44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 16, 2023 10:00AM
- Feb/16/23 1:51:49 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for London West.
I am very pleased to rise today to speak about health care. This has been a really important issue for my constituents and all Canadians, especially after the pandemic and the strain we saw in our health care system. All Canadians are focused on health care right now and are thinking about health care. The strain on our health care workers has been enormous. I am therefore pleased to rise in this House to talk about the plan that our Prime Minister announced.
My minister, the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, and the health minister have been travelling across the country meeting with premiers and their ministerial counterparts to discuss health care needs in each and every province and territory. We know that the needs in each province and territory differ, and that is precisely why these conversations about the priorities in each place are so crucial. There is not a one-size-fits-all solution, but what we can do as a federal government is lead and support.
We can talk about the areas of health care that we all know are under pressure, including emergency rooms. I have mentioned the strain on health care workers in the sector, who are overworked and whom we all regarded as our heroes. They are still our heroes but are not getting the attention and care they need during this difficult time. That is what the funding announced on February 7 is about. The Prime Minister announced almost $200 billion over the next 10 years to help support the critical areas that are under pressure. It includes better wages for health care workers, which is incredibly important.
In my riding, issues regarding mental health are raised all the time. Countless constituents have come to me talking about the mental health needs of a family member, for example. In my region, there seem to be some challenges in getting support for people with eating disorders, a specialized mental health area. It is also really hard to get supports for young people, and that is crucial for their recovery.
There are other areas I have met with constituents on. One is the area of stroke survivors getting the adequate rehab they need post-stroke. Another area we have heard about in my constituency is the need for family doctors and access to family doctors, especially for newcomers in my community who need family doctors or specialist appointments. It is becoming increasingly difficult.
I would be remiss if I did not speak about the need for long-term care and the supports there. Our government previously announced $4 billion to support long-term care. Sadly, during the pandemic, one of the long-term care homes in my riding lost many residents. I think we had among the most fatalities of anywhere in the country, which was devastating and only served to prove the breaking point that some of these facilities were already under. The measures and the supports needed during COVID highlighted that. We have committed to doing better. We owe these families and our seniors the dignity they deserve later in life.
I have spoken about emergency room wait times. I have heard from constituents who, if they do not have a family doctor, are putting more strain on emergency rooms because they have nowhere to turn, even if there might not be an emergency situation. That is also adding to the strain and pressures on our system.
These are all things that Canadians are extremely focused on. That is why, with this announcement, I was so pleased that the proposed funding addresses so many of the key points that my constituents have raised directly. One of those things is an immediate $2-billion top-up to deal with the pressures on pediatric hospitals and emergency rooms and with long wait times for surgeries. Those specialty appointments are becoming harder for constituents to receive, and many times it is a quality of life issue.
We have also committed to additional bilateral agreements because, as I said earlier, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. The priorities of each province and territory might be different. The needs of the residents there might be different. It is important that we are listening to those needs and where those priorities should be.
I spoke about support for our hospital workers, which includes $1.7 billion over five years to increase the wages of personal support workers. This is additional funding to help keep seniors, or those who need a bit of help, in their homes longer. I have personal friends and constituents who are in desperate need of that additional care. We will help them by injecting some of the funding into that system. In addition, there is $2 billion over 10 years to support indigenous priorities.
There is a lot of work to be done, but I think what is crucial is that we have identified what Canadians have been telling us about where the injection of funding is needed.
One of the most important things I can say, which constituents in my riding in Ontario have said time and time again, is that there has to be accountability. We cannot just send cash to the provinces without knowing where it is going or if it is actually hitting the services needed. My constituents and residents who have been asking for this influx of funding want to be able to hold their provincial governments accountable if the funding is not going there.
What I do not want to see after an injection of federal funding, which I have also heard from my constituents, is the provinces taking out their share while we end up in no better a place than we were before. Therefore, for accountability and transparency, the requirement to have data is important. The Prime Minister has talked about this. I find it difficult to talk to Canadians about the fact that if they require an ambulance and provide their health care, the ambulance staff do not know if they are allergic to anything.
I think I am running out of time since question period is about to start, but I would like to continue after that because this is a crucial moment for our health care system in Canada.
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- Feb/16/23 3:07:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives first blamed the vaccine mandates. Second, they blamed ArriveCAN. Third, they blamed testing at airports. The Conservatives have no idea what they are talking about. They are ambulance chasers. However—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Feb/16/23 3:15:20 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in today's QP proceedings I think you will find that the Minister of Transport used the term “ambulance chasers”.
I would remind the minister and the government that we are all hon. members and I think you, Mr. Speaker, should rule on whether or not the use of such terms toward another member is parliamentary.
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- Feb/16/23 4:54:46 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate my colleague's work on this file and others.
This is an interesting thing. We can ask the people who are lined up and cannot get out of the ambulance and into the hospital I represent, Hôtel-Dieu Grace. There are ambulances lined up and people cannot get in there because it cannot get the proper staffing. That is the real test.
