House of Commons photoLost his last election, in 2011, with 35% of the vote.
Supply November 23rd, 2004
Mr. Chair, I read it somewhere that we are looking at regulating cosmetics so that there is labelling with respect to the ingredients, if I remember correctly. I remember having read that somewhere in the last four months, having read mounds of paper.
I understand that those amendments to the regulations are coming. I understand that the regulations are to be published some time before March 31, 2005. They are to be gazetted and then they will go through the process.
Supply November 23rd, 2004
Mr. Chair, the question with respect to laryngectomy obviously is a fiscal one. I would be happy to take note of what the member has said and I would be happy to speak to the Minister of Finance and convey that concern.
The other question the hon. member was asking was with respect to, if I understood it correctly because the member was speaking very fast and the interpreter was speaking very fast and I did not catch all of the words, the ignition propensity of cigarettes.
I understand that our department, Health Canada, is working on regulations and will be proposing those regulations to the House very shortly. I think the department is ready with the regulation on cigarettes with ignition propensity.
Supply November 23rd, 2004
Mr. Chair, if and when we have the national pharmaceutical strategy report back to the first ministers, which would be hopefully early 2006 if I had my way. That report would then be available to the provinces and they could implement it overnight.
Supply November 23rd, 2004
Mr. Chair, I would be hazarding a guess if I said when, but let me answer the question with the best information that I have.
I understand there was an accord in 2003. All of us know there was. We also know that not much progress happened, whether in terms of home care or catastrophic drug coverage, both of which were to be done by the provinces. None of that happened and they had been given the money.
Now, in this accord, we have given an additional $500 million a year for home care and for catastrophic drug coverage. We have placed deadlines that we have to come back as ministers of health to the first ministers and report on a national pharmaceutical strategy, including catastrophic drug coverage, by 2006. We must report at least the elements of the strategy and then begin to put it in place.
We also have home care and the two week period--
Supply November 23rd, 2004
Mr. Chair, I understand that there has been a Canadian Patient Safety Institute created. We are working on this issue.
When I appeared before the standing committee, this is one of the first issues that caught my eye when I became the Minister of Health. I have asked the Department of Health to take a look at whether or not we can actually begin to receive the results of a mandatory reporting system for adverse drug reactions and adverse incidents. I think that is important.
I am told that there are five or six centres at this time for voluntary reporting across the country. There is one in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, and there is one for the Atlantic. That is well and good, but the issue that the member raises, as I said to him in committee, is very important and we are looking at it. I am in favour of the mandatory reporting of adverse drug reactions. Even if it saves one life or two lives, that is one more life saved. It is important that we do that.
Supply November 23rd, 2004
Mr. Chair, I would be less than candid if I did not tell the House that the Department of Health has been trying very hard to deal with a very thorny and difficult issue of consent and privacy with respect to overuse of drugs, abuse of drugs and multiple prescriptions. That is a complex issue. The Auditor General has a view on it. It is very clear to me. That is why I have told Health Canada that we will be following her instructions and from time to time will consult her as we implement her strategies.
Life is very important. I know that the Standing Committee on Health had raised these issues perhaps a year ago. I have looked at the transcript. I recognize the severity and the gravity of this issue. That is why, in an overall way, I can tell the hon. member that we respect the recommendations made by the Auditor General. We will abide by them. We will implement them at the earliest possible--
Supply November 23rd, 2004
Mr. Chair, there is no question, we respect the recommendations that were made. We will abide by them. We will implement them. In fact, I have directed my department to consult with her on an ongoing basis as it implements the recommendations.
I am simply telling the hon. member what the difficulties have been. If the hon. member is talking about the drugs that are purchased and used by the Department of National Defence, it can do bulk purchases because it is delivering to a population that is controlled by it within its pharmacies.
It may be difficult, if not impossible, to do the same with 750,000 first nations people across the country with 1,000 pharmacies and with medical practitioners unless we get into the business of actually providing pharmacies ourselves across the country.
Supply November 23rd, 2004
Mr. Chair, I am saying no such thing. I have said very clearly that we accept the recommendations of the Auditor General. We will implement them. I am simply trying to deal with some of the complexities and difficulties. The Department of Health has tried to deal with the drug abuse situation which is not the question that the hon. member is raising and I recognize that.
There is the question of privacy and consent. The aboriginal leadership just issued a press release today to highlight that issue of consent.
The issue of bulk purchasing and the federal government being able to purchase in bulk some of those drugs directly is just not feasible at this time. We may be able to do that, but we have over 1,000 pharmacies prescribing those drugs to individuals. We have medical practitioners giving them the prescriptions. If we were a province and actually owned the pharmacies, and had the doctors under our control, we would be able to do that.
I want Health Canada to sit with the Auditor General and perhaps she can advise us as to how she thinks we can do that.
Supply November 23rd, 2004
Mr. Chair, I said earlier on in the House and I also said it outside to the media, we fully accept the Auditor General's recommendations.
I met with her. We had a conversation about these issues. In fact, I will direct my department, as we make the changes to meet the recommendations that she has given and implement those recommendations, to consult her from time to time.
There are, as I said earlier, issues of consent and privacy. There are also issues as to whether or not we can bulk purchase these drugs for first nations people. The federal government delivers health care to 750,000 first nations individuals. There are thousands of pharmacies that actually provide those prescriptions to those 750,000 individuals. There are medical practitioners who deal with those issues.
Therefore, it is impossible for the federal government to bulk purchase those drugs that are given at the pharmacies by private practitioners, private pharmacists, and prescribed by private medical practitioners.
Supply November 23rd, 2004
Mr. Chair, I believe that the wait times across the country in different areas of health care have become almost the litmus test for health care. Even though people may not have been in direct contact with health care recently, when they look at the waiting times they believe that health care may not be available for them when they need it.
There is a high degree of satisfaction with our health care system among Canadians, particularly among those who have been in touch with the system, because it was there for them.
However there is a real problem with wait times. The Prime Minister recognized that in the last election and made it a national issue. With the assistance and cooperation of the first ministers from across the country, we signed an agreement in mid-September of this year which will provide $41 billion in additional money over the next 10 years for health care. It was agreed that all the provinces would establish evidence-based benchmarks and multi-year targets to achieve those benchmarks, and would have comparable indicators to arrive at those wait times and to reduce them.
The Prime Minister selected four areas on which all the first ministers agreed: sight restoration, joint replacement, cardiac and diagnostic. If some provinces felt that their priority lay in some other area or that they had wait times that were more problematic in other areas, there was flexibility in the four that they could choose. These four were not etched in stone.
It is important that all jurisdictions report by March 31, 2007 significant reductions in wait times across the country. It is important that we re-inject that sense of public confidence into our public health care system. Regardless of the difficulties we may be having now with our health care system we must remember that 40 years ago we rejected the private system where a person's wallet was checked before the person's pulse.
It is important that we maintain, strengthen and enhance our public health care system, an institution that is cherished, loved and supported by Canada, so that health care is available for all of us. It defines our sense of shared values to look after each other as Canadians.