44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 16, 2023 10:00AM
- Feb/16/23 10:35:34 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the pandemic was hard on Canadians. It was particularly difficult for health care workers, including nurses, doctors, personal support workers, long-term care workers, maintenance staff, and so many others.
For three years, they have been on the front lines of this pandemic with no relief in sight. The government called them heroes, but those accolades have not been backed up with tangible investments in pay, working conditions or mental health supports. It is absolutely unacceptable that investments in mental health have not come to frontline workers, including health care workers, when the Liberal government is sitting on $4.5 billion of unspent mental health dollars. I remind the government that this needs to change.
Today, we are talking about the privatization of health care in Canada. The Liberals' recent health care negotiations with the provinces have not produced change or protections. The solutions that Canadians were expecting to hear to improving their access to care in this country did not come to fruition. Canadians did not hear of plans to address the staffing shortages of doctors or nurses.
As Tim Guest, the CEO of the Canadian Nurses Association, said, “While CNA is encouraged by the federal government’s commitment to prioritizing health-care workers, the need for a pan-Canadian health human resource (HHR) strategy and urgent action to address critical nursing shortages were not clearly addressed.”
The current Liberal government must address the human resource crisis in the care system in Canada immediately. The Prime Minister has an opportunity to make things better for Canadians by working with the provinces and territories to hire and rebuild the public health system and its human resource sector. Alternatively, he can continue to make the crisis worse by funding for-profit schemes that will poach staff from hospitals and the public health care system that all Canadians rely on.
I remind the Liberal government that allowing for-profit care to take over Canada's health care system is not only a contravention of the Canada Health Act, but also a costly project for Canadians, both in dollars and in lives, as the hon. member mentioned earlier. We have only to look at the catastrophic outcomes in private long-term care during the pandemic to see that.
The courts are also warning us of the folly of private health care. The Supreme Court of British Columbia looked at the impact of private, paid health care in its 2020 ruling on the Cambie case and found that “...the introduction of duplicative private healthcare would lead to increased costs and diversion of human resources, which would be contrary to the purpose of the provisions to preserve and ensure the sustainability of the universal public healthcare system.”
This decision was upheld by the B.C. Court of Appeal in 2022. In its ruling, the justice found that suppressing all private care is necessary to ensure that access to medically necessary care is based on need and not on ability to pay.
It also stated, “The introduction of even small scale duplicative private healthcare would create a second tier of preferential healthcare for those with the means to either acquire private insurance or pay out-of-pocket once their benchmark was exceeded.”
That is worrisome. No Canadian should have to fight for equal care in this country, but that is exactly what privatization, for-profit care, does.
It is not just me saying this. It is the law of the land saying it. This is why it is imperative that the new bilateral health agreements result in thousands of new publicly funded health care workers to fix and support a growing sector of our economy, the care economy, where one in five Canadians already works. If the federal government cannot facilitate this in the agreements, they will be a failure.
The current nursing shortage has certainly proven that a lack of human resources in care is past critical levels. I will mention again that it is affecting the mental health care of caregivers.
Dr. Katherine Smart, the former president of the Canadian Medical Association, said:
What we're learning is more than alarming. It's potentially catastrophic.
Time is of the essence. More than a quarter of practising physicians claim low rates of overall mental health. Recent figures show that 20% of front-line health care workers have thought about suicide. A crushing 6% have planned an attempt.
A crushing 6% have attempted suicide, and we know that it has happened. The Liberals need to get to work to assist in solving the shortage of doctors and nurses in this country.
As the leader of the NDP pointed out, when the Prime Minister took office, there was a shortage of 5,800 nurses. Things are now five times worse.
Dr. Smart said that over 50% of physicians and medical learners reported high levels of burnout, compared to prepandemic levels of 30%. Moreover, nearly half of physicians reported that they would likely reduce their clinical hours. Canadians cannot afford any more reductions in access to doctors.
With that in mind, I am going to take a moment to highlight, for the Liberal government, news from the labour shortage study out of HUMA this year. The report holds critical testimony outlining solutions that would improve working conditions for health care workers, attract and retain health care workers, and allow for a pan-Canadian human resource plan.
These solutions come from health care professionals who know the problems in the system. I would note that not one of the solutions presented in the study was to jeopardize the public health care system by introducing private, for-profit care. Here are eight of the recommendations.
First, “work with the provinces, territories and other stakeholders to promote the alignment of educational and training opportunities in health care and other care economy sectors...”.
