Government Orders
Madam Chair, I thank my colleague for his hard work and his good words. No, we have not abandoned this. In fact, it is all in progress because of the important advances that we have seen in the past six years. I look forward to describing them in a moment in greater detail as more questions come in.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, I congratulate my colleague once again. I will add another statistic. In Quebec alone, approximately 1.5 million people do not have access to a family doctor. I will now add two more figures. We did not wait, and I believe the member is fully aware of that. We immediately invested the very significant amount of $55 billion during COVID-19. We should not forget that $25 billion was inv…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, I commend my colleague on all his contributions and I would remind him of another number. The number of surgeries that were delayed these past months because of the COVID‑19 pandemic is estimated at 780,000. The extraordinary partnership we saw between the governments during the pandemic can be just as important in the short term for cleaning up that mess.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, I am very grateful to my colleague for the question. I will quickly share two numbers with him. During the COVID‑19 pandemic, the Canadian government invested $55 billion in addition to the $43 billion under the Canada health transfer, not to mention part of the $11 billion that has been invested since 2017. That is a lot of resources invested in a short amount of time, without waitin…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, the first part of my colleague's question is about mandate letters. In 2015, the Liberal government was the first government in history to make mandate letters public. To answer the second part of his question, I invite my colleague to look at the Liberal Party's election platform from the last campaign. He will see that health care was a huge part of it.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, I assure my colleague that I am well aware of the priorities of my mandate. The first is to help our country definitively recover from the COVID‑19 crisis. The second is to repair the damage this crisis has caused to our health care system. The third is to build our health care system for the long term.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, there are a lot of ministers, and I am not sure who the member is addressing. I have not yet received my mandate letter. I hope it will be made public soon.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, I think having respect here would be for the member to tell the House clearly what measures she proposes should be in place.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, again, we do not know what the alternative is. Are they proposing that we should remove all testing and quarantine measures?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, $1 billion spent to protect the health and safety of Canadians, I think, is a good idea.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, what would be acceptable would be to hear the views of the opposition members of Parliament. Do they really believe we should take away all measures at the frontiers, including quarantine and testing measures?
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, I do not understand exactly what the objective of this is. If the objective is to suggest that we should not have measures for quarantine and testing procedures at the border, then maybe the member should say so.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, I will say it again. Strict measures have been put in place at the border since the start of the pandemic, and they were the right measures to put in place to protect the health and safety of everyone.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, I am going to smile because she mentioned a vaccine advocate. I think there should be more vaccine advocates on the other side of the House, and they should let us know how many Conservative MPs have not yet received one dose out of the 62 million doses administered to Canadians.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, that is right. To minimize harm is exactly what we should be doing. That is what we have done throughout the crisis by putting strict measures in place at the borders to protect everyone, including those inside Canada.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, again I have not heard the answer yet. Is the intent to ask the government to remove all testing and quarantine measures, as has been suggested by this—
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, that is not acceptable. What is also not acceptable is to follow the proposal of the Conservative MPs. Just a few days ago, they asked for the removal of all tests and quarantine measures.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, I am sorry to say I do not know the exact number. What I do know is that we need to look after all those people who come into Canada and treat them—
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, the member is correct. The people who come to these places need to be treated with respect and care. That is what the Public Health Agency has to do in collaboration with the providers of the service.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, the member is correct to mention that we have had to look after Canadians, both those who remained inside the country and others when they came back to Canada. We followed the important health and safety measures we put into place.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, indeed I have a binder because I am being told that I forget many other measures that are going to create many more homes.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, time is short, so let me repeat the numbers. They are 1,000,000, 300,000, 125,000, 71,000, 530,000, 9,200, plus a $4 billion acceleration fund to work with the provinces, territories and municipalities.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, one more initiative we have announced recently is the rapid housing construction initiative, which is going to lead to the construction of tens of thousands of new homes in just a year.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, one program I have not mentioned yet is the one dealing with innovative systems and programs in building housing. There are 125,000 homes being constructed because of this particular program.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, I have two statistics. First, the opioid crisis kills on average 20 people every day. Second, safe injection sites have saved about 20,000 people over the last years because people are looked after, taken care of and provided with safe drugs in a safe environment.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, I could talk about that for quite some time, as I have so much to say, but I know you will cut me off soon because I see your stern eyes. I will take the time to say that we have actually invested around $25 billion over the past year in the fight against COVID-19 alone. It began with a $500-million investment starting on the very first week, in March 2020.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, all members have witnessed the serious negative effects of the pandemic on mental health in their ridings. We will be making several investments in the coming weeks and months. Unfortunately, I do not have time to say more.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, vaccination is key to exiting definitively from the COVID-19 crisis. We are very proud that 77% of all Canadians of all ages have now received two doses and 80% of Canadians have received at least one dose. We look forward to vaccinating many children between the ages of five and 11 in the next few weeks.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, we are indeed exploring that issue. Experts on the matter say that there are methods and ways that will help us vaccinate even more people even quicker.
