House of Commons photoLost his last election, in 2011, with 35% of the vote.
Supply November 23rd, 2004
Mr. Chair, if I remember correctly, the hon. member is talking about avian flu. Dr. David Butler-Jones is seized of these issues. He will talk to his counterparts across the country and even throughout the world. If and when we need to take action on that, he will advise us. Politics will not guide us. It will be public safety that guides all of us in these issues.
Supply November 23rd, 2004
Mr. Chair, I am unable to answer the question about the expenditures on the trials. That would be available before the trials begin and I would be happy to share that with the hon. member.
Supply November 23rd, 2004
Mr. Chair, I think those are issues that Dr. David Butler-Jones would be able to address. I suggest that we put those questions to him through the committee, or if the hon. member wishes, I would be happy to ask that question of him and forward the answer.
Supply November 23rd, 2004
Mr. Chair, that is true. We are going to be doing clinical trials on it. It is very important that we do that. However, the second generation vaccine is not even licensed to be used at this time.
Supply November 23rd, 2004
Mr. Chair, I am unable to answer that question because I do not know what kind of vaccine DND has purchased. I would be happy to learn that and answer that question.
The reason we stuck with the time tested vaccine, a first generation vaccine, is it was tested in an actual outbreak. Also it is available to us. It can remain useful for a long, long time. It can also be diluted.
Supply November 23rd, 2004
Mr. Chair, off the top of my head I do not remember the number of years but I am told that the second generation vaccine is only good for a very short time. It has a very short shelf life and is very expensive. It would be over $30 million to $40 million.
Supply November 23rd, 2004
Mr. Chair, I believe that the hon. member is talking about a possible plan to purchase a new generation of vaccine, a second generation of vaccine.
After looking at the second generation of vaccine a decision was made to stick with the existing and time tested first generation vaccine, of which we have over six million doses available which I understand can be diluted perhaps even 10 times to deal with the issue.
I am told by our public health officer, Dr. David Butler-Jones, that the six million vaccines that we have are currently available. Some of them were manufactured back in the 1970s.
Supply November 23rd, 2004
Mr. Chair, the member probably knows about all of the existing programs. There is a national native alcohol and drug abuse program. There is a national youth solvent abuse program. Then there is a first nations and Inuit component of Canada's drug strategy. There is also $20 million in the estimates for FAE and FAS prevention that is currently being dealt with.
There is $400 million out of the $700 million that is going to go for promotion and prevention on several aspects of aboriginal health. In addition to that there are of course the national programs that I talked about.
This is a very serious issue and we are taking it very seriously.
Supply November 23rd, 2004
Mr. Chair, I understand that there is a working group made up of representatives of the Government of Yukon, the Council of Yukon First Nations and the dental association. We want to make sure that this problem is dealt with so that no one goes without dental service in that part of our country.
Supply November 23rd, 2004
Mr. Chair, I understand the current process is that Health Canada looks at any genetically modified foods that come on the market and if there are any risks associated with them, then there is obviously special labelling.
Of course, these are very important safety issues. I do not believe we have moved to a mandatory labelling regime, which is an issue some people are raising, but the current regime has been satisfactory and I believe we should continue to work within it.