Supporting Families Speech - the Honourable Leona Aglukkaq Minister of Health

Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Ottawa, Ontario

Introduction

Good morning.

Thank you all for joining me today.

During the five years I've had the honour to serve as federal Health Minister, I've had the opportunity to travel from coast to coast to coast and meet with Canadians.

Today, before joining you here, I had the chance to hear from a group of parents and grandparents, and discuss issues that are important to them.

As a mom, I was particularly struck by the senseless acts of violence that unfolded in Boston yesterday.

My heart aches for and my prayers go out to all the families directly affected by this tragic event.

Families are what I want to talk about today.

No matter who I talk to, or where I am, there's a common thread that runs through virtually every discussion: people are concerned about their health, and the health of those they care about.

As a mother I completely understand how important health is to Canadians.

In his recent speech, the Prime Minister outlined the priorities that guide our government:  supporting Canadian families, the safety of our streets and communities, our pride in being a Canadian citizen, and the personal financial security of Canadians.

While health ties into all of these, the most direct link is supporting Canadian families.

Families are the foundation upon which our communities are built. Creating a healthy society begins with healthy and safe families.

Today I want to give you a sneak preview of actions our government will be starting to undertake in the coming months to help support families with their health and safety.

This includes concrete action in the areas of food safety, drug safety and consumer safety.

You'll be the first people to hear what's coming up, so for those of you who are on social media, you may want to tweet along as we go, so you can keep your followers informed!

Before we look ahead, I just want to highlight a few of the most significant steps our government has taken in recent years to help support Canadian families.

Looking Back: Product Safety

The most fundamental action we've taken in protecting the health and safety of Canadians was in creating the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act.  When I was elected in 2008, I, like most Canadians, believed that the federal government had the authority to remove dangerous products from store shelves.

The reality, however, was that we did not.

This key piece of legislation fixed that issue, and updated consumer protection laws that were decades old.

Under our Government, Canada became the first country to ban BPA from baby bottles, and reduced exposure to lead in children's toys.

Very recently we announced that, given the increased risk of skin cancer from UV radiation, Health Canada is proposing that all tanning equipment be labelled with warnings that state, "Not recommended for use by those under 18 years of age" and "Tanning Equipment Can Cause Cancer".

We're always improving consumer product safety, to help support parents of infants, children and youth.

Looking Back: Drug Safety

We've supported families by making changes to Canada's drug system.

Canada already has one of the strongest drug safety systems in the world, but we strengthened it by improving safety standards, investing in post-market scientific research, and commissioning strong new standards for hospitals to have in place for reporting adverse reactions. This helps Health Canada look for issues that could be related to prescription drugs.

I'm especially proud of changes we are making to policies that allow families who are living with rare diseases get easier access to treatments and what are called "orphan drugs".

These families often face unique and difficult challenges, and we are working to remove hurdles that they may face in accessing the help they need.

Listening to the concerns of Canadians who want access to Natural Health Products, we've introduced a new, streamlined approach that has provided Canadians with access to safe treatments and respects freedom of choice.

In the first six weeks of 2013 more natural health products were approved than during the first two years the regulations were in place under the previous government.  Canadians now have access to more than 60,000 authorized products, and that number continues to grow.

While we're making orphan drugs and Natural Health Products easier to access, we took swift action to crack down on the street drug called "bath salts."

New "designer drugs" will continue to appear and it's important to know that our government will work to fight against them, because we know this is the kind of support families want and need.

Looking Back: Food Safety

When it comes to food safety, we are supporting families by making common sense changes that will have a big impact on helping keep Canadians safe.

When Canada created rules about food additives 50 years ago, it was a time when anything added to a food was assumed to be bad, so it was difficult to get permission to add it.

In today's world, we have food additives that help combat listeriosis, for example, which is a good thing.  Government red tape meant that, even after Health Canada scientists determined something was safe, it could take up to three years before it could be used to help keep people healthy.

