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Madam Chair, I thank the member for the important question. We have said in the campaign platform that we will be putting into place a legal change to make clear to all of our partners that these rights are important in 2021 in order to protect the rights of everyone, including, obviously, those of women.
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Madam Chair, that is an outstanding question, and it gives me the opportunity to let Canadians know that this was a collaborative effort. There was $25 billion direct to provinces and territories, and another $30 billion of in-kind investment in vaccines, testing, PPE and other tools. Finally, obviously, there was the incredible collaboration on the economic side in order to protect the economic h…
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Madam Chair, there are three things. First, we have reminded Canadians of the importance of being vaccinated. Second, we remind Canadians that we also need to keep following the public health advice, of which we are very knowledgeable now. The third thing is that we put into place some quick measures at our borders to limit the import of the variant from outside of Canada.
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Madam Chair, there are two key answers, which the member knows really well. First, there is the ACT, the access to COVID-19 tools, that we have invested in from the very start of COVID-19 and a $2.5-billion increase in our international development assistance because of COVID-19. Second, the member also mentioned the 200-million dose commitment we made to the rest of the world. That is five times …
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Madam Chair, I would like to thank the member for Surrey Centre for his advocacy and his strong mastery of the file. He is an incredibly engaged and informed person. I would like to tell everyone listening that NACI did provide some strong recommendations around boosters, that people 50 years of age and older should receive a booster dose and that those who are between the ages of 18 and 50 should…
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Madam Chair, the member is right. There were very important supports for Canadians with disabilities. We know they were adversely affected by the crisis.
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Madam Chair, I know the member is really well-intentioned and I commend her for her goodwill and concern. That being said, the advice we got from her colleague, the member for Carleton, was very different from what we followed when it came to helping seniors during the COVID‑19 crisis.
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Madam Chair, therefore, we would not have ended up where we are now with more jobs than we had prior to COVID‑19 and with more jobs relative to many other countries, including our southern neighbour.
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Madam Chair, had we followed the advice of the member for Carleton, we would have ended up not in a recession but in a depression.
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Madam Chair, not only did we act very quickly, but we did not do what the member for Carleton suggested, which was to cut taxes for the wealthiest Canadians.
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Madam Chair, I think we are all mindful of the tremendous difficulties that families, seniors and workers went through during the COVID‑19 crisis. I am sorry to say that the solution the member for Carleton proposed at the start of the pandemic was to cut taxes for the richest individuals in Canada.
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Madam Chair, it is true: Nine million Canadians received CERB during the crisis. That is close to 20,000 people in her riding who were able to pay for food for their children and themselves.
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Madam Chair, that is an excellent point. We also need to have more people come into our great country. We need to have more support for those who want to retrain themselves and get the skills they need for the new economy. We need more women in the workforce and greater access to child care.
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Madam Chair, an example from my province is a $6-billion transfer to Quebec, which has had a great day care system. It is not perfect, but it is going to lead to an additional 38,000 spaces for our children and therefore 38,000 more parents available for jobs.
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Madam Chair, the answer is a $30-billion investment in day care. This is great for gender equality. This is great for job creation. This is great for child development. This is great for poverty reduction.
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Madam Chair, through 150,000 jobs created just a few days ago, we are now at 106% of jobs back to our country following COVID-19.
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Madam Chair, I just spoke about families. I am going to speak briefly about seniors and the increases in the OAS and the GIS, along with the indexation of those pensions and benefits—
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Madam Chair, I am pleased to answer this question on child care investments and the Canada child benefit. It is very important support to families. Through the housing investments—
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Madam Chair, the example of Edmonton is a very good one. It gives me the opportunity to talk about the $4-billion housing accelerator fund. These are dollars that we look forward to investing with municipalities to help them build new homes.
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Madam Chair, I mentioned a million Canadians. There were 530,000 Canadians lifted out of housing need because of the measures that we put into place. There are 300,000 homes being renovated and 150,000 new homes to be constructed with just one of those programs, and there are many more things to come.
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Madam Chair, I am very pleased that I am asked a question about housing. There is too little time to describe the loads of measures that we have put into place that have helped, in many respects, one million Canadians since the start of the national housing strategy in 2017.
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Madam Chair, that is indeed quite a funny story, because we have been leading the world concerning vaccination for many, many months. I am sorry to say that I have heard that perhaps the last to be vaccinated in Canada, and perhaps not before 2030, would be some of our Conservative MP friends.
