SoVote

May/6/24 7:59:02 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I am so glad the member brought up child care, because what chaos has been delivered by the Liberal-NDP government. I would strongly encourage her to reach out. There is a call right now by child care operators and families across this country. They are in dire straits from coast to coast to coast. They cannot access child care. Women cannot go to work because they cannot access child care. Children have nowhere to go. Operators who have built their entire lives on this are losing their business. There are 77% of high-income people accessing this program. That is on the Liberals' watch. It is another failure, and it is exactly what this pharmacare bill will be.

121 words

Mr. Jean-Denis Garon (Mirabel, BQ)

May/6/24 7:59:47 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, the member for Châteauguay—Lacolle just asked my colleague who just spoke a question saying that they do not live in the same world. The member for Châteauguay—Lacolle also lives in a world where the National Assembly unanimously voted for a first resolution, then a second, and then a third. For years, we have been calling for Quebec to have the right to opt out with full financial compensation when Ottawa institutes new spending programs in the jurisdictions of the provinces and Quebec. She supposedly lives in that world, but it does not seem like it because across the way, in their alternative world, the federal government is supposed to be able to manage a hospital, which it has never been able to do properly. I have the following question for my Conservative colleague. Perhaps the Conservatives will form the government some day; it is hard to say. When that happens, will they agree with the concept and principle of a right to opt out with full financial compensation for Quebec when the federal government institutes programs in the jurisdictions of the provinces and Quebec?

194 words

Ms. Michelle Ferreri

May/6/24 8:00:51 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, again, child care is a great example. The Liberal government loves to weasel its way into provincial jurisdiction, and that is what it did with child care, too. Things were fine and everything was in its own little jurisdiction, but no, the Liberals had to meddle, disrupt it and cause chaos. Then, when it fails, they are going to blame the Conservatives. That is the way they operate.

70 words

Meddle

Mr. Peter Julian (New Westminster—Burnaby, NDP)

May/6/24 8:01:24 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I am both shocked and saddened by the member's speech. I am shocked because she mentioned the Conservative government. I lived through, as Canadians did, the shockingly bad years of the Harper regime, with the record deficits each and every year, the bad financial management, the scandals, one after another, and the fact that they gave $30 billion a year in the infamous Harper tax-saving treaties to the wealthy, $300 billion over the course of a dismal decade. There were cuts to health care funding and slashing of veterans' benefits. It was one of the worst periods in Canadian history, and it was certainly the worst government in Canadian history. I am saddened because the member has seen the benefits of dental care already in her own riding, dozens of people. There were 15,000 seniors in the first three days who got dental treatment. There were dozens in Peterborough—Kawartha. The reality is that 17,000 people would benefit from pharmacare in her riding. Why does she not listen to the 17,000 constituents who would benefit from pharmacare?

185 words

Ms. Michelle Ferreri

May/6/24 8:02:42 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, what is sad for me is a New Democratic Party that props up the Prime Minister so he can stay in power. If the member listened to anything I said and if he really cared about the most vulnerable and the disability benefit, he should know that the record-high use of food banks in history is because New Democrats are keeping the Prime Minister in power. Who is really standing up for people? That is what I would like to know.

84 words

Mr. John Barlow (Foothills, CPC)

May/6/24 8:03:20 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for holding the Liberal-NDP government to account on its promises, which in many cases are just marketing projects that are never followed up on with the actual hard work of governing. Now, my colleague mentioned a couple of times that the pharmacare bill is nothing more than window dressing and that there is nothing in this bill that actually is a pharmacare plan. This is merely a bill to maybe talk about a plan to maybe talk about a pharmacare plan maybe later down the road. The NDP is championing this legislation as such a big win for them, just to keep the Prime Minister in power. Is there anything actually in this legislation that promises Canadians any change or additional access to health care or health care products?

138 words

Ms. Michelle Ferreri

May/6/24 8:04:18 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I love that question, and the answer is no.

11 words

Mr. Mark Gerretsen (Kingston and the Islands, Lib.)

May/6/24 8:04:25 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, this is what I am worried about. This bill talks about contraceptive medication. In particular, when we talk about a woman's right to choose, what I am worried about is that the Conservative Party of Canada— Some hon. members: Oh, oh!

