Oral Questions
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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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 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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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 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, 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'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, 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 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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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. Chair, there are different types of take-home tests. There is the molecular type, which is the most precise one that travellers into Canada need to take, and there are the rapid test home kits that people can also use.
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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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Madam Chair, another example is the rental housing construction initiative, a $26-billion investment in support of housing builders in Canada. That is going to create tens of thousands of new homes.
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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, I am sorry to say, and I say it with some respect and regret, that what the Conservatives were proposing in the campaign would have helped rich landlords sell their stock of housing.
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Madam Chair, I think the member may have misunderstood. I spoke about one million Canadians who have been helped with paying their rent since the introduction of the national housing strategy.
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Madam Chair, is the suggestion to take no measures whatsoever and to remove all testing and quarantine? If that is the intent, maybe we should hear that more clearly.
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Madam Chair, one million is the number of Canadians who have been helped since the introduction of the national housing strategy in 2017.
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Madam Chair, I will first mention that the national housing strategy is the first-ever housing strategy in Canada. We implemented it in 2017, and it led to other measures.
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Madam Chair, I will not have the pleasure of working with the member as parliamentary secretary, but I have heard extremely good things about him and his extremely important work over the last while. He wants me to thank public servants. Yes, I will do that. I think we have done that many times over the last 20 months. They have far exceeded the expectations and needs of Canadians in most respects…
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Madam Chair, that is interesting. We had those questions from the member for Carleton. My colleague said—
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Mr. Chair, because of this historic change in the CPP that we made quickly in 2016, there is going to be a decrease of 25% in poverty among seniors over the next years.
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Mr. Chair, indeed the member is correct. We are using a range of either home tests or on-site testing as the facilities permit.
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Mr. Chair, as I have said repeatedly over the last few days, this is ramping up quickly. Just last Friday, we increased the testing capacity by 60% and we will soon reach the 100% target that we have announced.
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I have already answered that question, Mr. Chair. What I did not say, however, is that we are going to do the right things for Canadians, as we have done for the last 20 months. This is absolutely important. There are no risks to take when it comes to protecting the safety and health of Canadians.
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Mr. Chair, our first priority is to protect the health and safety of Canadians. That is why we are taking those measures. If I have more time later, I will explain why those measures are the right ones for Canadians.
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Mr. Chair, with some regret, but with respect, I will say that this is something we know, yet the members on the other side asked just a few days ago that we remove all tests and all quarantine measures. That would not have been the right thing to do.
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Mr. Chair, Canadians have learned through the history of COVID-19 that the situation evolves, and they expect the government also to change its measures to protect their health and safety.
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Mr. Chair, the answer is yes. We are obviously very mindful of the impact this is having on all Canadians, including the people in the travel industry. We do this to protect the safety and health of Canadians.
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Mr. Chair, if the member would like to have a briefing, as this is all a bit complicated, she can ask for one and I will provide it to her through my officials.
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Mr. Chair, antigen tests are tests that are typically quite rapid but not as effective and precise as the molecular tests.
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Mr. Chair, that is a great question, but there is too little time to answer. There is a big difference between rapid antigen tests and molecular tests.
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Mr. Chair, we obviously speak to everyone involved in and affected by the travel restrictions on both sides of the border.
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Mr. Chair, obviously we are all very concerned with all of what is happening with the new variant, omicron. That is why we work with our partners outside of Canada and do the right thing inside Canada.
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Mr. Chair, first, the hon. member for Hull-Aylmer is my member of Parliament, and I really like him. Second, he was a page, like me, many years ago, and third, he is an excellent speaker.
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Mr. Chair, first, I would like to congratulate the son of the member for Alfred-Pellan. I am very proud of him, and I am certain that he was very good about it and that he set an example for many others in Canada, perhaps even here in the House of Commons. Let us talk about Canada: 80% of the population has received at least one dose, 76% has received two doses. There are probably people in the Ho…
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Madam Chair, I should remind the member that a molecular test is not a rapid test, and a rapid test is not the same as being vaccinated.
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Madam Chair, the new President of the Treasury Board is fortunate to have a very well-informed and experienced critique, and the member knows there are two types of votes, legislative votes and these votes we are talking about now. The legislative votes were the votes needed to have the wage subsidy.
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Madam Chair, 15 million Canadians have been helped through the crisis, either through the wage subsidy, CERB or other tools, including helping seniors directly, so 15 million Canadians were able to make ends meet.
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Madam Chair, that is a very timely question, because, as the member should know, we implemented a national housing strategy in 2017 with the goal, and the intended result, of ending homelessness across Canada by—
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Madam Chair, my colleague is right to bring it up. For some time now, an average of about 20 people a day have died due to the opioid crisis across the country. That is almost the same number of people who are dying from COVID-19 at present. The crisis has been growing for years. Fortunately, there are ways to deal with this crisis and to treat people, including through supervised injection sites.…
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Madam Chair, I did not mention it, but I am very pleased that my colleague is now the parliamentary secretary to my colleague, the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions. Taking care of our health care workers helps them take care of us and those who need it. With the $55 billion in investments that the Canadian government has made in the context of COVID‑19, we have been able to support these w…
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Madam Chair, I thank my colleague for the question. I appreciate her. This is part of the national pharmacare challenge, to find a way to reduce the cost of and increase access to drugs, for rare diseases in particular. In this context, we have announced that we will develop a strategy to combat rare diseases with an annual investment of $500 million in the coming years.
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Madam Chair, we have an immensely great centre called the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg. I am not from Winnipeg, but I know how proud people from Manitoba and all Canadians are of that particular lab. It has been extremely forthcoming and often ahead of other nations when it comes to designing tests and procedures to protect Canadians from COVID-19. We can be very proud of the work …
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Madam Chair, that was part of our $65-billion support for the health needs of Canadians, including long-term care, home care, digital care, primary care and, as the member mentioned, mental health care. Mental health has been severely affected by the crisis, and we have to look after the mental health of Canadians.
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