Second, “in collaboration with the provinces and territories, expand training and upskilling capacity for high demand industries, skilled workers, the care economy [and] health care workers...”.
Third, “work with the provinces and territories to remove barriers to labour mobility in the health care sector, including through the interprovincial/territorial coordination of regulation and licensing requirements.”
Fourth, “support access to care in rural and remote communities by providing further incentives for in-demand health care professionals to work in these communities, including through tuition assistance, loan forgiveness, or tax benefits...”.
Fifth, “consider offering additional permanent residency pathways to temporary foreign workers with in-demand skills or experience, including in the care economy...”.
Sixth, “review the Foreign Credential Recognition Program with a view to determining how it can better support efficient foreign credential recognition for internationally trained health care professionals.”
Seventh, “review compensation and benefits for care economy workers under its jurisdiction with a view to ensuring decent work and a regionally competitive wage; and further, that it work with the provinces and territories to improve working conditions for other workers in the care economy (including but not limited to migrant workers, and those in non-standard employment) and provide adequate compensation, basic health benefits, paid sick days, and workload management.”
Eighth, “consider establishing a national Care Economy Commission to develop, implement and monitor any workforce planning strategies for the care economy, including a centralized health care human resources strategy...”.
These are the real solutions to the health care crisis. These are the real solutions that would benefit people over corporate profits, and these are the real avenues to solving the human resource challenges in health care.
I am going to quote Michael Villeneuve, the former chief executive officer of the Canadian Nurses Association, who said:
Canada needs targeted federal funding to help health care systems train, retain, recruit and improve education and working conditions...The federal government has an important convenor and coordinator role to play. It needs to work together with provinces and territories on both short- and long-term strategies. Maintaining the status quo cannot be an option.
In closing, at the same time that the Canada health system is on the verge of collapse, workers are burning out, fatigued and taking early retirement. More federal investments are needed.
As economist Armine Yalnizyan has been saying loudly, labour needs are set to rise due to an aging population. She says, “...there is no more pressing labour market issue than how we prepare the Care Economy for the decades of population aging ahead...”
The federal government needs to take on this challenge and stop wasting time on for-profit corporations and privatization-hungry premiers trying to breach the Canada Health Act that belongs to all Canadians.
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- Feb/16/23 11:16:20 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my friend and colleague for his collaboration.
The quotes he shared were primarily from provincial organizations representing the workers in those provinces, which is important, but I think they were directing those comments to provincial governments.
We heard from Canadian organizations, like the Canadian Medical Association, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, the Canadian Nurses Association, SEIU Healthcare, The College of Family Physicians of Canada and HealthCareCAN, including Children's Healthcare Canada. This is a quote from the latter, which said, “We are incredibly pleased to see children's healthcare services identified as an urgent priority by the federal government. We look forward to learning more about earmarked investments for Canada's kids.”
I re-emphasize the need to ensure that all of those funds are delivered equitably, universally and publicly, and that our system continues to have that and to be compliant with the Canada Health Act. I appreciate everybody's collaboration through the health committee process and look forward to more questions.
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- Feb/16/23 3:42:37 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Vancouver East.
New Democrats have a vision for health care. We believe that health care should be there for people when they need it, that hospitals should be properly staffed and that workers always have the time to listen and to care for patients. We believe that nurses, doctors and frontline health care workers should be respected, and we should have enough of them so that we do not have to wait.
New Democrats and I believe that people should get surgery as soon as they need it and not just when they can afford it. We believe that no one should have to avoid going to a doctor because they cannot afford to pay for it out-of-pocket. The reality is that is not how things are in this country.
After seven years under the Prime Minister, health care is certainly struggling. Parents are worried about the state of health care. They are anxious to leave their homes with their little ones, because they are worried they will not be able to be seen in time if they get sick. People are waiting for hours in crowded emergency rooms.
They are waiting so long for surgery that they are losing their quality of life. There are horrible examples of private companies exploiting the desperation of Canadians. Canadian Surgery Solutions is draining surgeons out of hospitals and is taking advantage of people's pain by charging them $30,000 per surgery. Maple, a corporation owned by Loblaws, has poached doctors out of family practices so they can charge people up to $70 for a visit with a family doctor.
Nothing in the world is more important to us all than the health of our children and our loved ones. While people are waiting for hours in pain, the Prime Minister is letting us fend for ourselves. While health care workers are exhausted and working endless hours of overtime, while they are leaving the profession in droves, the Liberals have offered a health care accord that does not allow an increase in the number of positions.
