QUESTION PERIOD — Health
Health Care Providers
December 14, 2023
My question for the government leader is a follow-up to a question that Senator Osler asked on Tuesday regarding the poor state of primary health care in Canada.
Leader, you responded to Senator Osler that your government exercises a leadership role or that of a convenor. Yet, you failed to mention a specific promise the Liberal government made in the 2021 federal election campaign. The Prime Minister promised $3.2 billion to the provinces and territories for hiring 7,500 new family doctors, nurses and nurse practitioners. It should have started in the last fiscal year.
Leader, how can you say the Trudeau government exercises a leadership role when there has been no movement on this specific promise to Canadians?
Thank you for your question. It does underline the multiple needs that our health care sector experiences, one of which you have referred to. But it is not the only one, nor is it the only one that the provinces have put on the table subsequent to that campaign promise, and nor is it the only one that is the subject of negotiations between the provinces and the federal government both in health care and beyond that.
There is an ongoing conversation between the Minister of Health and his counterparts across the country as the priorities of the provinces change, as the federal priorities also evolve and, frankly, as our fiscal capacity becomes clearer.
I do stand by my statement that the Government of Canada does play a lead role in assisting provinces and territories to meet their priorities as they see fit.
But, leader, it is looking to be a failed lead role, as Canadians who don’t have access to family doctors will ultimately seek care at a crowded hospital emergency room. On Tuesday, the wait time to see a doctor at the emergency room in Montfort hospital here in Ottawa was more than 20 hours.
When will the Trudeau government fulfill its election promise for 7,500 new doctors, nurses and nurse practitioners?
Doctors and nurses are trained and licensed in provinces and territories. We all know, in studying this very difficult and complex file, that although the money is important, getting the system working properly is even more important. No matter how much money you throw at the system, if there are not spots in the universities or the educational programs — and provincial policies have a huge impact — it is not going to work.
