- Member of Parliament
- Member of Parliament
- Conservative
- Cumberland—Colchester
- Nova Scotia
- Voting Attendance: 67%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $134,737.37
- Government Page
- May/22/24 7:41:38 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise and speak on behalf of democracy and common-sense Conservatives here in the House of Commons.
What we see over and over again, presented by the costly coalition, are failures: failed plans, failed opportunities and a failure for Canadians. It is very sad to see a government in the last throes of its mandate, which has been here for nine incredibly long and difficult years on the backs of Canadians. We have a failed dental care plan and a failed opioid experiment. Sadly, we have a failing health care system, which pains me to no end. Now we have a failed pharmacare pamphlet. Why do we call it a pamphlet? It is because it promises to potentially do something, when, in essence, it is doing absolutely nothing. There is nothing here. It is another photo op.
When I am back home on our break week to go and visit those who have supported us and those who perhaps have not, people ask me about this great pharmacare program, wondering when they can get their free medications. I have to explain to them that what we see is a photo opportunity to announce a program that has to go a consultative route with an expert panel. Sadly, another government agency then has to be created. Already, my colleague from Calgary Shepard rightly spoke about the numerous agencies that are created and the opportunities that have been lost. Then there also have to be consultations with the provinces to see if this is something that fits into their framework, since they deliver health care and are responsible for that delivery. We continue to see this opportunity being lost because of the crazy spending and wacko politics we see across the aisle over and over.
I spoke briefly about the failed dental care program. My colleague from the other part of the costly coalition wants to tout how many people in my riding might benefit from a dental care program. However, when we go out and speak to dentists, as I have done, we know this plan is so bad that dentists will not even sign on for it. I have spoken to every single dental association across the country.
The Liberals are doing a bit of gaslighting, which we see over and over, when they talk about how many dental professionals have signed up. There are dental hygienists, who are independent from dentists. However, we know that Canadians want access to a dentist, much like they want a primary care provider in the health care system. The government also promised 7,500 doctors, nurses and nurse practitioners. On this side of the House, we know that is not in the purview of the federal government, but be that as it may, that is something it promised over there. We all know it has not delivered. In addition, the number of people who do not have access to primary care continues to climb. I know my colleague from Winnipeg Centre will get up and say, “Now you're talking out of both sides of your mouth to say that this is not the purview of the federal government, but that of the provincial government, because I have heard him say it before.” The difficulty is that it is his government, his side of the House, in concert with the costly coalition, that promised to deliver 7,500 doctors, nurses and nurse practitioners. Therefore, when we see the system failing on the backs of the promises the Liberals continue to make, we know that they are continuing to fail Canadians.
I talked briefly in my opening remarks about the opioid experiment, which is another failure. The NDP-Liberal coalition, for some reason, made that decision; we hope it will finally walk back on that and make it law to not continue these types of experiments. Interestingly enough, on behalf of Canadians, we know that there is reasonable evidence that the opioid epidemic that exists in North America was probably started because of access to OxyContin. Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family were successfully sued in the United States for their complicit nature in this epidemic that has existed. Because of that, we now have an opioid epidemic that is often related to fentanyl. The interesting question is this: How could a government believe that decriminalizing that drug could possibly fix this crisis that was started originally because of too much OxyContin being easily accessible? Doing so has meant adding more of it, and other drugs like it, such as hydromorphone, on the street; in this case, there is often so-called safe supply for zero cost. It is another failure the government has supported.
It pains me to no end to have to talk about the failed and failing health care system. Certainly, the former president of the Canadian Medical Association, Katharine Smart, said it very concisely. She said we have a system that is now, sadly, on the brink of collapse. Why is it on the brink of collapse? As Canadians know, the entire health care system in our country is predicated on having access to primary care. This then gives us access to other services we need, other procedures, other laboratory tests and specialist care.
When we do not have that access, several things happen. Someone does not get any access at all, their health suffers because of that and they give up; otherwise, they end up trying to access the system through episodic care, which is often related to visiting emergency rooms, and we know they are incredibly clogged up. At this point in the history of our great country, approximately seven million Canadians do not have access to primary care, because of the failure of the health care system on the promises, as I have already mentioned, of this costly coalition.
