Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague and want to congratulate her on talking about a plan. We have had a plan for the past 22 months, and the plan is working. We have the lowest mortality rate of any G7 country by far, except Japan. We have enjoyed some of the best economic growth of any G7 country and most OECD countries. People have been doing their part, including getting vaccinated, for quite som…
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Mr. Speaker, the opposition would like someone, perhaps the health minister, to declare that COVID-19 will end on a particular date. Unfortunately, that is not how the virus operates and that is not what science tells us. What science has told us is that we need to be prudent and responsible in assuming federal leadership. The federal government does not dictate everything. A lot of the restrictio…
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Mr. Speaker, I am obviously very happy to rise this evening, during the 44th Parliament of Canada, to support Bill C‑10, which would give Health Canada the legislative authority to spend up to $2.5 billion to purchase and distribute rapid tests across the country. This bill will help the provinces and territories meet their needs for COVID‑19 rapid tests and will continue to support the national p…
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Mr. Speaker, I forgot to mention that I will be splitting my time with the member for Winnipeg North. Testing, as we all know, plays a key role in our efforts to contain and mitigate the pandemic. Identifying infected individuals helps to prevent further person-to-person transmission of the virus. As everyone knows, health care services are struggling to meet the demand for polymerase chain reacti…
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Mr. Speaker, maybe I should extend the same kind words to my own better half. I wish her a very happy Valentine's Day, but I doubt she will be watching us tonight. If our better halves are watching us tonight, and do not have other more important things to do, then a happy Valentine's Day to all of them. On the issue of vaccination, obviously we know how important vaccinations are for getting thro…
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Mr. Speaker, that is a great question, and I will answer it in two ways. First, obviously these are large numbers of tests, and we hope the House will support this so we will be able to start delivering them directly to Canadians either through the networks and partnerships I mentioned earlier or through the provinces and territories. These large numbers of tests have been added to the 140 million…
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Madam Speaker, one thing is certain, and one is totally uncertain. The uncertainty is what COVID-19 will surprise us with next. COVID-19 has had a huge number of nasty surprises for us in the past 22 months, and there are undoubtedly more to come. What is certain, on the other hand, is that of all the tools we have, vaccination is the safest and surest way to prepare for future waves and the almos…
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Madam Speaker, the COVID-19 pandemic has dominated our daily lives, both in Canada and around the world, for the past two years. It has overloaded our health care systems, disrupted our economy and transformed the way we communicate and live with one other every day. As pandemic waves have come and gone, all levels of government have responded with various measures, from federal border measures to…
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Madam Speaker, I am very pleased and proud to receive this question. The member is correct when she speaks about working collaboratively and looking forward. That is why we need to be both collaborative and responsible in our actions. The member speaks about timing. I am rarely political and I try to resist the temptation from time to time, but I would point out that if there is an issue on which …
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Madam Speaker, I would like to congratulate the member for Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot for his question. He represents a lovely riding I know well, since I have friends who live there. He is right. For us to be done with this pandemic one day—and that is not today—it will have to be over everywhere. That involves vaccinating and protecting everyone in the world. The good news is that the Canadian govern…
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Madam Speaker, the member is correct. Canada should always and will always need to be open to talking and working with international partners on precisely that topic of TRIPS and the patent-related agenda. However, in relation to the previous question, I am going to add that Canada committed 200 million doses of vaccines in 2020, and half of those vaccines have already been delivered. In addition,…
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Madam Speaker, there are three things. The first is that health care workers have been burdened and stressed over the last 22 months. When we discuss these things, we should always have them in mind. We need to look after them because they care for us. The second thing is that we need to understand that the only sustainable way to end restrictions and lockdowns that are decided upon by provinces a…
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Madam Speaker, my colleague demonstrated a sense of leadership that the Conservative leader also showed earlier. Asking for the blockades to be taken down is the right thing to do now and was the right thing to do since they started. The second thing the member mentioned is mental health. About half of Canadians report that their mental health has deteriorated over the last months. He is right tha…
