(Continued)
Hon. James McCrae (Government House Leader): I would seek the leave of the House to allow us to move to Bill 31 for a few moments, no more than three minutes, so that the honourable Minister of Health (Mr. Praznik) might introduce Bill 31 for second reading.
Madam Speaker: Is there leave of the House to permit the honourable Minister of Health to give second reading to Bill 31? [agreed]
Hon. Darren Praznik (Minister of Health): Madam Speaker, I would move, seconded by the honourable Minister of Environment (Mr. McCrae), that Bill 31, The Regulated Health Professions Statutes Amendment Act; Loi modifiant diverses lois sur les professions de la santé réglementées, be now read a second time and be referred to a committee of this House.
Motion presented.
Mr. Praznik: Madam Speaker, the need for amendments to health professions legislation concerning confidentiality of information provisions was identified during the development of The Personal Health Information Act. Self-regulatory bodies are not included as trustees under the PHIA. However, in the course of carrying out their responsibilities as self-regulating bodies where they do come into the possession of information which may relate to the practitioner or to the individuals to whom a practitioner has provided a service, there is a need to safeguard that information. Currently eight of the acts have no confidentiality provisions, while others have a provision, but there is no consistency from act to act.
Bill 31 will amend 16 acts governing the regulation of health professionals to include a confidentiality provision with respect to information that may be obtained by a regulatory authority in the course of an audit or investigation. The provision will essentially be the same for each self-regulating body. In addition, the offence provisions for contravening these confidentiality requirements will be the same. The maximum fine for a breach of this provision is proposed to be set at $50,000, which is the same maximum as in The Personal Health Information Act.
These provisions are essentially the same as those contained in Bill 20, The Medical Amendment Act, and Bill 30, The Pharmaceutical Amendment Act, which I very recently introduced into this House. The bill, it is proposed, will provide for the repeal and replacement of existing confidentiality provisions, and in cases where there is no existing provision, it will add such a provision. This proposed legislation will ensure that information which comes into the possession of self-regulating bodies is protected, while at the same time allowing the body to disclose information in appropriate but limited and defined circumstances.
I look forward to comments of members opposite on this particular piece of legislation.
Mr. Daryl Reid (Transcona): I move, seconded by the member for Broadway (Mr. Santos), that debate be adjourned.
Motion agreed to.
* (1440)