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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 13

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
December 8, 2021 02:00PM
Context: House Hansard - 13 - Dec/8/21
Hon. Jean-Yves Duclos
  • Dec/8/21 9:07:40 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I commend my colleague on all his contributions and I would remind him of another number. The number of surgeries that were delayed these past months because of the COVID‑19 pandemic is estimated at 780,000. The extraordinary partnership we saw between the governments during the pandemic can be just as important in the short term for cleaning up that mess.
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Mr. Luc Thériault
  • Dec/8/21 9:08:05 p.m.
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Madam Chair, once again the minister is sidestepping the question. The minister wants to impose standards, but he does not have the answers to questions about what is happening on the ground in Quebec. There are 200,000 patients waiting, and some are past the recommended wait time. The good Dr. Legault, of the FMSQ, said that it will take at least 10 years to clear the backlog. He stated, “The federal government quickly allocated significant funds to cushion the impact of the health crisis on the economy and on the public. We hope that the federal government will be able to provide additional funding to the provinces” to “address the needs of the health care system”, whose sustainability he believes is at risk. He added that “this crisis will not go away in one year or two. It will persist for a long time.” Does the minister realize that the longer his government waits to invest and transfer money to health care, by which I mean the $28 billion that everyone has agreed is necessary, the more health care costs will skyrocket and the more patients will suffer?
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Hon. Jean-Yves Duclos
  • Dec/8/21 9:09:20 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I congratulate my colleague once again. I will add another statistic. In Quebec alone, approximately 1.5 million people do not have access to a family doctor. I will now add two more figures. We did not wait, and I believe the member is fully aware of that. We immediately invested the very significant amount of $55 billion during COVID-19. We should not forget that $25 billion was invested very quickly after the commitment made by the Liberal Party during the campaign. All that is substantial. We could talk about all the other commitments that the government has made over the past few years and that will continue to contribute to this very important collaborative effort, whose value we came to appreciate during the COVID-19 pandemic. Federalism and the Canadian federation are a source of great solidarity, especially during a crisis when there are such significant challenges to be overcome.
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Mr. Don Davies (Vancouver Kingsway, NDP)
  • Dec/8/21 9:10:18 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I would like to congratulate my hon. colleague on his appointment. I look forward to working with him to build health care for all Canadians. In the 2019 throne speech, the Liberal government pledged to “introduce and implement national pharmacare so that Canadians have the drug coverage they need.” The 2020 throne speech noted that the government “remains committed to a national universal pharmacare program” and would “accelerate steps to achieve this system”. The 2021 throne speech contained no reference to pharmacare whatsoever. Does this omission reflect his government's abandonment of universal pharmacare?
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Hon. Jean-Yves Duclos (Minister of Health, Lib.)
  • Dec/8/21 9:11:00 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I thank my colleague for his hard work and his good words. No, we have not abandoned this. In fact, it is all in progress because of the important advances that we have seen in the past six years. I look forward to describing them in a moment in greater detail as more questions come in.
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Mr. Don Davies
  • Dec/8/21 9:11:22 p.m.
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Madam Chair, the Liberal-appointed Hoskins advisory council called on the federal government to launch national pharmacare by offering universal coverage for essential medicines by January 1, 2022. Will the federal government meet this deadline?
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Hon. Jean-Yves Duclos
  • Dec/8/21 9:11:38 p.m.
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Madam Chair, in a brief summary of what we are doing and what we have done, first, we are extremely active on the regulatory innovation to make sure that medicine research and development and production come quickly—
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The Deputy Chair
  • Dec/8/21 9:11:54 p.m.
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Sorry. The hon. member.
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Mr. Don Davies
  • Dec/8/21 9:11:56 p.m.
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Madam Chair, it was a simple question: Will the federal government meet the deadline of January 1, 2022, which is less than a month from now? I guess the answer to that is no, it will not. Can the minister confirm when national universal pharmacare will be in place for Canadians?
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Hon. Jean-Yves Duclos
  • Dec/8/21 9:12:13 p.m.
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Madam Chair, if I may continue, we have announced and already made significant investments in biomedical fabrication and development in Canada, leading to some serious advances in the production of and access to medicines—
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The Deputy Chair
  • Dec/8/21 9:12:27 p.m.
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The hon. member.
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Mr. Don Davies
  • Dec/8/21 9:12:29 p.m.
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Madam Chair, again, I guess Canadians have no answer from the Liberals about when they might get universal pharmacare. Canada had the highest proportion of COVID deaths in long-term care of any country in the OECD. Will the minister confirm when national standards for long-term care will be in place?
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Hon. Jean-Yves Duclos
  • Dec/8/21 9:12:49 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I have two things on this. First, it is being developed now, and we started many months ago in collaboration with the provinces and territories and experts. Second, we have announced in the platform an investment of $9 billion to support investments in long-term care.
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Mr. Don Davies
  • Dec/8/21 9:13:04 p.m.
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Madam Chair, does the minister agree that we should end the for-profit delivery of long-term care to our seniors across Canada?
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Hon. Jean-Yves Duclos
  • Dec/8/21 9:13:13 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I understand the concern and share it very much. In my own province, if we add up all those people who died in long-term care centres, we—
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The Deputy Chair
  • Dec/8/21 9:13:22 p.m.
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The hon. member.
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Mr. Don Davies
  • Dec/8/21 9:13:25 p.m.
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Madam Chair, during the last election, the Liberal Party promised to “work towards a national school nutritious meal program with a $1 billion investment over five years.” Can the minister confirm this investment will be put in place during the fall economic statement?
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Hon. Jean-Yves Duclos
  • Dec/8/21 9:13:40 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I am glad that the member has an eye on the fall economic statement. Our colleague, the Minister of Finance, is going to produce and share a great statement.
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Mr. Don Davies
  • Dec/8/21 9:13:52 p.m.
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Madam Chair, the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care issues important guidelines to health professionals across Canada, yet the task force lacks members with subject matter expertise. This can and has resulted in questionable, inaccurate and dangerous guidelines being issued, for example using outdated studies and ignoring relevant data to recommend against life-saving breast screening for Canadian women in their 40s. Multiple other specialties are similarly affected, such as urology, psychiatry and gastroenterology. During the election, the Liberal Party committed to reviewing the task force. When will this happen?
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Hon. Jean-Yves Duclos
  • Dec/8/21 9:14:30 p.m.
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Madam Chair, that is a great example of something that is extremely important. We look forward to doing this as quickly as possible, and we know that we can count on the member's input to make that possible.
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