Bill C-444

1st Session, 39th Parliament,

55-56 Elizabeth II, 2006-2007

house of commons of canada

BILL C-444

An Act to provide for cash contributions to provinces that operate programs for the reimbursement of the expenses of living organ donors, to provide for the appointment of a National Organ Transplant Coordinator and to amend the Employment Insurance Act

WHEREAS the Government of Canada recognizes that living persons who donate their organs so that others may live should be reimbursed for the expenses they incur in making such donations;

WHEREAS the Government of Canada recognizes that the appointment of a National Organ Transplant Coordinator would assist in the coordination of the matching of potential living organ donors with potential organ recipients;

AND WHEREAS the Government of Canada recognizes that organ donation by living donors would be facilitated if the Employment Insurance Act were amended to allow living donors to qualify for employment insurance benefits during any time that they are unable to work as a result of donating an organ;

NOW, THEREFORE, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

SHORT TITLE

1. This Act may be cited as the Living Donors Reimbursement Act.

INTERPRETATION

2. In sections 3 to 6, “living donor” means a living person who donates an organ for transplantation into another person at a medical facility operated or regulated by a province.

CASH CONTRIBUTION

3. The Minister of Finance shall in each fiscal year make a cash contribution, in an amount determined in accordance with the regulations, to each province that, in the previous fiscal year, operated a program to reimburse living donors for the expenses they incurred in donating an organ, if the program meets the requirements set out in the regulations.

4. The Minister of Health shall, after consultation with the provincial ministers of the Crown responsible for health, make regulations setting out

(a) the requirements that need to be met by a program for the reimbursement of the expenses of living donors in order for the province that operates the program to receive a cash contribution under section 3; and

(b) criteria for determining the amount of the cash contribution to be paid to each province that operates a program that meets the requirements referred to in paragraph (a).

NATIONAL ORGAN TRANSPLANT COORDINATOR

5. The Minister of Health shall, in accord- ance with the Public Service Employment Act, appoint a National Organ Transplant Coordinator who shall report directly to the Minister of Health.

6. (1) The National Organ Transplant Coordinator shall collect, compile, analyze and coordinate information in order to establish and maintain a national register of potential living donors and potential organ recipients.

(2) The National Organ Transplant Coordinator shall match potential living donors and potential organ recipients residing in Canada and shall provide the resulting information to the appropriate provincial health authorities.

EMPLOYMENT INSURANCE ACT

7. Section 2 of the Employment Insurance Act is amended by adding the following after subsection (5):