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Madam Speaker, I will be honest. I was a little touched by the member for Jonquière's comments about moderation, accountability, nuance and combatting extremism and populism. I completely agree with him. I think he chose the right words to express the idea that, because we going through this crisis together, it is important for us to stick together, listen to each other and respect one another, wh…
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Mr. Speaker, I am so pleased to answer this question about vaccination. The Prime Minister mentioned just a moment ago that 80% of Canadians of all ages had received their full doses. Every day, about 10,000 more Canadians are getting their first vaccine, and 55% have received a booster dose. Every day, 180,000 people in Canada receive a booster dose. We have approximately 50% of children between …
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Mr. Speaker, the member is quite right to congratulate the 99% of public servants who have been vaccinated. Vaccination is not a punishment. It is a protection. When we get vaccinated, we protect ourselves, our colleagues, our family, our children, our community and our friends. It is not a punishment. In fact, it is the only means to get through the current wave and all the other waves and varian…
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Mr. Speaker, working with our allies is exactly what we had to do and what we did. We have obviously worked with the United States, which is our closest ally, very successfully over the last few months. The mandate to which she refers, the border mandate in particular regarding vaccination, is entirely symmetrical and in line with what the United States is doing. We will continue to work with our …
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Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased and grateful for the member's use of “pandemic leadership”. This is exactly that. This is pandemic leadership. We all have the responsibility to work together, to listen to each other, to listen to science. What science has told us and what science—
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Mr. Speaker, I particularly appreciate the emphasis on vaccination status. When I get vaccinated, I am doing it for myself, but also for my parents. When I visit my parents after getting vaccinated, I know I am protecting them. When my son gets vaccinated, I know that he is protected, and I am glad he is, but I also know that he will be protecting all the seniors he might run into. Not only is it …
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Mr. Speaker, I am glad to do that, because I thought the question was the right statement. The hon. member spoke about pandemic leadership. That is exactly the point. We need to be leaders in managing the pandemic. We need to be united together, working together and listening to each other. We have a hard job to do, which is to look after the health of millions of Canadians who depend on us to pro…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Quebec City. He knows my colleague from Louis-Hébert, and he knows how much respect we have for his work in his riding and in and around Quebec City. The member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles talked about unity. That is a great word, because Canadians are united in fighting this pandemic. If there is one thing that unites us, it is vaccination. That is …
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Mr. Speaker, the hon. member for Charlesbourg—Haute‑Saint‑Charles is right that we have had a plan for two years, since the start of the pandemic, and our plan is working to prevent deaths. With the measures we have put in place by listening to science, we have prevented nearly 50,000 deaths in Canada compared to what we have seen south of the border. We have also saved a big part of our economy. …
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Mr. Speaker, I wish to speak with respect, but also with honesty. I am a bit troubled by what I hear, which is the belief that vaccination does not work. Vaccination does work. About a year ago, science gave us the gift of vaccination. We had waited for that for an entire year. Since then, millions of Canadians have chosen to do the right thing, which is to get vaccinated. I am very troubled by th…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for raising that important question. We have been working together since March 2020 to fight the biggest health crisis in 100 years in Canada. We have gone through this crisis successfully, certainly with respect to many other countries in the world, and it is because we have worked together and helped each other, the provinces and territories and the federal gove…
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Mr. Speaker, a very key signal to be against vaccination is to be in favour of lockdowns. The only way to fight lockdowns is to be in favour of vaccination. That is why I will again invite all opposition members, including the new Conservative leader, to exert new leadership and ask all members of the Conservative Party to be vaccinated. That is the only way to avoid lockdowns.
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Mr. Speaker, I will say something that my hon. colleague already knows, most likely: The lockdown measures to which she refers are provincial decisions made by the provinces and territories. I believe no one in the House is confused between federal and provincial responsibilities. The federal responsibility has been and will be to support the provinces and territories moving forward.