45 words

The Deputy Speaker

May/6/24 8:04:47 p.m.
Watch

Order. Let us just make sure we get the questions and comments, and we can continue on. The hon. member for Kingston and the Islands has the floor.

28 words

Mr. Mark Gerretsen

May/6/24 8:04:58 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition has been suggesting recently that he will use the notwithstanding clause where he sees fit. On Friday, the member for Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston specifically said, “A common-sense Conservative government would use the notwithstanding clause only on matters of criminal justice.” Well, performing an abortion back in the nineties was considered a crime. The member could very easily put my concern to rest by answering this question. Can the member categorically say that a future Conservative government would absolutely protect a woman's right to choose and not use the notwithstanding clause on a matter such as that, yes or no?

112 words

Ms. Michelle Ferreri

May/6/24 8:05:51 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, what a question coming from a man. I would love him to tell me what to do with my uterus. That is great. That member will never tell me what to do with my body. We know the Liberals are losing really bad when they bring up abortion. We will never bring this up. If the member opposite wants to talk about my reproductive rights, he had better put a woman up and stop mansplaining to me. Some hon. members: Oh, oh!

84 words

The Deputy Speaker

May/6/24 8:06:23 p.m.
Watch

Order. The hon. member for Abitibi—Témiscamingue.

10 words

Mr. Sébastien Lemire (Abitibi—Témiscamingue, BQ)

May/6/24 8:06:46 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, in her speech, my colleague quite pointedly criticized various aspects of this bill. She explained why it should not be passed. In my opinion, she left out one thing, and that was jurisdictions. It is not the federal government's place to become involved in health issues or, by extension, in drug management. Does my colleague have anything to add about the federal government's jurisdiction over pharmacare?

70 words

Ms. Michelle Ferreri

May/6/24 8:07:21 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, absolutely, we believe in provincial jurisdiction. Again, we have just seen a federal government and a Prime Minister that want more control weighted into an area that has nothing to do with the Liberal government.

37 words

Jurisdiction

Ms. Lori Idlout (Nunavut, NDP)

May/6/24 8:07:44 p.m.
Watch

Uqaqtittiji, this is such an important bill, because it would help individuals who need it most, whether it is women who may need medicines for their reproductive health or people who suffer from diabetes. These are two areas of pharmaceutical care that are desperately needed throughout Canada, in the territories and in all the provinces. Could the member better explain how this bill is not supporting those people, specifically women who may need access to abortion because of an unplanned pregnancy that they may have experienced?

86 words

Ms. Michelle Ferreri

May/6/24 8:08:41 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I want to tell the member that I was actually with a constituent of hers on the weekend. His name was Josh, an incredible young boy who was accessing the services at Toba child advocacy centre. What that young man has been through and what his family endured up north is absolutely incredible. He said to me, “I'd like to see the Conservative government win so that we can deal with drugs and drug addiction and help people who are most vulnerable”, which is what I would like to focus on. I think we can help all of the folks the member is referring to, in particular women, to be out of poverty, have access to housing and have access to all the things they need. There are truly people struggling in this country, and it is just not in the bill; that is the reality. This is a failed Prime Minister who will not deliver anything he says he will. It is time for a competent government that delivers what it says it will and restores confidence in the people, restores trust and makes life affordable again.

193 words

Mr. Francesco Sorbara (Vaughan—Woodbridge, Lib.)

