SoVote

Hon. Mark Holland

Member of Parliament
Minister of Health
Liberal

Ajax
Ontario
Voting Attendance: 64%
Expenses Last Quarter: $134,982.00

Government Page

Context: House Hansard - 320 - May/29/24

May/29/24 9:11:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is one of the most heart-wrenching things in the world. I can go back to my time at the Heart and Stroke when I headed its Ontario mission. I was the national director of children and youth, and I would see folks who had heart attacks and strokes because they did not have access to their diabetes medication and were not following a proper regime. As I mentioned, it can lead to all kinds of other terrible outcomes. Adherence to these medicines is essential for their health. It is also essential as a matter of cost reduction. It is extraordinarily expensive to allow somebody to get into a catastrophic state. We need to get out of the business of crisis management in health care. We need to be up the stream preventing these things. The Public Health Agency of Canada has done extraordinary work, but we need to do a lot more work on prevention. The future in this country is avoiding illness before it ever happens and making sure that people live long, healthy and full lives by avoiding illness and disease and keeping our hospitals empty because the services are simply not needed.

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Context: House Hansard - 320 - May/29/24

Hon. Mark Holland

May/29/24 8:55:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, responding to health needs in rural and remote communities is exceptionally challenging. I was just in Nunavut, where we were able to announce, with federal support, a new MRI machine that means that so many folks in Nunavut are not going to have to go south for that care. We still have a ton of work to do. There is a lot of opportunity and potential in remote medicine, and we have to make sure we use the existing potential workforce there for health issues.

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Context: House Hansard - 313 - May/10/24

Hon. Mark Holland

May/10/24 10:33:58 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, it was a tough conversation. Virtually every day we were talking about different elements of it. The member for Vancouver Kingsway was very clear that his heart and his intention were on fixing the very issues he is talking about. I know that he carries heavy in his heart, as I carry heavy in mine, the types of circumstances that he is talking about, where families desperately need these medicines in order to keep their kids safe and healthy. I remember Sarah from a clinic in Ottawa, and I talk about this often just because of how much it rattled me. She said that people are reusing syringes, increasing the danger of blood-borne disease, and that there are people who wind up having a limb amputated or going blind unnecessarily because they did not have the medication they needed. We cannot afford to delay; we have to get this done. There is too much need and there are too many people who are suffering. Again, I get that the Conservative Party is against the plan. Conservatives made that very clear. They do not want it. They do not believe that this is an area in which we should be taking action. However, the collective will of the House is that we do serve and help these people. I would say that blocking the bill under the pretense of wanting more debate is nonsense. The Conservatives are against it and are never going to be for it. There is no amount of debate that will ever get them to a different position. Their sole purpose is obstruction, which would block these essential medicines from getting to the people who need them.

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Context: House Hansard - 230 - Oct/5/23

Hon. Mark Holland (Minister of Health, Lib.)

Oct/5/23 2:36:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, together we have made huge progress in reducing drug costs for Canadians. By working together on bulk purchasing, $3.5 billion less is now spent by Canadians by reducing those costs. We need to and must do much more. That is why we are continuing to work, not only with the party opposite, the New Democrats, but also with all parties, with a strategy on rare diseases and with the introduction of legislation on pharmacare. Together, we can make sure that Canadians are not faced with the impossible choice of essentials or the medicine they need.

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