Rona Ambrose

[Health, September 25th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Okanagan—Shuswap and his family for the work that they have done in this area. Canada remains committed in the fight against Ebola and remains there for the global response.

I am pleased to inform the House that Canada is investing, as of this morning, an additional $30 million for our humanitarian partners in the region. This will include the Red Cross and many others to improve treatment, health care, nutrition, and of course, save lives.

Preventing further transmission of the Ebola virus is essential in controlling the current outbreak. We will continue to explore ways to support health care workers on the front lines.

[Health, September 25th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the appropriate action has been taken. We have ensured, upon learning about any of the safety issues around the Bangalore, India, plant that Apotex runs, that we have quarantined all products coming out of that plant, and they will not be able to be sold.

I expect Health Canada will take any further action necessary and work with provinces and territories on any distribution of drug issues.

[Health, September 25th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the transparency framework we have put in place is continuously evolving, and I have asked Health Canada to post inspection summaries for any of the inspections it does on plants.

It is true that today and yesterday we have put a voluntary quarantine on Apotex products coming out of its plant in Bangalore, India. I will not tolerate any drug safety risks for Canadians. I asked Health Canada to act, and it did.

[Health, September 25th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, Canada is already at the forefront, and has been for months, in the fight against Ebola in West Africa. We have done a great deal of things, whether it is the experimental vaccine that was developed by Canada which was donated to the WHO, or teams of medical experts on the ground working with our highly specialized mobile lab diagnosing dozens of cases every day. We have sent over essential protective equipment.

This morning we did more. We announced another $30 million in support. That is going to improve treatment, work on prevention, control, and improved health care on the ground.

[Health, September 25th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians should be very proud that Canada is at the forefront of the response to the Ebola crisis in West Africa. In fact, I will be in Washington tomorrow at the White House for an emergency meeting on Ebola with the global health security initiative partners.

With respect to the member's question on the issue of the vaccine, Canada has very generously donated 1,000 doses of this vaccine, which was developed in Canada by Public Health Agency researchers, to the WHO. It is now in the hands of the WHO as to when and how it will be deployed. We are seeking its advice on that.

[Health, September 24th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for his work on the health committee. He is, in fact, right that Canada is at the forefront of the fight on the Ebola crisis, and leading that effort is Dr. Gregory Taylor. It makes me very happy to inform the House and the country that Dr. Gregory Taylor has just accepted the appointment to become Canada's Chief Public Health Officer. I congratulate him. He has the confidence of the international public health community and, of course, the provinces and territories. I know he will work very hard to earn the confidence of all Canadians.

[Health, September 23rd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, we have done exactly that, and of course, we have given all the tools necessary to the provinces and territories in terms of funding, and up to $40 billion annually, year in and year out by the end of the decade, and are also providing funding above and beyond that to help them reach their priority areas for wait times. They are seeing some results in the areas where they have set priorities for wait time guarantees. We are working with them on that.

This is a complex area. As I have mentioned, we have more physicians now working in Canada than ever before, so it is more than just availability of doctors. The provinces are working on better models of care, and we will support them to do more.

[Health, September 23rd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the government has shown leadership on wait times by providing $1 billion for the provinces and territories to establish guarantees in wait time priority areas. We have seen some very good progress with the provinces. They have met almost 80% of their time targets, including for radiation therapy, hip replacements, and hip fracture repair. We will continue to work with them, but this is an area they are focused on.

I would remind the member as well that we know from the recent report of the Canadian Institute for Health Information that we have the highest level of physicians now working in Canada. This is a tough challenge for the provinces and territories, so we stand ready to support them.

[Health, September 22nd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the Public Health Agency of Canada is one of the leading public health organizations in the world, which is why it has been called upon many times, like in the H1N1 outbreak, the H5N1 virus here in Canada, and, of course, the ebola crisis in West Africa.

We do have a public health officer for Canada. His name is Dr. Gregory Taylor, and he has done an exceptional job. He has my confidence. He has the confidence of the international medical community. He works well with Doctors Without Borders, and, of course, he has the full confidence of the provinces and territories.

[Health, September 22nd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, a search has been under way for quite some time, and an announcement is imminent.

However, let me just say that Dr. Gregory Taylor, who is our interim Chief Public Health Officer for Canada, has done a remarkable job. He has the confidence of the international community. He has the confidence of the public health officers across the provinces and territories. He has not only managed this ebola issue very well, he also managed H5N1 when it was diagnosed in Canada for the first time, and, of course, H1N1.

We thank him for his great work.