While cash-for-care corporations, like Canadian Surgery Solutions and Maple, charge people for health care and bleed nurses and doctors out of our public system, the Liberal government turns its back and pretends not to see.
In 2021, it was a very different story. The Prime Minister campaigned against for-profit care and said that it would threaten our public health care system. He warned that voting for the Conservatives would open up the door to more for-profit care, and that would be a problem, because the bottom line would matter more than patient care. However, time and time again the Prime Minister says one thing and then does the opposite. He flip-flops. He breaks his promises.
Conservative premiers are now on a mission to privatize and monetize our Canadian health care system, and the Prime Minister is giving it the green light. He says it is a good thing to do. He flip-flopped so fast that his own party members did not get the updated talking points.
Let me quote a couple of Liberal MPs. The Liberal MP for Don Valley East said, “Doug Ford's push for private health care is so wrong. It brings USA style healthcare to Canada by putting those who can pay at the front of the line.”
The Liberal MP for Humber River—Black Creek said, “this is absolutely erosion of our health-care system as we know it. And the introduction of privatization is where we're going.... If we don't have enough nurses, and doctors today, you're going to have even less in the public system.”
In fact, the former health minister of the Liberal government, Jane Philpott, said that what is happening right now is a clear “violation to the Canada Health Act.”
What is the Prime Minister doing about this clear violation of the Canada Health Act? What is the Liberal government doing? They are doing nothing.
When the Prime Minister had a chance to stand up for health care, he stood down. It is no surprise that, true to form, the Conservatives are absolutely for this for-profit scheme. They believe in starving our health care system of the appropriate funding to bring in the for-profit vultures to exploit our health care system and to exploit the desperation of Canadians. The Conservative leader and the Conservative premiers are taking a page directly out of the same old Tory playbook: underfund public services, starve our public health care system, then claim it is broken all of a sudden and hand it over to the private sector.
We are at a watershed moment in Canadian health care. People are facing painfully long wait times in emergency rooms and to receive surgeries, and so many Canadians cannot find a family doctor, while the Prime Minister pretends this is okay. He does that, because for his friends it is okay. Meanwhile, the Conservative leader is cheering it on and saying to bring in more for-profit care, starve our public system and hurt people.
The Conservative leader rages, because he wants to tear it all down. It is his goal to tear down our health care system. He says it is broken. Tear it down and bring in even more for-profit care. The truth is that our health care system is getting worse. However, it does not have to be this way. This is the result of choices. We can choose differently.
We can invest in our health care system and fund more frontline health care workers, like nurses and doctors, and turn things around. We can rebuild a world-class public universal health care system. We have a choice. We can stop the for-profit system from cannibalizing our hospital workers and our emergency room workers, or we can allow the American-style for-profit U.S. private health care system to flourish.
We can staff up our hospitals, or we can allow corporations to staff up their companies. We believe, very clearly, that we need to invest in people so that the care we need is there for us when we need it, not when we can afford it. We can train more nurses and more doctors here in Canada. We can respect and hire workers. We can recruit them. We can add nurses to every shift so they are not run off their feet. We can pay health care workers what they deserve.
We can give licences to practise to health care workers who trained abroad, are already here and are ready to get to work.
We can invest in improving home care and long-term care so that our parents and grandparents do not spend months in hospital beds waiting for a spot.
Finally, we can invest in mental health so that people can get the care and treatment they need.
Every member of Parliament now has a choice to make. They can choose where they stand. New Democrats know where we stand: We stand with families who are worried that if they rush into the ER, they are not going to have a doctor or nurse to look after their baby right away.
We stand with everyone who needs a family doctor and the people who wait at clinics for hours and hours just to get their prescriptions filled. We stand with frontline health care workers, people who deserve better workloads, a better work-life balance and more respect.
We stand with everyone waiting for surgery. These people need more health care workers. They do not need more for-profit companies cannibalizing the workers from our hospital system. They need us to rebuild and expand public hospitals, family health teams, long-term care and home care.
What the New Democratic Party would do differently right now is work with the provinces to train and hire more nurses, doctors and primary health care providers. We would work with the provinces to recognize the credentials of nurses, doctors and other health professionals that have studied and worked in other countries. We would be a better partner in stabilizing health care, cutting wait times and making sure care is there for people when they need it.
I urge all members of the House of Commons to think of the families in their communities, vote in support of this motion and defend our universal public health care system.
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