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House Hansard - 309

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 6, 2024 11:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 309 - May/6/24
Mr. Brad Vis
  • May/6/24 9:15:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I take that comment, and I take the comment from the member for Winnipeg Centre. I will say “to save their epidermis”. There we go. The bill could have negative consequences for the 27 million Canadians who rely on private insurance. The non-profit insurance sector has serious concerns about its future should Canada pursue a single-payer pharmacare system. Providers like Blue Cross could be wiped out entirely. As usual, the government tabled the bill without consulting a single stakeholder in the private and not-for-profit insurance industry. Killing private and not-for-profit insurance would be devastating for millions of Canadians. Across the country, private coverage is, on average, 51% more extensive than provincial public counterparts. When a new drug is approved by Health Canada, it takes an average of 226 days for private insurers, including Blue Cross, to approve its coverage. Public plans take an average of 732 days after Health Canada approval to add the drug to the list of covered treatments. Canadians with serious health conditions that require drugs and treatments that are only just going through the approval process in Canada cannot afford to wait another two-plus years after Health Canada approves them. Today, more than six million Canadians are without a family doctor. A half-baked public pharmacare system would do nothing to change that and to address their needs. Rather than spending another $1.5 billion setting up a system that would not cover the vast majority of medications, the government should be focusing on ways to support provinces in the recruitment of new doctors and nurses. That is why Conservatives have proposed a national blue seal program. This program would ensure that when a foreign-trained doctor or nurse arrives in Canada, they could quickly apply to have their credentials recognized and would be given an answer within 60 days as to whether they could practice in Canada. Once approved, they would be able to work in any province that signs on to the federal plan. Right now, a doctor licensed in Ontario cannot practice in Nova Scotia. A nurse licensed in B.C. cannot practice in Manitoba. It is time to change this anachronistic system. In closing, the program would not be a universal pharmacare program, and it would not do anything to help the 1.1 million Canadians without access to pharmacare coverage nor the 6.5 million Canadians who cannot even see a doctor. It would be yet another expensive bloating of the federal government, adding more gatekeepers and more debt for Canadians to pay for while delivering next to nothing. I would add that, in a riding like mine with a large indigenous population, it would not be accessible to indigenous Canadians or rural areas either, because the amount of money is simply not enough to do even what the government says it is going to do. After nine years, the only drugs the government has been able to deliver are hard drugs, like fentanyl, heroin and meth, which are flooding our streets and killing thousands every year. Conservatives will bring home the doctors and nurses our health care system so desperately needs. We will axe the tax. We are going to build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime to lower the cost of living for all Canadians. That is what they want us focused on. I encourage all members to support the amended motion put forward by the member for Cumberland—Colchester, dispose of the bill before us and start working to actually address the serious problems in health care across Canada.
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