May/6/24 8:09:50 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-64

Mr. Speaker, it is always a pleasure and an honour to rise in this most honourable of houses. This evening, I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Milton. Before beginning my formal remarks, I would say that, when I think of Bill C-64, an act respecting pharmacare, and the implementation of a piece of legislation that would obviously strengthen our health care system and the delivery of it, I would not be remiss to say that this is not only an excellent piece of legislation that would help Canadians, specifically those in need of contraceptives and the nearly 4 million Canadians dealing with diabetes, but also another sign of our government's strengthening of our social fabric and social system. It would build on other programs that we have implemented, including the Canada child benefit, which we know has lifted hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty and helps families every month. In my riding, nearly $80 million or $90 million a year arrives, tax-free and monthly. We know that the Canada workers benefit, which helps our working poor and those trying to make ends meet and get ahead, helps literally millions of Canadians. We introduced middle-income class tax cuts in 2015, raised the basic personal exemption amount and accelerated the pace. We know those are delivering $10 billion annually in tax relief to Canadians, as we speak. More recently, the Canadian dental care program, which thousands of dentists have signed on for, is benefiting individuals in my riding of Vaughan—Woodbridge. In fact, in the heart of my riding at Weston Road and Rutherford Road, there is a big billboard, put up by one of the dentists in the community, stating that they welcome patients who are eligible and approved for the Canadian dental care program. This program is already helping thousands of residents in the riding of Vaughan—Woodbridge and in the city of Vaughan. The work that we are doing on Bill C-64 would continue to build on that work of helping Canadians to receive the services they need, which, in this case, is to improve health care. With respect to health care, I was at the announcement with the Prime Minister and the Premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, when we announced a $3.1-billion bilateral agreement of health care funding for more nurses, more doctors and more health teams across the province of Ontario, a part of the $200 billion the federal government is committing to health care across this beautiful country. I appreciate the opportunity to speak to the important work under way through Bill C-64 with regard to the Canadian drug agency, or CDA. The CDA is one of the key features contained in Bill C-64. On December 18, 2023, the Government of Canada announced the establishment of the CDA, which is to be built from the existing Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health, in partnership with provinces and territories. The government committed $89.5 million over five years to establish the CDA, providing dedicated leadership and coordination to make Canada's drug system more sustainable and better prepared for the future. This investment would be in addition to the existing funding of $34 million per year to support CADTH's current work. The CDA would build on CADTH's existing mandate and work, expanding to include new functions such as appropriate prescribing and use, data and analytics, and system coordination. Developing the CDA recognizes the organization's reputation of excellence, performance and results. It also ensures that we would be adding value to the system by building on what is already working with the CADTH. Let me say a bit about how we got to this important milestone. Canada's pharmaceutical system evolves slowly over time, often responding to address new challenges as they developed. When medicare was first introduced in Canada in 1966, drugs used outside hospitals were primarily inexpensive medicines for common conditions. A growing number of specialized drugs are now helping to cure or manage a range of conditions, and rising rates of chronic disease have made prescription drugs a central part of our current health care system. New pharmaceutical system organizations and functions have been created to manage the access and use of prescription drugs, but this has happened in an ad hoc and fragmented manner. Canada currently has over 100 public drug plans and 100,000 private drug plans, creating a patchwork of access and coverage for Canadians. Despite improvements in recent years, high prices and the patchwork of drug coverage leave many people in Canada facing barriers to access the prescription drugs they need when they need them. Stakeholders in landmark reports have underscored the need for federal leadership in addressing these gaps. In recognition of concerns about the sustainability of the Canadian pharmaceutical system, budget 2019 provided $35 million over four years to establish the Canadian Drug Agency Transition Office, or CDATO, to provide dedicated capacity and leadership to work with provinces, territories and key partners on a vision, mandate and plan to establish the CDA. Since its establishment in 2021, the CDATO has conducted extensive engagement and analysis, holding over 400 meetings and round tables with a diverse range of stakeholders to understand the gaps and challenges in the pharmaceutical system and obtain advice on how to make improvements. Extensive engagement has taken place with provinces, territories, patients, pan-Canadian health care organizations, health care professionals, industry insurers and international partners. Based on this engagement analysis, the CDA will build on CADTH's existing mandate and functions, expanding to include new work streams that better support patients and system sustainability, namely improving the appropriate prescribing and use of medications, increasing pan-Canadian data collection, expanding access to drug and treatment information, and reducing drug system duplication and lack of coordination. Through our engagement, we learned that the appropriate prescribing and use of medications is a clear priority for many stakeholders. This is about ensuring that patients are prescribed the safest and most effective treatment for their outcomes and conditions. Each year, $419 million is spent on potentially harmful medications for seniors, and $1.4 billion is spent to treat harmful effects. However, there is no unified approach to guide and inform prescribers or patients on appropriate prescribing and use. To date, we have launched an appropriate use of advisory committee involving patients, clinicians, experts and leading organizations in the field. The committee is advising on the development of a pan-Canadian appropriate prescribing and use strategy. Later this spring, the committee will issue its final report that will inform the work of the CDA to create and implement an appropriate prescribing and use program in collaboration with partners. Stakeholders have also pointed to the need to improve pharmaceutical data and analytics to better understand the impact of drug treatments. However, there is limited ability to access, link or share drug data, which is siloed in different sources, such as hospitals, private drug plans, physicians' offices and jurisdictions. This fragmentation limits our ability to understand a drug or treatment's use pattern and effectiveness, including how it performs once it is being used by patients in the real world and how it compares to other available treatments. We are working with several organizations in the health data field, such as CADTH, the Canadian Institute for Health Information, Canada Health Infoway, Health Data Research Network Canada and the pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance, to improve access to and use pharmaceutical data. Stakeholders also consistently emphasize the importance of incorporating patient equity and lived experience in the CDA's developments and operations. They noted that patient engagement in the pharmaceutical system is limited. Incorporating patient perspectives through engagement and governance were key recommendations for an organization that is transparent, accountable and meaningfully involves those who need it most, the patients. We have also heard of significant challenges regarding system coordination. During the course of our engagements, most stakeholders highlighted at least one coordination-related issue that they face. Challenges include a lack of information sharing, confusion about roles or responsibilities or limitations to meaningful engagement. Our pharmaceutical ecosystem is managed by multiple organizations that have different purposes, priorities and areas of jurisdiction. There is one organization mandated to convene players, focus the agenda, ensure efficiency and enhance collaboration. Because of this, there are both gaps and duplication in the system. Building from CADTH is a significant step in promoting system alignment. CADTH is a highly reputable organization with strong leadership and a shared federal, provincial, territorial governance model that works. Through CDATO and CADTH's extensive partnerships and building on the work to date, we will build a CDA that is well positioned to convene key players and focus on promoting better outcomes for patients. We will develop an organization that has the capacity to adapt to the ever-changing pharmaceutical landscape. Our work to date reflects the significant input provided by stakeholders over the last three years. It also highlights a strong interest across the system to make meaningful improvements. The CDA will support pharmaceutical system modernization in Canada and lay a strong foundation for future growth, including by providing the capacity to support the commitments outlined in Bill C-64, which is now before the House. The CDA will assume a leading role in the pharmaceutical system to ensure Canadians have better health outcomes and are well informed about the medications that they need now and into the future.

