Question Period Notes
About this information
In accordance with the Access to Information Act, the government proactively publishes the package of question period notes that were prepared by a government institution for the minister and that were in use on the last sitting day in June and December.
The question period notes may be partially or fully redacted in accordance with the legislation; for example, if the notes contain information related to national security or personal information. (Learn more about exemptions and exclusions.)
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• Since its coming into force on October 17, 2018, the Cannabis Act has created a strict legal framework for controlling the production, distribution, sale and possession of cannabis across Canada.
• The legislation is designed to keep cannabis out of the hands of youth and profits out of the pockets of organized crime by fostering a robust legal and regulated industry.
• Access to children’s health services across the continuum of care remains an issue in Canada, including lengthy backlogs for essential services such as surgical, diagnostic, mental health, and children’s rehabilitation.
• The Standing Committee on Health released a report on May 6, 2024, entitled Fostering Healthy Childhoods: A Foundation for Resilient Generations. Among other recommendations, the report calls for a national pediatric health care workforce strategy, the establishment of a national child and youth commissioner, and a national pediatric health data strategy.
• The Government of Canada is working to build resiliency to the impacts of climate change on health and the health system.
• Diabetes is a serious chronic disease, and one of the most common chronic diseases affecting people in Canada. Diabetes poses many challenges for those living with the disease, their families, and communities, and has various implications for health systems. It is a major cause of blindness, kidney failure, heart attack, stroke and lower limb amputation.
• Health product shortages pose a risk to the health of Canadians. Recent shortages of over-the-counter analgesics, antibiotics, and prescription diabetes drugs are a concrete illustration of the impact shortages can have on healthcare, people in Canada and their loved ones.
• Health Canada is working on medium- and longer-term policy options to improve access to health products in Canada. To develop these options, the department has consulted with provinces and territories, supply chain players, patient groups, Indigenous groups, and the healthcare community. A public online consultation was also held in the summer of 2023.
• A report of what we heard during the consultations has been published. Health Canada is using the feedback from the consultations to design tools and approaches that will be adopted by the Government of Canada to enhance health product supply chain resilience.
• Rare diseases are often chronic, can be seriously debilitating and potentially life-threatening. With few or no treatment options, available treatments can be high-cost, which poses significant challenges to patients, caregivers, and the health care system, including the sustainability of public and private drug plans that pay for these drugs.
• The SARS-CoV-2 virus will continue to circulate and evolve worldwide for the foreseeable future. PHAC continues to work in collaboration with the WHO, international partners, provinces and territories, and health care organizations to transition critical emergency response activities to longer-term, sustainable COVID-19 prevention, control, and management.
• Persistent and important gaps in data collection, sharing, and use negatively impact personal, health professional, and system-wide health decision making in Canada.
• These gaps impair public health responses, reduce health outcomes for Canadians, and contribute to health inequities.
• Canadians should be able to securely access their own health information and benefit from it being shared between health workers and across health settings – allowing for better care while respecting their privacy.
• Budget 2024 proposed a suite of measures to modernize the federal research support system, including investments in core research, scholarships and fellowships.
• The Federal Government’s position on amending the Criminal Code to permit advance requests for MAID.
• The temporary exclusion of MAID eligibility for persons whose sole underlying medical condition is a mental illness has been extended by three years, to March 17, 2027.