Dan Albas

“Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise and speak to the House on Bill S‑5, the connected care for Canadians act, and on the collaborative approach that we intend to use to implement it. I would like to remind the House that the bill’s objective is to establish a connected health care system, in other words, a system that provides fast, easy, reliable and secure access to health information for the people who need it. To ensure fast, secure access, Bill S‑5 requires health information technology vendors to adopt technical and data-related standards and establish clear rules that prevent data blocking. By prohibiting harmful data-blocking practices, this bill will pave the way for health data networking, which offers considerable benefits for patients and professionals, not to mention its social, economic and, obviously, health benefits. Data saves lives, and it also has the power to transform our health care system. However, our current health care system remains siloed, fragmenting care and putting patients at risk. As a result, 13% of Canadians say that the quality of their care has been compromised by a lack of communication between providers, and 8% report poorer health outcomes because their care team could not access the health information they needed. This situation obviously puts patients’ lives and health at risk. This becomes even more problematic when patients need to seek care in other provinces or territories. Take, for example, patients who rely on cross-border care, such as a truck driver with a chronic illness whose work takes him across provincial borders, a student at an educational institution outside their home province or even just a person who lives in either Gatineau or Ottawa and wants to receive treatment in one province or the other. Canadians can experience real harm when their health care providers do not have timely access to the information that they need. A lack of connected data exposes patients to increased risks, including misdiagnosis, medication errors, delays in treatment and unsafe procedures. Health care providers regularly express frustration at being unable to access lab reports and results when they need them. Reliable access to this type of information is essential across the country so that health care providers are fully aware of a patient’s medical situation when making urgent and often delicate clinical decisions. This bill also supports research and innovation, which, as we know, lead to new treatments and which will obviously stimulate economic growth in a sector with a very bright future. That is why interoperability is not just about technology. It is a strategic issue that will make the health care system fairer, improve access and enhance its quality and viability. As part of our efforts to improve access to health data and the sharing and use of such data, the Canadian government is working with the provinces, territories and key stakeholders to move forward and to implement pan-Canadian interoperability. Significant progress has been made to date. The federal, provincial and territorial governments are working together, and have been for quite some time now, to implement a shared road map. Progress has already been made in Nova Scotia with the One Person One Record initiative and in New Brunswick with MyHealthNB. These collaborative efforts have improved patients’ access to their health information, among other things. However, the progress that has been made at the national level has been variable and inconsistent, and voluntary approaches have their limits. That is why it is essential to pass a law to help the provinces and territories, where appropriate, to harmonize the enforcement of standards and prevent data blocking so that everyone can benefit from health data interoperability. To fully realize the benefits of interoperability, Bill S‑5 will be implemented and operationalized through regulations that will require health information technology vendors to meet a set of data sharing standards; prevent data blocking, which is the practice of preventing authorized users like patients and health care providers from accessing health data when they need it; and establish a system of administrative monetary penalties to ensure compliance. These regulations will be developed in close co-operation with provinces, territories, indigenous partners, health care system stakeholders, vendors and patients to support a practical and co-ordinated implementation approach that takes Canadians’ needs into account and supports interoperability across the country. In developing this legislation, we looked at examples from other countries with similar approaches. The lessons learned, connections made and discussions carried out with the United States and some members of the European Union focused on the importance of adopting consistent standards and prohibiting data blocking. Based on the experience of these countries, voluntary approaches alone are insufficient to achieve widespread and effective interoperability, underscoring the need for clear legislative and regulatory requirements for these technologies and these companies. The law will also serve as a safety net in provinces and territories that do not have similar legislation in place. Provinces and territories will have ample time to harmonize their own laws with the objectives of the federal framework, if necessary and if they deem it appropriate. In closing, one important lesson to be learned from the health care system as a whole in 2026 is clear: Digital systems that are disconnected from one another pose a threat to the health and safety of all Canadians. I believe that once implemented, Bill S-5 will save lives, improve the quality of care, reduce health care costs, and, more generally, make the work of health care professionals easier across the country.”