44th Parl. 1st Sess.
December 13, 2022 10:00AM
- Dec/13/22 6:47:25 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the member can rest assured that there are no cover-ups, as he has repeatedly implied in this House. At a time when democracy is being challenged around the world, Canada's electoral system remains healthy and robust. Canada continues to rank among the world's healthiest democracies, something that we can all be proud of in the House and across the country.
Members of the procedure and House affairs committee, of which the member opposite is a member, heard from the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs earlier today, who confirmed that Canada's democracy is strong, but that does not mean there are no attempts being made to interfere in our elections. Working diligently to preserve the integrity of our elections is essential to maintaining the legitimacy, credibility and reliability of Canada's democratic processes, and interference in Canada's elections is absolutely never acceptable.
In anticipation of the 2019 election, at a time when we were witnessing increasing efforts by malicious foreign actors to undermine democracies around the world, the Government of Canada did not sit on its laurels. Rather, it rose to the challenge and took preventative action to safeguard our democratic institutions and processes. The result of such efforts took the form of the plan to protect Canada's democracy.
While this plan certainly contributes to the strength and health of our democratic institutions, we know we cannot afford to be complacent. We are aware that malicious foreign actors are consistently evolving their tactics over time as they adapt to emerging opportunities and new tools. That is why we continue to adapt our tools and approaches to ensure that our institutions are resilient to any potential threats of foreign interference.
As the Prime Minister and various ministers have repeated, the government put in place an independent process of experts, chaired by the Clerk of the Privy Council. That is something the previous government never thought important enough to do. Of course, this work needs to remain independent. That is obvious to most. It is incumbent upon all of us to recognize how important it is, given that we all have partisan interests, the member opposite and me included, that this work remain in the hands of independent people.
That group of experts is chaired by the Clerk of the Privy Council and includes the heads of Canada's security and intelligence agencies. They were given the important responsibility of ensuring that Canadian elections continue to be free and democratic. The good news, which I know will not excite the member opposite, is that experts confirmed that both elections were exactly that, free and democratic.
It is important to remember what we heard from witnesses at committee, including from Canada's Chief Electoral Officer and CSIS officials. They commented on the fact that attempts to influence democratic elections do not equate to causing actual influence, nor are they a new phenomenon in Canada or around the world. The work done by committees like NSICOP, CSIS and the national security experts strengthens the democratic process and Canada's elections, and the Conservatives are undermining this important work rather than offering a more productive contribution to the discussion of security throughout our electoral processes.
To be clear, Canada's elections are free and fair. The non-partisan national security experts who oversee these threats to our elections are confident in the results of these elections, and I would like to repeat the fact that it is in the hands of non-partisan experts, not in the hands of people with partisan interests, like the people who are elected to this House.
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- Dec/13/22 6:51:50 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, Canadians continue to have and should have confidence in our electoral processes.
As I mentioned before, Canada's electoral system is strong. Improving, strengthening and protecting our democratic institutions against all forms of foreign interference remains our government's top priority. We have implemented a series of measures, such as the plan to protect Canada's democracy, that strengthen our response and ensure that we are equipped with the tools and mechanisms to combat electoral interference.
Our democracy remains robust, and our electoral systems are healthy. We know that malicious actors are becoming more creative at using online platforms to manipulate options, and we will continue to invest in and adapt our strategies to effectively increase transparency, authenticity and integrity in our systems. It is important, now more than ever, because the previous Conservative government did not consider it a priority.
We will also ensure that Canadians are protected from foreign interference and that our elections remain some of the most fair and free in the world, something we can all be proud of.
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- Dec/13/22 6:56:41 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, before I start, I feel compelled to say a few words with respect to the passing of our friend and colleague Jim Carr, the member for Winnipeg South Centre.
I was one of the members who got to sit behind the member for Winnipeg South Centre during his last speech in the House of Commons, when he spoke so eloquently about his bill to ensure the Prairies have a green economy on the horizon. It was a beautiful speech and he had a lot of emotion. It was tough to see him suffer over the last couple of years, but I know that his legacy in this place and in Winnipeg is extremely strong.
I just want to send condolences to his family, his staff, his friends, his entire riding and indeed every Canadian whom he touched with his intelligence, wisdom, compassion and legislation in this place. He will be missed.
I am grateful for the opportunity I have this evening to discuss this very important issue for Canadians. I also want to thank my friend, the hon. member, for drawing our attention to this very important subject.
We know that many hospitals in the country are experiencing extremely long wait times and they are way above capacity. Health force vacancies have almost doubled in the past two years and they have continued to climb. This is especially true of Canada's nursing workforce, where the vacancy rates reached a record high of 136,800 in the first quarter of 2022. That is up 5% from the peak in the fourth quarter of 2021. Health care workers are overworked and they do not feel supported, which has many quitting and is also likely preventing a lot of new talent from choosing that as their future career.
Our government is focusing on sustainably increasing the supply of health care workers and helping to create healthier workplaces to support the retention and mental health of health care workers. That is why budget 2022 announced $115 million over five years with $30 million ongoing to expand the foreign credential recognition program and help up to 11,000 internationally trained health care professionals per year get their credentials recognized so they will be able to work in the fields in which they are educated.
While we work on recruitment and retention of health care workers, we will also be working on improving other areas of health care to alleviate the burden in hospitals. We know that family health services are the backbone of high-performing health care systems and that some across the country are doing better than others, so ensuring the best practices are known across the country is one big part of that.
Difficulties in accessing timely family health services impacts the use of hospital services. A lot of people choose to go or are forced to go to the emergency room when there should be better services in place from a primary care perspective. For instance, in 2020, 38% of Canadians reported their last emergency department visit was for a primary care treatable condition. As a priority, we are working to improve family health care so that Canadians do not end up in the emergency room when they could have an appointment with their family doctor.
While more funding is needed, we also need to spend smarter. Canada spends more of its GDP on health care than the OECD average. We can tackle inefficiencies in the system and use innovative approaches and tools to both improve health outcomes for Canadians and also improve cost-effectiveness, because Canadians demand that of us as well.
The member opposite referenced a number that has been used a couple times by other parties. I suggest he have a conversation with his colleague from Vancouver Kingsway. We work very well together on the health committee. That number, 22% of currently allocated costs from the federal government is not correct. It is more than that. The Canada Health Act indicates that the federal government should be paying for 50% of hospital and doctor costs, and that is very close to true.
Still, health care is about more than just hospitals and doctors in 2022, so our government will continue working with provinces and territories in the coming months to tackle this crisis and to build on the investments we have made, which have been vast, to improve health care for Canadians.
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- Dec/13/22 7:01:52 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I strongly disagree that we are not willing to invest incrementally into the health care system, as evidenced by the past couple of years and all of the incremental funding we have dedicated to health care and preserving our robust health care system.
The health care money we send to provinces and territories ought to be spent on health care, but in provinces like mine, Ontario, a lot of that money is going to refunds for their licence plate stickers. Some of it is being used to balance the budget and create a surplus. Ontario's government is operating at a surplus right now, saying there is an emergency in the health care system.
During times of an emergency, a serious government does not run a surplus. It invests in its population, and that is what we would like to see across the country. We would like to see priorities. We have priorities around data, around human resources and health care, and around long-term care, as my colleague referenced. We have priorities to remove the backlog in the health care system and to ensure people are getting the primary care they need. We will spend money on that, not balancing the books.
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