What are the effects? We know these effects happen on an everyday basis in the ridings of every member of Parliament across the nation. We know that, incredibly sadly, people are dying while they are waiting for care in emergency rooms. We know that emergency rooms are clogged up for hours on end. There are many stories about people waiting 12 and 24 hours. The most atrocious story I have heard lately is the sad story of a gentleman who was a quadriplegic. He waited for innumerable hours in an emergency room, got bedsores and then chose MAID over trying to improve his health.
When we hear these drastic and unfathomable stories of the health care system, we begin to wonder why an NDP-Liberal coalition wants to spend more and more money on health care. It wants to spend $1.5 billion, on this particular occasion, on contraceptives and diabetes medication.
We see that the Liberals have failed at dental care and their opioid experiment; now they are failing at a health care plan and at pharmacare. We also understand that this is not a plan. This is like someone saying they built a mansion when they do not even own the land on which to build said mansion. It is a pamphlet, it is a photo opportunity, and it is going to be another failure, sadly, on behalf of Canadians who are already demanding their free medications. We know the plan the costly coalition created is many years down the road.
We also know, because of the Liberals' desire to ram this piece of legislation through, that there are already studies planned in the health committee. We are finishing the study on opioids, which we know is a disaster. We are looking at breast cancer screening, which would help save the lives of many young women here in Canada. It is because of the ram-down-one's-throat nature of the motion on the bill that those studies will be missed.
Do I believe that we need more time to study this in health committee? Yes, I do. I do not believe that having 10 hours of witnesses, when we have 10 to 20 witnesses who want to appear and talk about this, is going to be a significant problem.
Therefore, I move:
That the motion be amended by adding to paragraph (a) the following: “(vii) the Minister of Health and his officials be ordered to appear as witnesses for no less than three hours.”
1402 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Apr/30/24 12:30:07 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I did not talk about cutting anything in my speech.
The words that I reflected to the member opposite were those of the Prime Minister, not my Prime Minister, but his, who said that they were going to bring 7,500 doctors, nurses and nurse practitioners. They did not do any of that. They have done none of the things that I outlined in my speech.
I think that Canadians, as I said in my opening remarks, know the difference. Canadians know when one announces things and takes pictures but does nothing; Canadians are tired of that.
Canadians are ready for a change, and we know that this side of the House will be ready to provide that change.
121 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Mar/21/23 3:07:20 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, perhaps that is too little too late because we know the government promised 7,500 doctors, nurses and nurse practitioners. To date, none have been delivered. This is in spite of the fact that there are more than 50,000 doctors and nurses in Canada who are not working in their chosen profession. The Conservative blue seal program would allow internationally trained health professionals a clear pathway to licensure and a clear answer with respect to their credentials within 60 days of coming to Canada.
Why has the government constantly and consistently betrayed qualified new Canadians? When will the Prime Minister take action?
105 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Feb/16/23 3:22:46 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I find it interesting. The government has failed over the last eight years, and certainly we have heard multiple times about provincial jurisdiction.
We also heard the Liberal Prime Minister talk very clearly in the House about the 7,500 doctors, nurses and nurse practitioners he was going to hire for Canada. I heard the member mention again today the federal support for doctors. I was in that sector for a very long time. Where are the 7,500 doctors, nurses and nurse practitioners? How many have the Liberals actually hired and when is this going to happen?
100 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Feb/8/23 4:29:09 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, on this side of the aisle we know very clearly that, after eight years of the Liberal government, everything is broken, and sadly that includes the health care system. Having worked in that system for over a quarter of a century myself, it is very clear that my colleagues who continue to work there, as physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, etc., experience unbelievable levels of burnout. It is over 50%. When we start to think about those folks and how we are going to continue to deliver care, what we feel is a sense of sadness. We feel a sense of crisis.