1588 words

Ms. Marilyn Gladu (Sarnia—Lambton, CPC)

May/6/24 8:20:11 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, by now, Canadians are used to broken promises from the Liberals. In 2015, members will remember that they were going to make housing affordable, and now housing prices, mortgages and rents have doubled. They also promised the last election under first-past-the-post, but maybe not. However, on pharmacare, I think maybe Canadians need a history lesson because the Liberals have been promising to do pharmacare since 1992, and they have never done it. The bill before us is also not pharmacare. It is a plan to get a plan to maybe do pharmacare. It is not going to be national. Quebec has already said that it is not going to participate. Could the member just admit that this is an attempt to pacify the NDP to make sure that it does not pull its support and trigger an election?

143 words

Mr. Francesco Sorbara

May/6/24 8:21:01 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-64

Mr. Speaker, since 2015, when I was first elected to this most honourable House, my focus has been on helping and ensuring the success of the residents of my riding of Vaughan—Woodbridge and of all Canadians, and that is what we continue to do. We continue to implement policies that strengthen our social system, including what is contained in Bill C-64, specifically for folks with diabetes and individuals in need of contraceptives. Obviously, the rare disease strategy is something near and dear to my heart as I have a nephew who suffers from a rare genetic disease. I understand the issues that my brother and sister-in-law go through in taking care of my nephew. The issue of expanding pharmacare, expanding our national system and strengthening our social safety net is very near and dear to my heart.

142 words

Mr. Taylor Bachrach (Skeena—Bulkley Valley, NDP)

May/6/24 8:21:59 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, we heard several times this evening from Conservatives talking about child care. If we look at how that legislation came about, which is something the NDP pushed for for years, it was eventually written into legislation and passed in a very similar format to pharmacare, and it required the participation of provinces. We heard all sorts of opposition from the Conservatives, but what we saw is that provinces, one by one, came on board. Now, we see the same thing with pharmacare. I am just wondering if the member can project on whether we are going to see, over the coming months and the coming year, as agreements are signed with British Columbia and Manitoba, that other provinces are going to have a hard time explaining to their people why they do not get free contraception and free diabetes medication, and slowly they are all going to sign on to a national universal pharmacare plan. Is that how it is going to roll out?

166 words

SoVote

House Hansard - 309