LIBERAL
GOVERNMENT RESPONDS TO PETITIONS
SUPPORTING BREITKREUZ’S “WOMEN’S RIGHT TO KNOW ACT” After introducing hundreds of pages of petitions with thousands of signatures supporting Garry Breitkreuz’s Private Member’s Motion M-70 calling on the government to introduce a bill entitled the “Women’s Right to Know Act” guaranteeing that all women considering having an abortion would be given complete information by their physician about all the risks of the procedure before being referred for an abortion, the Liberal government responded on June 23, 2005. RESPONSE
TO PETITION RESPONSE
BY THE MINISTER OF HEALTH SUBJECT: Women’s Rights The mandate of Health Canada is set out in the Department of Health Act: “The powers, duties and functions of the Minister extend to and include all matters over which Parliament has jurisdiction relating to the promotion and preservation of the health of the people of Canada not by law assigned to any other department, board or agency of the Government of Canada.” Section 12 states “Nothing in this Act or the regulations authorizes the Minister or any officer or employee of the Department to exercise any jurisdiction or control over any health authority operating under the laws of any province.” Delivery of health services is a provincial responsibility. The Canadian Constitution assigns provincial control over hospitals and psychiatric institutions which by implication includes the regulation of personnel and functions associated with these institutions, as set out in section 92(7) of the Constitution Act, 1867. The Constitution Act, 1867 also provides that the provinces regulate labour relations and the professions involved in the health care field under “Property and Civil Rights” found in section 92(13). Section 93 allows the provinces to regulate the education and training of all health care personnel. Furthermore, it allows the provinces to establish self-regulation professions and registration procedures in the field. Physicians are legally required to be licensed with the appropriate authority. Consequently, regulation of the medical profession is a provincial responsibility. While
the Canada Health Act establishes the criteria and conditions that provinces
and territories must meet in order to receive federal transfer payments,
including the requirement to cover medically necessary hospital and physician
services, it does not provide Health Canada with the authority to say
when a physician should be penalized. Under the Canada Health Act, medically
necessary hospital and physician services must be covered by provincial
and territorial insurance plans. Abortion is recognized as a medically
necessary, insured service in all provinces and territories. Provincial
and territorial governments decide if procedures are medically necessary
or not, in consultation with health professionals. The position of the
Government of Canada is that medically necessary, insured services should
be covered, without financial barriers, whether they are provided in a
hospital or in a facility providing hospital care. In every jurisdiction,
the final decision as to whether an abortion is medically necessary for
a particular patient is generally made by the attending physician in consultation
with the patient. |