Government Orders
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, 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, 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, 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, speaking of division, I think that in Canada most people are not divided. On the contrary, they support vaccination and think it is important. Eighty per cent of people have chosen to get fully vaccinated. Nearly 50% have gotten a booster dose and that number is going up every day. Every day, 150,000 Canadians are receiving their booster shot and 10,000 others are getting their first …
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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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Madam Speaker, approximately 130 people die of COVID-19 every day, so that is one example of the sense of urgency. Provinces and territories are requesting the help of the federal government in providing greater numbers of rapid tests, in addition to the substantial numbers I mentioned earlier. Obviously the Senate is going to do its own job, and we value and appreciate what they will do at the ap…
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Madam Speaker, I would invite my colleague to continue working with my own colleagues, the Minister of Seniors and the Minister of Finance, on this very important other bill that is before the House. On the commitment for this particular bill, I am very happy to repeat that we are going to report to the House every six months on the use, cost and number of rapid tests that will have been delivered…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from La Pointe‑de‑l'Île for the opportunity to speak to this. We must use every tool at our disposal, including PPE, vaccination, antivirals and rapid tests. Furthermore, the government has supported the provinces and territories by providing $63 billion since March 2022 specifically to keep people healthy and safe, as well as investing over $280 billion in dire…
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Madam Speaker, vaccination is not a punishment. Vaccination is protection. The enemy is not vaccination. The enemy is the virus. When we hear members of the opposite side talk about vaccination as the enemy, I am a bit disturbed by it. There is a tool we need to use that we were given by science and scientists about a year and a few months ago. If there is a tool we should all be grateful to be us…
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Madam Speaker, I have a great relationship with Minister Main: my colleague, the minister of health in Nunavut. We have been working together really well, and I want to commend him and his government on their leadership and what they have done over the past few weeks and months. It has been critical for us to do that together, because the people in Nunavut are facing challenges that southerners ar…
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Madam Speaker, the member for York—Simcoe is asking why they are important to the federal government. Let me give two examples. The first is from the regulatory side, which the member mentioned. Health Canada has approved dozens of rapid tests. These are not only antigen tests, but molecular tests. It has approved all sorts of other tests over the past months and years. Canadians expect Health Can…
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Madam Speaker, I will say three things, briefly. First, about the investments that we have made, $8 out of every $10 of the total economic support that has gone to businesses and workers over the past 22 months has been provided by the federal government's leadership. Second, an additional $63 billion has been invested in protecting the health and safety of Canadians. That is in addition to other …
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Madam Speaker, I confirm unequivocally that a report will be provided every six months on the important elements that the member just mentioned, and rightly so, namely, the dollar amounts, the number of tests and their use in the following months. As he pointed out, this will be a way of ensuring that there is significant and necessary accountability on the part of the Canadian government on this …
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Madam Speaker, I will take this wonderful opportunity to say that we are all privileged to be leaders in this democratic process. We will have an entire day today to speak about this particular bill. More generally, we have the responsibility every day of looking after the health and safety of Canadians. That comes, in part, through those investments. These are big investments. We are speaking abo…
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Madam Speaker, my colleague is right: We cannot fight what we do not know or do not measure. That is one important reason, as he alluded, we need rapid tests and, obviously, the additional PCR molecular tests that we have been using for many months. These are complementary tools. We had the delivery of 140 million rapid tests in January, and in addition to that we have been delivering rapid tests …
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Madam Speaker, my esteemed colleague, whom I very much like, mentioned the word “urgency” several times, and this is indeed an urgent matter. We are in the middle of a COVID-19 pandemic with the omicron variant, which is filling hospital beds in Quebec and elsewhere in Canada. The provinces and territories need more rapid tests now, in addition to the ones they received over the past few weeks and…
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Madam Speaker, he is entirely right. These rapid tests were delivered in large numbers to the provinces and territories for the purposes he mentioned. They would also be delivered directly to chambers of commerce, the Canadian Red Cross and community organizations that have direct and strong links with Canadians in their communities across Canada. They have been extremely useful since October 2020…
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Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to hear my colleague from La Prairie talking about dialogue. We are going to be having one all day with many hours of important discussion. There will be other debates to follow, because we are only at second reading for this bill. I have had a lot of discussions over the past few weeks with my counterpart from Quebec, Mr. Dubé. Thanks to those discussions and our …
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Madam Speaker, I agree with the member opposite that this is a very important bill. I believe the member understands the reasons, but I want to make sure everyone knows those reasons. Rapid tests have become extremely important for millions of Canadians over the last few weeks. Once we started not only procuring them but delivering them in October 2020, which is obviously more than a year ago, we …
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Mr. Speaker, with respect to the consideration of Government Business No. 8, I move: That debate be not further adjourned.
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Madam Speaker, the answer is yes. That is in part thanks to the advocacy of the member for New Westminster—Burnaby. He is a strong leader in his caucus. In fact, I have been engaged with many other leaders in B.C. over the last few days and weeks, as elsewhere in Canada. Those rapid tests, as the member mentioned, are essential to keep fighting the virus, and I welcome his input and the input of h…
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moved that Bill C-10, An Act respecting certain measures related to COVID-19, be read the second time and referred to a committee of the whole.
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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, 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, 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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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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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, 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 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, 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 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 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 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 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, 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 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, 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 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 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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