Canada’s delays in shipping Ebola vaccine to West Africa and Minister’s failure to act on Drug Safety
Canada’s delays in shipping Ebola vaccine to West Africa and Minister’s failure to act on Drug Safety
Ms. Libby Davies (Vancouver East, NDP): Mr. Speaker, the parliamentary secretary has just confirmed again that this urgently needed vaccine is still sitting in a Winnipeg lab despite the promises that were made weeks ago to get a vaccine to West Africa. In the meantime, the number of Ebola cases is doubling almost every three weeks.
Rather than passing the buck and trying to blame someone else, we want to know, and could the minister tell us, what steps is she taking now to deliver on Canada’s promise for this vaccine?
Ms. Eve Adams (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health, CPC): Mr. Speaker, everybody understands that the vaccines need to get to the people most affected, but there are logistical issues. In fact, the World Health Organization in discussions with our Chief Medical Officer ascertains that consent needs to be provided. Obtaining this consent is an issue. Ensuring that the vaccines are refrigerated is an issue.
What I can assure the House is that we have donated 800 to 1,000 doses of this vaccine. It is being made available. As soon as the World Health Organization can make use of it, we will ship it.
Ms. Libby Davies (Vancouver East, NDP): Mr. Speaker, I can say that Canadians expect their government to be proactive, not sitting around waiting. Let us look at drug safety. While the U.S. takes drug safety seriously, this minister has been improvising. Five months ago the U.S. banned imports from Apotex. Health Canada politely asked Apotex to stop and did nothing when it refused. This week Conservatives finally imposed a ban, but then they got the product list wrong.
Could the minister confirm that she was told about the problems with Apotex in April and did nothing, or is she suggesting that she is not responsible for her own department?
Ms. Eve Adams (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health, CPC): Mr. Speaker, we will not tolerate drug safety risks. As soon as Health Canada was made aware of the issues at the plants in India, it acted immediately. A quarantine was put in place. All of the medications were reviewed and now there is an import ban against these medications.
Vanessa’s Law would allow Health Canada to enact tough new fines on companies that put any Canadian lives at risk. It will also allow Health Canada to not have to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies, but to simply ban them.
Canada's delays in shipping Ebola vaccine to West Africa and Minister's failure to act on Drug Safety
Qestion Period: Canada’s Reliance on USA for Drug Safety and $36 Billion in Health Cuts by Conservatives
Qestion Period: Canada’s Reliance on USA for Drug Safety and $36 Billion in Health Cuts by Conservatives
Ms. Libby Davies (Vancouver East, NDP): Mr. Speaker, the federal government should not be balancing the books on the backs of provinces. The Parliamentary Budget Officer’s report clearly shows the government’s fiscal sustainability has come at cost. Cuts to services and downloading the fiscal burden to provinces are what is going on.
If the federal government had not cut health care transfers by $36 billion, the fiscal gap faced by the provinces and municipalities would be essentially eliminated. How does cutting federal funding improve health care for Canadians?
Hon. Kevin Sorenson (Minister of State (Finance), CPC): Mr. Speaker, again, Canadians know that they are better off with this Conservative government. No government in Canadian history has provided, again, more funding to the provinces for health care, and it continues to grow.
We are committed to a publicly funded, universally accessible health care system. We all use the health care system. We want to see a strong, sustainable health care system that is there for Canadians when they need it.
Ms. Libby Davies (Vancouver East, NDP): Mr. Speaker, maybe the minister should read the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s report and find out that they are not downloading to the provinces.
I am glad to see that the government has finally listened to the NDP on drug safety and taken action to ban imports from two Apotex factories. The ban comes after Health Canada received information from the Food and Drug Administration in the U.S.
However, the Auditor General warned three years ago that Health Canada is slow to react, so why does Health Canada have to rely on information from the U.S. before it takes action to protect the health and safety of Canadians?
Ms. Eve Adams (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health, CPC): Mr. Speaker, our government will not tolerate drug safety risks. As soon as Health Canada was made aware of this information, it acted immediately to quarantine the medication. I can tell members that additional safety testing took place, and all medication from all three plants will not be entering Canada. It has been fully quarantined.
Additionally, Vanessa’s law is just making its way through the Senate right now. This is a piece of legislation that the opposition completely dragged its feet on all of last summer, forcing us into late night sittings. That piece of legislation would allow Health Canada to enact hefty fines against pharmaceutical companies.