Government Operations Committee on Feb. 26th, 2024

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Thank you very much, Mrs. Kusie.

Ms. Sidhu, welcome to OGGO. You have five minutes, please.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My questions today will be about the coverage for workers living with type 1, type 2 and gestational diabetes.

Mr. Chair, I would like to ask Mr. Sazant about the continuous glucose monitoring supplies. Specifically, we know that there's a new benefit for the workers with type 1 diabetes.

Help me understand the number of workers with type 1 diabetes who are now covered with this benefit and how this benefit helps them.

[Seth Sazant]

Thank you very much for the question.

With respect to coverage for diabetes, quite a few changes were made to the plan. Some were significant improvements, and there were some caps that were insisted upon by the employer, which were not there previously.

I certainly do not have the exact number of members we have who may be suffering from type 1 diabetes, but we did negotiate a number of improvements to the coverage for diabetes. We are certainly pleased to do so, as obviously things have changed quite significantly for members with diabetes, with the different types of products out there.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Mr. Sazant, what is the average wait time for claim processing for continuous glucose monitoring devices?

How can it be improved?

[Seth Sazant]

I'm sorry. The wait time....

We get general information with respect to wait times just for the call centre in general. That wouldn't be specific to people who have type 1 diabetes or any other specific condition. It's that there's a call centre that people call into and we could provide data on that.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Diabetes testing supplies are part of daily life for Canadians living with diabetes. Could you describe to the committee the claims submission process under the Sun Life plan and now under the Canada Life plan?

[Seth Sazant]

I think, in general, submitting a claim to either company should broadly be the same. I don't think there would be significant differences between the specific claims processes, whether that's a paper claim or an electronic claim. Their processes may differ slightly, but I think that, in general, there's going to be a very similar claims process.

Perhaps I'm not fully understanding the question here.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

My question was about the blood-testing requirement and the rationale for removing it.

[Seth Sazant]

I'm not quite familiar with exactly what.... There was nothing that was negotiated with respect to that, so on something this specific, I would certainly be happy, with a better understanding, to get back to you in writing.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

My next question is about diabetes monitors with coverage, with or without insulin pumps. Could you explain to the committee the importance of this provision for workers living with diabetes?

[Seth Sazant]

I think this is a good example of some of the issues where, under the previous iteration of the health care plan, there were sometimes some outdated or strange provisions that provided different levels of coverage for someone who was diabetic who used an insulin pump versus someone who was diabetic who did not use an insulin pump. It was certainly the union's position—and this was ultimately part of the negotiated plan—to get rid of some of the artificial distinctions in coverage.

As we go forward, certainly we would expect to have continuous discussions about the ways that we can amend the health care plan going forward to ensure that there are no artificial barriers in place for our members.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

I've received emails from Canadians describing issues with information sharing between the old plan and the new plan, specifically the physician forms submitted under the old plan. What recommendation can you give to this committee to make sure that these issues are resolved quickly and that claims are processed efficiently?

[Seth Sazant]

We've heard from a number of members who provided information from their physicians to the old plan that this was not passed forward, and that is of significant concern to us. It puts burdens on members financially, as well as on the Canadian health system generally.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Thank you, Ms. Sidhu.

That is our time, colleagues.

Ms. Hart and Mr. Sazant, thanks for joining us today. You've been wonderful witnesses.

Colleagues, I'm going to suspend for a couple of moments to excuse the witnesses. We can take a very short break, and then we'll be back in perhaps five minutes.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Thanks, everyone, for your patience. We are back.

As we discussed a couple of weeks ago, we come back to Mrs. Vignola's motion. She was kind enough to agree that we could continue with the witnesses and that we could come back to it. After we tend to this, I'm hoping that we can discuss our schedule going forward with regard to the supplementaries and a few other studies.

Mrs. Vignola.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Thank you very much.

I have a motion requesting that documents be produced—as if I didn't have enough to read already. I'll read it out to refresh your memory. The interpreters have the translation, and you were also emailed the text of the motion a few moments ago. It reads:

That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(1), the committee order the government and Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) to produce, in both official languages, a copy of all contracts, communications, memoranda, calls for tenders and proposal submissions with GC Strategies in the context of the COVID Alert application, as well as all government or internal communications from any government agency or department in connection with the COVID Alert application, and that they be submitted no later than March 15, 2024, provided that these documents are free of all redactions.

COVID Alert is another app that was developed during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was supposed to tell us whether people around us had COVID-19, which involved sharing personal information. It more or less worked, and I would say “less” rather than “more”. It was pretty bad.

In December 2020, GC Strategies was awarded part of the contract that it had not been awarded at the outset. That company was added to the contract. I'd like to be able to wrap my head around how that happened. How could simple consultants infiltrate an existing contract? This time, were these people able to provide services commensurate with what they had submitted in their bid, or did they once again work on résumés and submit names to, in the end, provide resources other than those originally promised?

In addition, GC Strategies is run by Kristian Firth and Darren Anthony, who also owned Coredal Systems Consulting Inc., and I will have another motion requesting that documents be produced about that company. For now, however, I suggest that we start discussing the motion I have just put forward.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Does anyone wish to speak on that? Are we fine with the wording of this motion?

Mr. Bachrach.

[Taylor Bachrach, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

In the English translation of the motion, the last clause states that “provided that these documents are free of all redactions.” Is that the same point Mrs. Block was just making?

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

No. I was chatting with the clerk about that. That's a translation thing. I think the intent is “provide to us”—

[Taylor Bachrach, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

It should be “and that these documents shall be free of all redactions.”

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Yes, I think the French communicates that better.

[Taylor Bachrach, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Yes, that was my suggestion.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

That is the intent. Of course, it also says “PSCP”, but it's intended to be “PSPC”.

That was a good point, Mr. Bachrach.

Are we fine with this, colleagues?

Mr. Kusmierczyk.

[Irek Kusmierczyk, Liberal, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

I have an amendment I want to bring forward. I think we're in general agreement with the thrust of this motion. Again, I thank Madame Vignola for bringing it forward.

What I would ask is that at the first part of the amendment, after “copy of all contracts”, we remove “communications, memoranda, calls for tenders and proposal submissions”.

I have another amendment we can discuss after this amendment.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Your amendment is to eliminate “communications, memoranda, calls for tender and proposal submissions”.