steps to schedule precursors for illicit fentanyl so that it would not be available. We have taken steps to make sure that supervised consumption sites are available as a harm-reduction measure.

We brought together hundreds of people, in a manner that has never been done before, including addiction specialists and all other stakeholders, to make sure that action is taken on this very serious matter.

[Agriculture and Agri-Food, November 24th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, our government takes matters of health and safety seriously. Health Canada reviews pesticides on a regular basis.

As a part of its review, Health Canada has found that a particular pesticide imidacloprid can be found in concentrations up to 290 times the level of acceptable risk. Given this, Health Canada is proposing to phase out agricultural uses of imidacloprid over a period of three to five years. Health Canada is being sensitive to the needs of the agricultural community, while at the same time protecting the environment in proposing this evidence-based decision.

[Health, November 24th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for her question, which refers to a discussion we had at the indigenous affairs committee last week. We talked about the mechanisms by which the first nations and Inuit health branch is responding to the needs of indigenous Canadians.

I am very pleased to say that indeed we are tracking those needs. In fact, I just returned from Manitoba where I was able to ascertain that 1,000 children have now been assessed for the full implementation of Jordan's principle to make sure that they have access to the care they need. People are very pleased that kids are getting the care they deserve.

[Health, November 23rd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, as the member for Surrey Centre well knows, we are facing a growing and serious public health crisis in our country as it relates to opioids.

We are determined to make sure that we proceed actively on a drug policy that is collaborative, comprehensive, compassionate, and evidence-based. It is for this reason that last week I co-hosted a conference and summit in Ottawa, where we brought together people with lived experiences, their families, health care professionals, and every level of government. We had educators and regulators there, and we all worked together on a plan to address this crisis.

We will work in partnership to find immediate solutions to address the problem—