AED Statements in the House of Commons by Scott Reid
November 21, 2016Scott Reid’s Statements in the House of Common Regarding AEDs
June 11, 2019:
Video is here. Statement is also available on the Parliamentary Hansard here.
Mr. Speaker, by an unhappy coincidence, it was four years ago today that I first urged the House to place automated external defibrillators, or AEDs, into all 5,600 RCMP cruisers. Based on the experience of other Canadian police forces, this would have saved the lives of over 300 heart attack victims a year, at a one-time cost of $5 million, plus maintenance.
Four years have gone by and the RCMP has done nothing but invent excuses for its inaction. Therefore, 1,200 Canadians who would have been alive today are now dead. We could fill this room four times over with the bodies of those who died because we could not find the $5 million.
On the other hand, we parliamentarians have had no trouble finding over 100 times as much, $500 million, to renovate the building in which we meet today, and if estimates are right, we will spend even more on Centre Block. Could we take just 1% of that to save 300 lives next year, the year after and the year after that, or do we just not care?
February 16, 2017:
Statement is also available on the Parliamentary Hansard here.
Mr. Speaker, statistics from Canadian police forces show that one life is saved every year for every 17 installed defibrillators in police cruisers. Thus, placing defibrillators in the trunks of all 5,600 RCMP cruisers would save 320 lives per year.
This was true when I raised this matter in the Commons three months ago. In the interim, 80 Canadians have died whose lives could have been saved. It was also true a year ago when I first raised this issue in the House. Since then, 320 Canadians have unnecessarily died.
Since the present minister in charge of the RCMP took office in October 2015, 420 Canadians have died. Of course, introducing defibrillators could not have been done with a snap of the fingers. However, with the passage of time, that excuse is no longer available to the minister, and the blood of most of these dead Canadians, enough to fill every seat in this room, is on the minister’s hands.
November 21, 2016:
Statement is also available on the Parliamentary Hansard here.
Mr. Speaker, in 2013, the present Minister of Public Safety, then in opposition, presented a private member’s motion, Motion No. 446, calling for defibrillators to be installed in all 5,600 RCMP cruisers. Then, as now, this would cost only $10 million.
Statistics from other police forces show that each year one life is saved for every 17 defibrillators installed in police vehicles. Following through on Motion No. 446 a year ago, when the Liberals took office, would have resulted in 5,600 installed defibrillators and 320 saved lives. However, a year has gone by, and even though the very same member who introduced Motion No. 446 is now minister in charge of the RCMP, nothing has happened. In consequence, 320 Canadians who would otherwise be alive today are now dead.
Why has the minister failed to follow through? What does he say to the families of all the Canadians whose lives would have been saved if he had followed through on his own proposal?
February 25, 2016:
Statement is also available on the Parliamentary Hansard here.
Mr. Speaker, in June last year, I pointed out to the House that over 300 lives could be saved every year if defibrillators were installed in all 5,600 RCMP cruisers at a cost of $10 million.I calculated this as follows. For over a decade, the Ottawa Police Service has had a defibrillator in each cruiser.
In each of the past two years, an average of one life has been saved for every 17 installed defibrillators. Multiply that by 5,600 RCMP cruisers, and it add up to 320 lives saved each and every year.I am not the only person who understands this.
In 2013, the present Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness presented a private member’s motion, Motion No. 446, which called for defibrillators to be installed in all RCMP cruisers. He is now the minister in charge of the RCMP. I asked him to follow through on Motion No. 446. If he does so a year from now, that will be better than nothing; but if he does so today, the lives of 320 Canadians who would otherwise be dead a year from now would be saved.
June 11, 2015:
Statement is also available on the Parliamentary Hansard here.
Mr. Speaker, for over a decade, there has been an automated external defibrillator or AED, in the trunk of every cruiser in the Ottawa Police Service, 145 in total. In 2012, this resulted in nine successful saves of heart attack victims. In 2013, eight lives were saved. That is an average of one life saved per every 17 AEDs annually.
AEDs purchased in bulk cost less than $1,000 apiece. That means it would cost only $5 million to place an AED in every one of Canada’s 5,600 RCMP cruisers and less than $4 million to place an AED in every one of the 4,000 cruisers of the Ontario and Quebec police forces.
Now let us do some math. At one life saved per 17 AEDs, these 9,000 units could save over 500 lives each year. Since an AED lasts 10 years, we could save 5,000 lives over the next decade at a cost of $2,000 per life.
Saving lives has never, ever been cheaper, so let us make this happen
May 16, 2013, former MP Ralph Goodale’s Private Member’s Motion:
Statement is also available on the Parliamentary Order Paper here.
Mr. Goodale, at the time of his motion, was in opposition. During the 42nd Parliament, from 2015 to 2019, he was Minister of Public Safety, in charge of the RCMP.
That in the opinion of the House, the government should address the wide variation in the availability of defibrillators throughout the buildings and facilities owned, operated or regulated by the Government of Canada, and the equally wide variation in the training of appropriate personnel to use defibrillators properly, by adopting and implementing a policy of: (a) installing an appropriate number and calibre of automated external defibrillators in all such buildings and facilities; and (b) training the appropriate personnel to use such defibrillators properly, with priority being assigned to all RCMP offices and vehicles.