Government Orders
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, 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, 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 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, 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, 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 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 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 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 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, 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, 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 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, 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 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, 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 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, 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 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, 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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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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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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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, 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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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, 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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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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Madam Chair, that is interesting. We had those questions from the member for Carleton. My colleague said—
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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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