As Minister of Health, it gives me great pleasure to join countries around the world in celebrating and thanking the hundreds of thousands of Canadians who volunteer through the simple, yet generous, act of giving blood. This year's theme, 'Blood connects us all' reminds us that no matter where we live, we all have it within us to save a life, and to help others live longer, more productive lives.
During this year's Canadian Men's Health Week, I encourage men to do one small thing to improve their health. The week features challenges from prominent Canadians, including our Prime Minister (link to his challenge), athletes, Olympians, and celebrities.
Today, I met with an inspiring group of young people from the Assembly of First Nations National Youth Council to discuss their views on the many pressing challenges they and their peers are facing.
The Honourable Jane Philpott, Minister of Health, will be providing opening remarks at HealthCareCAN and the Canadian College of Health Leaders' National Health Leadership Conference.
On June 5th, 2016, I encourage you to take time to honour the courageous Canadians in your life who are living with, or have previously battled, cancer. National Cancer Survivors Day is an opportunity for families, communities and cancer survivors to join together and celebrate life after a cancer diagnosis. It is also a time to remember those who lost their fight against cancer.
The Government of Canada announced today it has published final amendments that add the synthetic opioid W-18 to Schedule I to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA), and to the Restricted Drugs section of the Food and Drug Regulations, rendering unauthorized activities such as production, possession, importation or exportation and trafficking illegal.
Effective June 1, 2016, Health Canada will no longer grant new conditional registrations for pesticides. This is an important step to improve the openness and transparency of Canada's pesticide regulatory system, by providing the public with an opportunity to be consulted on all major pesticide registration decisions.
Tobacco-related illnesses will claim the lives of 37,000 Canadians this year, and preventing children and youth from starting to smoke is an opportunity to improve the life of Canadian families, and reduce healthcare costs.
To mark World No Tobacco Day, the Honourable Jane Philpott, Minister of Health, will make an announcement regarding plain packaging for tobacco products.