Now, once Health Canada determines an ingredient is safe, companies can very quickly add them, and help bolster food safety.

We also introduced updated labeling standards, which companies now use to help identify products that may contain allergens and gluten sources that may not have been identified before.

For families who deal with allergies, this helps make grocery shopping even more straightforward, saving time and giving them peace of mind.

You'll notice a theme in all of these actions.  I believe the role of government is to support families first and foremost by providing the right information to people so they can make informed decisions about their health.

But I also believe government should play a role by taking action that Canadians cannot reasonably be expected to do themselves.

Put simply, while Canadians have access to the Canadian Food Guide and nutrition labels that allow them to make informed choices about what they eat, they cannot reasonably be expected to test their children's toys for lead, or establish a network to share information about orphan drugs.

You'll see these guiding principles shine through in the preview of what's coming up in the months ahead, which I'll share with you now.

Looking Forward: Consumer Safety

I'll start with actions we'll take to support families related to product safety.

Canadians expect that products they find on store shelves will be safe.

Our government is always on the lookout for emerging threats to health, and it's clear that some products containing small, powerful magnets pose a danger to children.

These magnets are found in some novelty products and even some children's toys. If more than one magnet is swallowed in a short period of time, the results can be very serious……even fatal.

Today, I am proud to announce that we will soon be taking steps to remove products from the marketplace that contain small, powerful magnets that put the safety of children at risk.

Also, for those who are parents, you know the importance of a good playpen.  It's a secure place for your child to play while you make dinner or tackle your never-ending list of chores.

Our government wants to make sure playpens remain safe, so I am also pleased to announce that we will soon be proposing to strengthen the rules for playpens.

This will result in the application of even higher standards to their construction and safety features.

These are two examples of ways we are keeping unsafe products off the shelf. We expect to be moving forward with these measures very soon.

Looking Forward: Food Safety

On food safety, we want to support families by continuing to strengthen our world class system.

I'm proud to report that we are expanding our food-borne illness surveillance program, known as C-EnterNet (pronounced "Centre-net"), with a third surveillance site.  (Currently we have two.)

These research centres are one way we're able to track food-borne illnesses and their sources, use that data to communicate important information to Canadians, and to help prevent diseases from occurring.

Looking Forward: Drug Safety

Finally, we will support families by taking more action on drug safety.

Prescription drug misuse is estimated to cause approximately 1 in 10 visits to hospital emergency rooms.  This carries a huge cost on our healthcare system, but even more importantly, is a major threat to the health and safety of Canadian families.

A few weeks ago, I joined the Canadian Centre for Substance Abuse for the release of their national strategy to deal with prescription drug misuse.

The strategy contained recommendations for health care professionals, individuals, and all levels of government related to healthcare.

While we will continue to examine the report and determine what other actions are necessary from a federal government perspective, I can tell you today that Health Canada is working to protect Canadians through a number of initiatives that will improve drug safety.

We are working on improving drug naming practices.

This will help reduce the number of products that are confused because their names look or sound alike.

This will also help us understand what we're taking, and prevent dangerous mix-ups of drugs.

There is important work underway to improve Health Canada's ability to monitor the safety of drugs while they are on the market so that we are able to take appropriate action to protect Canadian families.

We are also developing policies to implement plain language drug labels so that Canadians have an easier time understanding what they are taking, and the risks associated with each drug they are prescribed.

Conclusion

Today, I've outlined many new initiatives that directly impact Canadian families - on consumer, food and drug safety.

You and your family can stay up-to-date on all these actions by visiting healthycanadians.gc.ca and registering to receive updates.

What I heard earlier today during the roundtable discussion is that Canadians don't want government to raise their families, but they do want them to be a partner and support them in their efforts to stay healthy.

As a government, we want to do just that.

Many of you here today share this commitment to improving the health and safety of Canadians, and by working with people like you, we will continue to support Canadian families.

Thank you.