We can say all this money is out there. Members brag about how much money they gave and announce things over and over, but this is a famous Conservative Mike Harris trick. The Conservatives talked about having the $1-million dump truck that would go around and announce money all over Ontario, but no one could get the money because of the complications and the way it was laid out. We never actually saw the money, and it is the same thing with this.
What people really care about right now is getting access to proper medicare and not to be starved from it. Again, the numbers do not really lie in terms of what the reality is. We do not have enough money right now because we starved the system. When someone is sitting in an ambulance and cannot get into the hospital because it does not have the proper staffing, it is not acceptable.
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- Feb/16/23 4:57:04 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am very proud to be here to talk about this bill. I appreciate that it is a difficult subject.
As a New Democrat, I am incredibly proud of the fact that in 2004, Canadians overwhelmingly voted for Tommy Douglas as the greatest Canadian because he was the father of medicare. When we think about medicare, it is right in our blood. We believe in it foundationally, and it is something we all want to see continue to grow and progress in this country. However, we know the reality is that it is in crisis. I know this very well. I know this because of the realities in my riding.
In my riding, there are currently two hospitals that have no emergency room at night. They shut down. One of those communities is on Corman Island. It is an island, so if something happens to someone at a time when the hospital is closed, they have to find a way off of the island to get help.
I think of Port Hardy, which was very much in the news. One time, someone who was going to the emergency room at the hospital with a very serious issue arrived to find it closed. He collapsed and an ambulance had to drive him over 30 minutes to the nearest hospital. He was lucky because he was not on an island. He was lucky because when he got there, the hospital was not closed that day.
The reality is that during a period of time, we had sudden emergency room closures. Often there were Facebook posts just to let people in the community know their hospital was not open for emergencies that evening. This is devastating. It is devastating to communities. I have had so many constituents contact me to let me know how afraid they are. The hospitals are having such a hard time attracting doctors, staff and nurses because they are burning out. It is huge.
We have to continue to talk about this. When it happens, especially for rural and remote communities that have a very unique experience in this country, people lose emergency access, and they often have to travel far to get any kind of specialist appointment. Now when hospitals are looking at strategies to attract and retain people, it is harder for them. Some are trying to rebuild their communities and economies, but they cannot tell people that if they come to the community to work and live, there is going to be an emergency room open if something happens to them.
Recently, the B.C. NDP government stepped up with $30 million to help. Part of that help meant that two hospitals had to close their emergency services at night. However, what was different is it was not happening all the time. Now they have some resources to start an attraction and retention strategy to get more of the health care providers they desperately need in that region.
The reality is that in Port Hardy, between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. there are emergency services, but from 5 p.m. to 7 a.m. there are none. On Corman Island, between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. there are emergency services, but after 7 p.m. there are none. Let us remember that people have to take a ferry to get help or take a helicopter off the island.
I am here and will support this bill because my constituents are pleading for help, and I do not believe the government is standing up to support them. We need the resources flowing. We know something has fundamentally changed in this country, and medicare is worth fighting for.
We need to see that this crisis is happening and that privatization is growing in this country. Why should we be afraid of privatization? Why should we be concerned when the Prime Minister, during an election, made fun of the Conservative leader for saying that privatization is innovation? The Prime Minister said it was wrong, but a little while later he told Doug Ford that it was innovation and good for him. That is the discrepancy here. I really hope members in this House listen to that, because it is a clear discrepancy. All Canadians need to be aware of that.
One of my riding's biggest public health advocates is Lois Jarvis. She is relentless. This woman fights every day for public health care, and I appreciate and respect her so much.
When the communities of Campbell River and Comox Valley were getting hospitals built, she fought like hell to make sure they would have free parking. Do members know why she fought for free parking? It is because those two hospitals serve communities from all around, and people have to come a far distance to get health care. She did not want them to drive for hours, take ferries and then have to pay for parking on top of it, so she fought for it. She fought for public health care, and I will as well.
We know for a fact that private clinics across Canada are advertising that procedures can be done there so much faster and would cost $20,000 to $28,000. We also know that medicare in Canada does the same service for just over $12,000. Privatization is always about making profit; it is not about helping people. That is why the NDP will get up every single day and fight for this system.
Tommy Douglas built it. We all know what he went through to make it happen. It is shameful for the Liberals to take credit for somebody's hard work and inspiration in this country, as if finally the federal government listened and is making sure it happens for every Canadian.
I will stand up for this every day, and I will say that if it does not pass the Lois Jarvis smell test, then I will not have it. Right now, what is happening in this country does not pass her smell test. She knows that privatization is creeping and creeping. Do members know what that means? It means indigenous communities will have even worse health outcomes. It means people who are economically marginalized will be more and more ridden with disease. Our system will fail them. It is already failing too many Canadians.
I will stand up in this House to fight for health care. I certainly hope that everybody in this House has the bravery to do the same.
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