Health committee  The difficulty with it is the suggestion that there's a secure constitutional footing. I'm not sure what Professor Marchildon was referring to. I read his testimony with interest and was wondering exactly what he meant by that. The existing secure constitutional footing is, of co

Health committee  How would a renewed approach to federalism do that?

Health committee  I'm not sure I totally understand what kind of an approach you're imagining, but let me just speak to the direction in constitutional law about the nature of our federation, which I think is very well articulated by the Supreme Court of Canada. It is focused on an idea of co-oper

Health committee  It's a valid exercise of the federal spending power, so it's not any single explicit power, because it's not mentioned anywhere in the Constitution, but it's a combination of the federal taxing power in class 3 of section 91 and the power to dispose of public property.

Health committee  Not the word “health”, but hospitals, yes.

Health committee  Thank you, Dr. Eyolfson. That's also a good question. There are, of course, charter implications to this topic. They rise not just under section 7 but also potentially under section 15 of the charter, which prohibits discrimination. Let me say a quick word about each. I don't t

Health committee  I appreciate the question. The passage you've read is an important one, and it expresses themes that we can find in many different cases involving the interpretation of the division of legislative powers. The Supreme Court of Canada is very concerned about a balanced approach and

Health committee  I'm not familiar, Mr. Oliver, with any challenges to the Canada Health Act as a valid exercise of the federal spending power. There have been a number of challenges to other federal spending statutes in a variety of contexts. There's a significant body of case law now in which, f

Health committee  No, I'm quite confident that would be a valid exercise of the federal spending power. Of course, it would depend on the degree of specificity that's build into the act. Right now we have general principles and general definitions, and much of the detail is left to negotiations. I

Health committee  I don't know what the exact count is, but it's remarkable how infrequently the court has had to engage with the POGG power. A few from the modern era that are most relevant to thinking about its scope. There was the anti-inflation reference from 1976, which focused primarily on t

Health committee  I think you'll hear two different stories. I agree; I think it does fit that test very well. We talked earlier about the securities reference, which of course was focused on a different power. Similar arguments, of course, were made by the federal government in support of the p

Health committee  I'm not.

Health committee  I don't think so, because that could be agreed to as part of the negotiations between the federal government and the provincial and territorial governments. However, it might be a good idea to amend the Canada Health Act because if it's amended to provide coverage for drugs admin

Health committee  I appreciate the question very much. It does seem to me that the distinction between the coverage we have of physician services and hospital services, in accordance with the principles set out in the Canada Health Act of universality, comprehensiveness, accessibility, and so on,

Health committee  I suppose one model, of course, is the Canada Health Act. The idea is that the Parliament of Canada takes the lead in establishing national standards, reflects values on which I believe there is great consensus in Canadian society, and then leaves the details to the provinces, in