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Madam Chair, I was not aware of the term “liberty caucus”, but I find that to be a strange caucus and a strange way of thinking about liberty. The liberty to transmit the virus to others and to infect a community is an unusual definition of liberty and I would take the liberty to signal that yes, the member for Calgary Nose Hill has a right to her views, but she did say not long ago that Canadians…
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Madam Chair, these are great percentages. Talking about everyone of all ages in Canada, approximately 80% of the population has received at least one dose and 76% of the population has received two doses, making us again a leader in the world when it comes to vaccination.
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Madam Chair, I visited the member's beautiful riding of Kingston and the Islands some time ago and was able to taste the beauty of the riding's landscape, its people and their hospitality. The member is right. Canadians have been informed, but also misinformed over the crisis, informed by the incredible input of experts and scientists. Many of them were little known prior to the crisis. Now, not o…
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Madam Chair, we have already gone over this many times in earlier answers. I obviously do not have enough time to repeat what has been said. We spoke about the Canada child benefit, the guaranteed income supplement, old age security, the increases that are already in place and the ones that were announced during the election campaign.
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Madam Chair, my colleague said earlier that people are already seniors at age 60. It is more a state of mind. I do not think—
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Madam Chair, it is a little more complicated, because our platform included numerous measures for seniors. It is obviously a little more straightforward if we look at—
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Madam Chair, in our platform, the age is 65 for the increase in the guaranteed income supplement—
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Madam Chair, I am happy to hear a mention of the election, since I did not see anything in the Conservatives' platform on—
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Madam Chair, all seniors are entitled to the measures I mentioned earlier. The indexation based on the increase in the cost of living applies to all seniors. It is for old age security—
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Madam Chair, that is a great question. I have a colleague who already considers himself a senior at the age of 60. I think he is still in good shape, at least physically—
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Madam Chair, I will quickly provide two examples. The first is the Canada child benefit, which continues to be increased in line with the cost of living and lifts nearly 400,000 children out of poverty every month. The second is the increase to the old age security pension. I know that he is less interested in that than his other colleague, but it is one—
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Madam Chair, Canada has been facing a housing crisis for years. That is why, in 2017, we implemented the first—
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Madam Chair, I will not ask my colleague how old he is because I can see he is reluctant to share that sensitive information. However, what I can tell him is that, in Canada, since 2019—
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Madam Chair, I see that my colleague is getting ready for his golden years. There are two types of increases or indexation. The first is the increase that has been happening for 50 years, the cost-of-living increase. The second is the extra one we promised during the election campaign.
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Madam Chair, I know my colleague is looking forward to getting that increase, but I am telling him he must be a little older to become eligible for it. One day, when he is old enough, he will get the 10% increase that we promised for those 75 and older.
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Madam Chair, I doubt my colleague is getting the benefit since he is not old enough yet, but if he were old enough, he would have already received $500—
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Madam Chair, I am very happy to answer that question. I do not know exactly how old my colleague is, but he seems very young and in good shape. I wish him a long life filled with happiness and good health, although not necessarily with the Conservatives. He would be even happier if he were to come over to the Liberals. That is up to him. As for his question about seniors, there was a 25% reduction…
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Madam Chair, that is indeed an important area to consider, along with home care, mental health care, long-term care, virtual care, primary care and many other sorts of care that Canadians not only need but deserve.
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Madam Chair, there are four key statistics here: first, the $41-billion-plus Canada health transfer; second, the $11-billion investment that we put into place in 2017 on home care and mental health care; third, the $55-billion investment we made during COVID-19; and fourth, the $25-billion promise we made—
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Madam Chair, my colleague is pretty well informed and mindful of the important challenges to deal with. Section 56 exemptions are being considered in that particular context. We are working, obviously, very closely with the City of Vancouver and the Government of B.C. in that regard.
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Madam Chair, obviously caring for people in such facilities is absolutely essential. These people require appropriate treatment, and we expect all of these service providers to meet and abide by all appropriate labour and health laws.
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Madam Chair, that is a great example of something that is extremely important. We look forward to doing this as quickly as possible, and we know that we can count on the member's input to make that possible.
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Madam Chair, it means the increase is tied to an increase in the cost of living.
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Madam Chair, I am glad that the member has an eye on the fall economic statement. Our colleague, the Minister of Finance, is going to produce and share a great statement.
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Madam Chair, I understand the concern and share it very much. In my own province, if we add up all those people who died in long-term care centres, we—
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Madam Chair, I have two things on this. First, it is being developed now, and we started many months ago in collaboration with the provinces and territories and experts. Second, we have announced in the platform an investment of $9 billion to support investments in long-term care.
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Madam Chair, if I may continue, we have announced and already made significant investments in biomedical fabrication and development in Canada, leading to some serious advances in the production of and access to medicines—
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Madam Chair, in a brief summary of what we are doing and what we have done, first, we are extremely active on the regulatory innovation to make sure that medicine research and development and production come quickly—
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