44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 15, 2022 10:00AM
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his excellent question.
I completely agree. Health is a provincial jurisdiction. However, I think there is not enough funding for the provinces to provide excellent care.
What is more, while some provinces have very good practices, I would like everyone to be able to benefit from those best practices and for funding to be accessible to put those practices in place. I think that the federal government has a role to play in that.
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Mr. Speaker, today, I have heard a number of Liberals talk about standards for long-term care. If they want to create care standards, they are going to have to put their money where their mouth is at some point.
I am not sure if my colleague realizes that the federal government covers just 22% of health care costs. The government wants to set standards, but it never increases funding. On top of all that, health care is not a federal jurisdiction.
Do the Liberals not agree that the best way to help seniors is to increase health transfers to 35%?
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Mr. Speaker, there are so many parts to that question that I would like to answer.
However, the member talked about taxing the wealthy more. I believe that through this pandemic, we did see a recovery take shape. We did see the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. That is absolutely what we have seen today, but I think that right now what we need to do is give greater opportunities.
We also need to look at our health care system and recognize that what we thought was a great system failed us, so what can we do to ensure that we have a universal health care system that works for all Canadians from coast to coast to coast?
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- Feb/15/22 2:36:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is the government that is being irresponsible. I will repeat my question, and I invite the leader to listen.
Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Alberta and Quebec no longer want health measures. What is the government waiting for? It must commit to not forcing the provinces to impose health measures.
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- Feb/15/22 4:30:42 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I agree very much with my hon. colleague about the importance of the Canada Health Act and federal spending. I also worked for a union for 16 years, so I appreciate her contributions to working people.
However, I must take issue with the member's inaccurate statement that health care is provincial. I am going to read from the Library of Parliament paper on the jurisdiction. It states that “...the Constitution Act, 1867 does not expressly include “health” as a legislative power assigned either to Parliament...or to the provincial legislatures....” The Supreme Court of Canada has not interpreted section 92 as giving provincial legislatures exclusive jurisdiction over health care.
The Supreme Court of Canada, in Schneider v. The Queen, stated:
...“health” is not a matter which is subject to specific constitutional assignment but instead is an amorphous topic which can be addressed by valid federal or provincial legislation, depending in the circumstances of each case on the nature or scope of the health problem in question.
The Schneider decision also says that the national concern doctrine is a basis for a federal health jurisdiction, saying:
...federal legislation in relation to "health" can be supported where the dimension of the problem is national rather than local in nature....
Therefore, when my hon. colleague says that it is not the federal government's business to be in health care, she is constitutionally wrong. Is the member aware that the phrase “health care” does not occur in the Constitution and that the Supreme Court of Canada has said that health care is federal—
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Mr. Speaker, a very common theme throughout my hon. colleague's speech was concern for seniors, particularly low-income seniors and seniors living in poverty. It is now widely regarded in Canadian society that one of the best ways to deal with poverty is with strong, universal programs, including our public health care system, which means everybody gets access to quality health care regardless of the size of their wallet.
I was quite disturbed to hear the hon. member, on February 7 in the emergency debate on COVID-19, endorse the concept of “opportunities for private delivery” in health care in this country. Does he not agree with me that the last thing anybody in this country needs, including poor seniors, is private health care, which would make health care dependent on the size of their wallet?
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Mr. Speaker, in the hon. member's speech, she mentioned some of the mental health implications of the pandemic on seniors in particular.
I wonder if she could share with the chamber, what should the government be doing differently, and what could the government have done differently, to minimize some of the mental health impact of the pandemic on seniors?
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Madam Speaker, I thank my Bloc Québécois colleague from Beauport—Limoilou for her very kind and generous comments.
I do think the government needs to fix the mistake it made when it created two classes of seniors. I think the best way to address inequality is to create a system that will eliminate poverty. That is the point of the guaranteed income supplement.
There are other things we must do to protect seniors' health, such as fix problems with long-term health care, which should not be in the hands of for-profit enterprise.
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