House of Commons photoWon her last election, in 2008, with 63% of the vote.
Health June 2nd, 1998
Mr. Speaker, the breast implant issue is just one example of a dangerously long list of examples of dereliction of duty by this government's health protection branch. We have implants. We have blood. There is BST, nifedipine, toxic toys and the list goes on and on. Let us face it, there is a mess in the minister's department.
Will the minister launch an immediate public investigation into the health protection branch?
Health June 2nd, 1998
Mr. Speaker, it is shocking that a criminal investigation into Health Canada's approval of dangerous breast implants for Canadian women has taken so long. NDP MP Joy Langan began calling for an investigation nine years ago.
My question to the Minister of Health is not about the current investigation. We want to know why it took citizens to come forward to get the RCMP involved. Why did the minister not launch an investigation? Why has it taken so long to get to the bottom of this tragedy?
Health May 26th, 1998
Mr. Speaker, the real issue here is whether or not the product is safe. The minister has an obligation under the Criminal Code to ensure the safety of those products.
The minister's own department has ordered 45,000 vials of albumin at the same time as his American counterpart has put out the red alert and slapped a consent decree on Alpha Therapeutics not because of a technicality, but because it was not keeping proper records to distinguish between bad blood and good blood.
Can the minister give the House his personal assurances that in fact this product meets all—
Health May 26th, 1998
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Health told the House yesterday that albumin blood product meets safety standards not only in the United States but in Canada.
Given that the company supplying this blood product is under investigation in the United States for infractions so serious it is one step away from being shut down, will the minister explain why the Canadian government is not doing the same? Why is the Canadian Minister of Health bringing in truckloads of albumin and not initiating an investigation to assure Canadians that this blood product is not unsafe?
Hepatitis C May 15th, 1998
Mr. Speaker, the matter of hepatitis C has been before the House and the Canadian public daily for six weeks.
The Canadian consensus is clear, fair compensation for all. What other options are left for the minister to consider?
Yesterday the minister did a great disservice to blood injured Canadians by not bringing a position to the table.
Today could the minister tell all Canadians what is the position of the federal government? Is there new money on the table for compensation, yes or no? Does the government support the principle of fair compensation for all hepatitis C victims, yes or no?
Hepatitis C May 15th, 1998
Mr. Speaker, yesterday B.C.'s minister of health said that the federal government knows it will have to move in some direction, but we just do not know what direction.
The federal government seems to be the only government which came to the table yesterday without any position at all.
How can a consensus be developed when we do not know the views of all the players? How could the Minister of Health in all conscience have gone to the table yesterday with no money and nothing to say?
Hepatitis C May 14th, 1998
Mr. Speaker, we are waiting and hoping today for the federal, provincial and territorial health ministers to do the right thing, to decide today to compensate all victims of hepatitis C. It has been a long, hard struggle for the victims of this failure of the blood system.
We must do everything in our power to ensure that such a tragedy does not recur by implementing the recommendations of the Krever report. The report cited a lack of resources at the health protection branch, a lack of clear authority and delays in responding to potential problems.
Justice Krever talked about the need for Canadian self-sufficiency for blood, the need to retain control of our own standards and decision making in the course of harmonization with other countries, and to retain strong federal regulatory authority. These lessons can be applied to many areas in the whole health protection area.
As we wait to hear the outcome of the federal-provincial ministers' meeting, let us recommit ourselves to co-operative federalism. Let us show solidarity for the victims of the tainted blood tragedy. Let us learn those lessons in order to prevent future tragedy.
Health May 13th, 1998
Mr. Speaker, yesterday in the House the Minister of Health said he shares my concern about any unlicensed or unsafe blood product on the market.
I know he has been preoccupied with the preparations for tomorrow's meeting. I certainly hope he has been busy convincing the Minister of Finance that he needs more money for compensation for all hepatitis C victims. But any possibility of unsafe blood products on the market today demands urgent attention.
What has the minister done since these incidents were brought to his attention on Monday?
Health May 12th, 1998
Mr. Speaker, yesterday I asked the Minister of Health about unlicensed blood products being used in hospitals without the knowledge or consent of patients.
Today we have learned the situation is even worse than we thought. The chair of the transfusion practices committee of the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg says unlicensed human serum albumin is being used 100% of the time.
What steps is the minister taking to deal with the apparent shortage of fractionated blood products? Could he explain how it is that we have unlicensed product on the market five months after the government established the licensing requirements?
Dna Identification Act May 11th, 1998
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to expand on my question to the Minister of Health about the painful shortfall in federal transfer payments for health care.
I proposed an amendment to a bill that would have required the minister to report every year to parliament on whether transfer payments are adequate enough to meet the needs for health services.
Let me explain why. I received a letter from George Bell whom I wrote to the minister about but have still not received a reply. Mr. Bell waited six months before receiving diagnosis and treatment for a worsening nerve disorder. Last fall the first doctor told him the pain and tingling in his arm would probably go away. It did not. The second doctor booked him for a diagnostic scan for which Mr. Bell had to wait a month. After that Mr. Bell waited another month for more diagnostic services. His treatment only began recently and the surgery has not yet been scheduled.
Mr. Bell is a manual labourer who could not work because of the increasing pain in his arms. The Workers' Compensation Board turned down his claim because it stated he was suffering from a degenerative disc disease that was not as a result of his work duties. Mr. Bell has nothing to live on, is unable to work and is just now receiving treatment for his condition six months after he first approached a doctor.
Unfortunately there are many people out there experiencing similar frustrations and lack of timely care.
Today researchers at the Université du Québec à Montréal released a study that showed that health cutbacks reduced life expectancy for men and women as well as infants. The Liberal government cut $3.5 billion from health care over the past three years alone. That represents a huge number of beds, a lot of medical equipment and hundreds and perhaps thousands of staff. That represents months of waiting for surgery and life threatening hours of waiting in emergency rooms. It is quite simply unacceptable. This is not what Canadians want.
The Reform Party's answer is to introduce two tiered medicine where the rich can pay to jump the queue and the poor die on waiting lists. This is also unacceptable. This is not the Canadian way.
Right now a private hospital is operating in Alberta contrary to the public administration principle in the Canada Health Act. The Liberal government is doing nothing about it. The dollars of desperate and sick Canadians are going into the pockets of the owners of this private health operation instead of all those dollars being used for health services.
This is the way of the future, unless we stop it, unless we can give Canadians a voice in our own health care system. The amendment I proposed was a way to do that but the answer I received then from the minister was disappointing.
I would like the minister's representative to respond to Mr. Bell and to all Canadians who have to wait unreasonable periods of time, often at great personal expense for medical treatment. Why does he not wish Canadians to have a voice in our health care system? Why is he afraid of scrutiny of the current inadequate levels of funding for health care? Why are people like Mr. Bell forced to wait six months for treatment and be unable to work and have nothing to live on in the meantime? What answer does he have for Mr. Bell?