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Mr. Speaker, I was proud to hear my colleague and want to congratulate him for speaking about the serious challenges we have around health human resources. I had a meeting just about two hours ago, one more with my colleagues of health ministers across Canada. We all agreed that we have to work together, not only to repair the damages created by COVID-19 but to build a stronger health care system …
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Mr. Speaker, we have been adhering to the precautionary principle right from day one with respect to COVID‑19. We have applied it to protecting personal information, of course, as well as to protecting people's health and safety. Sadly, tens of thousands of Canadians have died in the past 22 months, and people have had to forgo hundreds of billions in employment income. There is so much fear, so m…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for that question. As we all know, or should know at least, the enemy is not vaccination. The enemy is COVID-19. One way to avoid lockdowns, and one way to return to a more normal life, is to be vaccinated. I hear that most members of the House have made the right choice. All members of the House must make the right choice.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his question. He is quite right to emphasize the importance of protecting people's privacy, especially in the context we have been living in for some time now, where privacy is not only a concern for most Canadians, but also requires concrete action and important discussion on the part of the Canadian government. That is why, in just a few minutes, I will…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague is absolutely right. It is important to talk about it, but action is just as important. We have been taking action since the onset of COVID‑19 by investing $63 billion in health and safety alone to help mitigate health care issues during the pandemic. In addition to that, the Canada health transfer will increase once again in a few weeks. We are doing all of this because …
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Alfred‑Pellan for his outstanding work on behalf of his constituents and for raising the issue of vaccination. A total of 77 million doses have been administered. Almost 84% of Canadians of all ages have received a first dose, 79% have received two doses, 43% of eligible Canadians have already gotten a booster, and 53% of children aged 6 to 11 have received a…
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Mr. Speaker, I completely agree with my colleague. He is right to emphasize the importance of protecting people's privacy. I assume he is also emphasizing the importance of protecting people's health and safety. We are doing that together. We are working with the Privacy Commissioner of Canada to ensure that the methods employed, as we know, effectively rely on confidential, anonymized aggregate d…
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Mr. Speaker, I already answered the question. However, I thank my colleague for giving me another opportunity to say that we did things right in our country to maintain people's trust, reassure them and protect our economy. Canada's economy is far superior to the economies of other countries around the world who have also been grappling with COVID-19. What is more, we have based our work on scienc…
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Mr. Speaker, I congratulate my colleague for saying the key word, because the enemy is not vaccination. The enemy is COVID-19. Canadians, and all members of the House for that matter, know and understand that we need to get vaccinated to get through this crisis. Two doses are good, but three are even better. Not only is that even better, but it is extremely vital for fighting off the omicron varia…
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moved for leave to introduce Bill C-10, An Act respecting certain measures related to COVID-19. (Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for raising that important question. He is absolutely right. COVID‑19 will not be over anywhere until it is over everywhere. That is why, from day one of the COVID‑19 crisis, Canada was one of the leading instigators behind COVAX, which enabled us early on to make rapid investments not only in vaccine development, but also in delivering and supporting the delivery…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for raising the issue. The last thing we want to do is pick a fight. On the contrary, we have been working together very closely for 21 months. I had another meeting yesterday evening with all my provincial counterparts, the ministers of health. We know how important it is right now to work to get through the upcoming omicron variant crisis. We all agree that it i…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague's question gives me the opportunity to reiterate two extremely important things. The first is the strength of mutual support, especially in our federalist country these past few months. Without the co-operation of all levels of government, we would have had thousands more deaths, we would have suffered major economic losses, and we would have put the health of millions of…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for that important question. He is absolutely right, and that is one of the options we are looking at. That said, right now, we need to focus on getting eligible Canadians double- and triple-vaccinated. We are heading into an omicron wave that will be very tough and trying for our country. We have already promised 200 million vaccine doses to the global effort and…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague is right; the opioid crisis is a terrible crisis. On average, about 20 people die of it every day. That is why we need to do things that take into account all sorts of measures that will be helpful to save lives. We are putting into place, in collaboration with provinces, territories and municipalities, measures to reduce harm, reduce risk, and provide safe provisions and…
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Mr. Speaker, we are currently living through a very serious challenge caused by omicron. I would remind all Canadians listening and everyone in this House to be extremely careful. We must follow public health measures, get vaccinated and get boosters whenever they are available. Now is not the time to travel.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for raising this issue. I can tell him that we are waiting with great hope for the submission from Canadian Blood Services, as well as from Héma-Québec. I can assure him that when this comes, we will work quickly on it.
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Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to answer this question on behalf of the Minister of National Defence. She is obliviously very mindful and on top of this file, and I know she is in contact with the parliament and will provide appropriate details.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for giving me the opportunity to thank the Auditor General, who plays a fundamental role in our democracy and in Parliament. We greatly appreciate her review, and we will take her perspective and her findings into consideration as we look forward and continue to protect the health and safety of Canadians.
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Mr. Speaker, this gives me the opportunity to remind people that COVID‑19 is not over. Just this morning, we heard the health minister in the United Kingdom say that in the next few weeks or months, there could be one million cases of the omicron variant in that country. In Canada, that would be the equivalent of 20,000 cases of that variant a day, or twice as many as the highest case number we ha…
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Madam Chair, an example is the $4-billion accelerator fund, which we are going to invest in municipalities and provinces, because we know that to partner with them is key to solving the housing crisis.
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Madam Chair, another number to add to all the numbers I mentioned is 300,000. This is the number of homes being renovated—
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Madam Chair, another number to add to all of the other numbers I mentioned earlier is 530,000 Canadians being lifted out of housing needs because of investments in the national housing strategy.
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Madam Chair, we said that just recently, and we have repeated it. What I could add now is that a new Canada housing benefit has been in place for a year, and it has helped 300,000 Canadians pay their rent.
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