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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 142

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
December 6, 2022 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 142 - Dec/6/22
Hon. Karina Gould (Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, Lib.)
  • Dec/6/22 2:33:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we took important action when we understood that the high cost of living was having an impact on Canadians. In fact, yesterday the Financial Post noted that our child care policy has been a success. It said, “government policy has played a role in getting women back in the workforce...especially when it comes to child care.... Women feel more confident going back into the workforce because they won’t be spending their whole paycheque on child care.” We are there for Canadians and we are delivering.
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Context: House Hansard - 142 - Dec/6/22
Mr. Adam van Koeverden (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health and to the Minister of Sport, Lib.)
  • Dec/6/22 7:23:03 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank the member for the opportunity to discuss this very important issue. The impacts of the health worker shortage are reverberating across all areas of the health system, but they are particularly clear right now in our hospitals. It gets harder to watch as children are affected. Understaffed emergency rooms have led to long wait times and even closures. Our government is working with the provincial and territorial governments and key health sector stakeholders to find both immediate and long-term solutions to the health care worker shortage. Health Canada convened a stakeholder symposium this spring to better understand the challenges facing the health workforce, and we are currently engaging with stakeholders to refine and align solutions. I would also point out that over the last six months, the prime focus of the health committee, on which I serve, has been the human resources in health care crisis. We have been studying how to remediate this challenge, and literally nothing is off the table. Rural communities, like the one my colleague serves in, require unique solutions to their health care challenges. That is why the government is providing $26.2 million in funding to increase the forgivable amount of student loans for doctors and nurses who would like to practise in rural and remote communities. We have also committed $115 million over five years, with $30 million ongoing, to expand the foreign credential recognition program, which will help 11,000 internationally trained health care professionals per year get their credentials recognized and find work in their field. My colleague opposite raised the point that we are not doing anything to help people enter the health care sector. She says we are not doing enough to attract people with foreign credentials and qualifications. We are investing and hundreds of millions of dollars in these areas. It is a prime area of focus. There is still much work to be done, and our government will continue to work with the provinces and territories. We are committed to working with provinces, territories and experts to find ways to recruit new health care workers and improve working conditions to retain and make better use of our existing health workers. I look forward to working with my colleagues, the provinces and the territories in the weeks and months ahead to improve the funding and delivery of health care services.
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