Hon. Danièle Henkel: Good afternoon, minister. Thank you for being with us and for supporting Bill S-243. The annual report on the Canada Health Act that you tabled in February provides a useful and transparent look at the state of our health care system.

This report indicates that the federal government withheld more than $62 million in health transfers from the provinces because they were charging patients for care that should have been covered by the public system.

Despite these penalties, this type of thing continues to happen year after year. Minister, apart from financial penalties, have you thought of any other sanctions that could be imposed to stop these practices and ensure that patients aren’t charged for care that they’re entitled to?

Hon. Marjorie Michel, P.C., M.P., Minister of Health: Thank you very much for the question, senator. As I’m sure you know, these penalties did not always exist in this form, so this is a first step. At this time, I have no intention of imposing further penalties on the provinces. Instead, I want to figure out why the provinces are trying to go outside the parameters of the Canada Health Act, and I’m telling them that they need to stay within those parameters.

I say this all the time: I know there are people who believe that certain services should be privatized. For the time being, I am the guardian of a public Canada Health Act. That’s what Canadians have decided they want, and I think that’s why I’m working closely with the provinces and territories and constantly telling them, “I can give you free rein as long as you stay within the law, but as soon as you overstep, I have to push back, because I’m here to protect the health of Canadians.” This forces us to think about how we can deliver health care services differently. Health care services need to be adapted. It’s not necessarily the services themselves that are the problem, but rather how they’re delivered.

Senator Henkel: Minister, on the same subject, some provinces, such as Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, have successfully eliminated these patient charges and manage to fully recover the amounts deducted through concrete action plans. Do you intend to make this issue one of your priorities to support these success stories and replicate them across the country?

Ms. Michel: Thank you very much for the question, senator.

I must tell you that when I last met with my provincial and territorial counterparts in October — it was our last in-person meeting, because we meet virtually now for our regular meetings — we decided that the federal government would share best practices with the other provinces. That’s already started.

The provinces asked for it. They said, “We don’t want to reinvent the wheel. Could we build on the success of certain provinces?” I know that discussions are under way. I think there may even be some agreements by now between the provinces themselves.