Dr. Katharine Smart, who is the former president of the Canadian Medical Association, states that we have a system on the brink of collapse. I guess what I would say is that this agreement, which in my mind was delivered by a Prime Minister who is out of touch with the realities as a fait accompli, is with the premiers of provinces, and when we watched those premiers walk very quickly by the microphones of the reporters yesterday, it is very easy to tell that they are not happy with this deal in any way, shape or form. What we know is that the Prime Minister has a habit of not wanting to discuss things with the premiers, or with anybody else who disagrees with his opinion. It would appear that he is out of touch once again with what is happening in the health care system.
For everyone out there in Canada who is listening, we know very clearly that the Liberal government has had almost eight years to improve the health care system. This Hail Mary pass it wants to throw is to a system that is crumbling in front of everybody's eyes. This is not a simple position of a Conservative opposition. It is very easy to see, as any Canadian does when they try to access a family doctor. As we know, over five million Canadians do not have access to a family physician. Many folks in the House do not have access to a family physician, and I know that Canadians out there watching today do not have access to a family physician.
That leaves us, sadly, with Canadians clamouring to receive care in settings such as emergency rooms. After eight years of the Liberal government, and it is almost hard to say that this is happening in Canada, people are dying in emergency rooms. People have died in an emergency room in my riding, and to have these things happening in a system that I cherish, both as a physician and as a Canadian, is unconscionable. For the Liberal government to have neglected health care over the past eight years is, once again, unconscionable.
What have the Liberals done with the money Canadians pay out of their pockets? What have they done with it? They have more than doubled the debt. They have added more to the debt than any other government in the history of Canada, and then when the premiers come to them and say there is a health care crisis out there, in case we did not know, the Liberals say that the cupboard is bare.
They talk about $190-some billion, but when we really look at the mathematics of it all, it is again a bit of smoke and mirrors, because realistically what that is related to is an increase of $4.6 billion, on average, year over year. Is $4.6 billion a lot of money? I think it is a lot of money. That being said, it is nowhere near what the premiers, in their wisdom, realize they need to operate a safe, effective, efficient and modern health care system, which Canadians want to see, Canadian health care workers want to be a part of and we, as Canadians, want to be proud of. Once again, the Liberal government has let Canadians down.
We know that at the current time the wait time for referrals from one's family physician for specialist treatment is the longest it has been in 30 years. It is over six months. It is unconscionable. There are over 1.228 million people waiting for procedures in this country. The backlog is enormous.
We also know very clearly that the Prime Minister chose not to meet with the premiers. We know he is not a collaborator. Once again, it is shameful. Also we know that the government in its platform in 2021 committed $4.5 billion to the Canada mental health transfer, and absolutely none, that we know of, has been sent. We talk about a mental health crisis, and we have a government here, once again, that is out of touch with reality.
We have also spoken about medications for children. We have spoken about it in this House and at the health committee. We know there is a lack of availability of children's pain and fever medication, acetaminophen and ibuprofen, and that has not changed. The government has not given Canadians a satisfactory explanation as to why. We know that every primary children's oral antibiotic is short. We know that mothers who choose to use infant formula cannot get it in this country. Still, we have a government that is out of touch with reality.
When I look at all these things in totality, the final thing we need to really understand, as the government talks about preventive medicine, is that the government refuses to get clean water to indigenous nations in this country. It is shameful.
The budget is not giving the money required because the government spent it all. That is the reason. It spent it all in the way it chose to, even though the premiers have asked for it to be provided in a different way. This is unconscionable. This funding agreement that has been foisted upon the provinces is unacceptable in this country, and I know that Canadians will reject it.
The Prime Minister needs to take responsibility for the health care system that he has broken and allow us to fix it. Our solution for health care is to elect a Conservative government.
1034 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Apr/6/22 3:05:14 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, it is clear that the Prime Minister has not met his commitment to Canadians for 7,500 doctors, nurses and nurse practitioners. Oddly enough, at the health committee, we heard from the College of Family Physicians of Canada that we need at least 3,000 to 4,000 family doctors alone. Also, the Canadian Nurses Association states we are short about 60,000 nurses.
In this budget, will the spend-DP-Liberal Prime Minister admit he is failing Canadians from Springhill to Tidnish, to Stewiacke, all of Nova Scotia and all Canadians, and commit to sustainable and predictable health care funding?
103 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- menumenu
- notificationsnotifications
- home
- mailmail
- searchsearch
