Judy Wasylycia-Leis

[Health, December 17th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, it now seems likely that we will end this year and this millennium without a penny flowing to a single victim of hepatitis C. It appears that the hepatitis C compensation package has been put on hold once again and the government is not prepared to step in, stop the legal wrangling and flow the cash.

Is the government prepared to end this sorry chapter in Canadian history by paying before 1999 is over what it promised and by starting the new millennium with the commitment of fair compensation for all victims of hepatitis C?

[Health, December 17th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, new numbers released by the Canadian Institute for Health Information show that Canadians are paying more and more out of their own pockets for health care.

What are they paying it on? They are shelling out for much needed drug coverage and for home care. Both are expenses which the government promised to address by way of national programs.

In the 1997 red book the government promised a national drug care plan as part of the medicare system. Further, the Minister of Health said “I go so far as to say that home care is fundamental to saving medicare”.

Will the government finally live up to its commitment for a national home care and drug care plan?

[Standing Committee On Finance, December 16th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I have listened to this prebudget debate all day, and frankly I cannot believe how shortsighted and irresponsible the Liberals are.

The government is prepared, if we listen to its comments, to sit idly by and oversee the death of medicare. I thought we were here today to talk about the future, and for sure one of the important issues of the future is to take medicare into the new millennium.

This is the government that cut $6.2 billion out of transfer payments in 1995. In the last budget it put back in half of what it took out and stretched it out over five years. It has taken 50:50 cost shared arrangements down to, if we really stretch it, a 15% federal share of health care spending in the country. No wonder we have Ralph Klein in Alberta threatening to privatize the system and destroy our universal health care system because the government has nothing with which to stand up in the face of that.

I ask the member very specifically whether the government will have the responsibility to put back at least $1.5 billion into transfer payments for health care. Will it have the integrity to keep to its promises of the last election and the election before that for national home care and pharmacare? Will it have some vision to ensure that we can carry medicare into the new millennium?

[Health, December 16th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, he did not answer the question why he is not operating within the law. If compassion was his concern, he should have ensured that the policy had the regulatory teeth necessary to enforce it. Instead everything is in limbo and subject to abuse.

The fact of the matter is there is chaos in the minister's department. There is lack of scientific capacity. There is a backlog of submissions and his department is vulnerable to drug company pressures.

Will the Minister of Health stop searching and reaching for quick fixes outside the law and take control of his department to ensure that the staff, the resources and the regulations are in place to protect Canadians?

[Health, December 16th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, in a letter dated April 9, 1998 the health minister acknowledged the difficulty of requiring drug companies to verify safety and efficacy if drugs are approved conditionally. He actually wrote “I do not think we should wait for such a situation to occur. Rather we should put into place a new policy and to follow as soon as possible with appropriate regulations”. Twenty months after that we do not have regulations, only the approval of six new drugs of dubious safety status.

Why is the Minister of Health condoning an unlawful policy? Why has he neglected his role as guardian of Canada's much needed health protection system?

[Questions Passed As Orders For Returns, December 16th, 1999]

What is the complete listing of veterinary drugs approved in Canada for use in food-producing animals (by species)?

Return tabled.

Question No. 33—

[Questions On The Order Paper, December 16th, 1999]

Regarding the Health Canada food directorate's allocation of resources: ( a ) how much of the total $11.5 million HPB special allocation to strengthen food safety/nutritional deficiencies in 1999-2000 will go directly to the food directorate budget and of that amount how much has been spent to date; ( b ) how many full time permanent positions have been restored in the food directorate as a result of the additional budget allocation and what is the breakdown of those positions by job title; ( c ) how much of the total $65 million three year (1999-2000, 2000-01, 2001-02) HPB special allocation to strengthen food safety/nutritional deficiencies will go directly to the food directorate budget; and ( d ) how much of the 1999-2000 food directorate budget is allocated to permanent safety research activities dealing with topics related to genetically modified foods and what is the breakdown by activity?

[Petitions, December 16th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition from many residents of my constituency and other citizens of Winnipeg. They are very concerned about the millennium round of World Trade Organization talks and the Liberal government's willingness to participate in a process giving foreign companies the right to deliver health care, education and transportation services.

The petitioners offer to the government recommendations for taking into account any future negotiations and talks. They include binding and enforceable rules to protect human rights, labour standards, cultural diversity and environment, a carve out of health care, education and culture, a more open and inclusive model for the WTO and an alternative model of globalization that ensures the ability of governments to act in the public interest.

[Health, December 13th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, we would like a little more information. This is an urgent situation. On the one hand the minister stands to defend medicare and says that he will protect our universal health care system, and on the other hand we have the Liberal dominated finance committee whose members tell us that the government will not be spending its surplus on much needed money for our health care system.

What are Canadians to believe, the nice empty words of the health minister or the contradictory financial policies of the government that are driving us toward privatized two-tier health care just as surely as any provincial government policy today?

Can the health minister tell us whether his government will back up the Canada Health Act with financial resources?

[Health, December 13th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, on Friday the Alberta government replied to the health minister's questions about its move toward a privatized two-tier health care system.

If members have had a chance to look at the reply they will see that it does not allay Canadians' fears one bit that the Alberta plan will erode our public universal health care system. Yet, Alberta sees no problems and still plans to proceed.

Does the health minister find Alberta's answers to his questions satisfactory? If not, what action will the government take to keep Alberta from unilaterally destroying our public health care system?