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, my colleague said his questions were for the Minister of Foreign Affairs, so I am a bit uncomfortable answering him directly. However, I do want to give him my regards and congratulate him on being elected. I would also like to tell him that there are many ways to make inroads against COVID-19 globally. As he correctly pointed out, almost everyone in Canada is vaccinated, but many peo…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, we all know mental health affects not only the person but also the family and the community. It also has an impact on productivity and the ability to participate fully in the community and the workplace. It has huge impacts from physical, economic and social perspectives. The member is so right in signalling that we need to invest, in partnership with provinces and territories. We did…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, my colleague from Whitby is right. We obviously are mindful of the physical impact of COVID-19 in Canada and the fact that almost 30,000 people in Canada died of COVID-19. If I may open a brief parentheses, I mentioned earlier the fact that comparatively speaking we have done quite well. If we would have had the same rate of deaths as we observed south of the border, we would have end…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, my colleague from Brampton East is right. Without the hard work of hundreds of thousands of health workers over the last 20 months, we would not be in the current situation. This includes those working in the typical health care system but also in long-term care, mental health and community centres. It also includes the scientists and the other workers who were there to provide health…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I am so glad to take this opportunity to thank my parliamentary secretary, the member of Parliament for Milton for agreeing to work with me over the next while, I hope, in order to protect the health and safety of Canadians, in a science-based context. I appreciate very much his question. I think he is right on. Science and scientists have guided us throughout COVID-19. This was a pan…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I am certainly very grateful to have the opportunity to address the committee of the whole this evening. I would like to begin with a brief update on the COVID-19 situation in the country, a matter of concern to many Canadians. As members know, the new COVID-19 variant, omicron, is now circulating in Canada and in many other countries. Early data suggest that omicron may be more trans…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, my colleague, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, would be more than capable of answering that question and could probably do a better job of it than I can. First of all, I will say that it is an extremely important question. We know that ending this pandemic anywhere means ending it everywhere. That is why we have been working so hard with our international partners since the very begin…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Madam Chair, I am obviously very happy to answer that question, because I was just talking to my provincial and territorial colleagues about that issue a few days ago. We will talk again tomorrow about how we are going to get out of the COVID-19 pandemic and the new variant crisis together. We have worked together a lot over the past 20 months. This has demonstrated the strength of federalism and,…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, there is obviously value in working internationally together to set up these efforts, and that includes working with the WTO, including on the TRIPS waiver. With this, something has been done for a large number of months now.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the reference to the upcoming holidays is indeed a good one. People know that, over the next few weeks, things are going to change. People are going to be interacting more indoors. I think that Canadians, and Quebeckers in particular, understand the importance of following public health guidance in uncertain times. I think that people have so far made the right choices and will contin…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, this gives me the opportunity to say hello to and congratulate my colleague since we have not spoken since his election. I also commend him for his concern for the health and safety of Canadians during these very troublesome times. We are getting the right things done quickly. We are quickly putting measures in place. People know that the border measures changed a few days ago and tha…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for giving me the opportunity to speak to this issue. He knows as well as I do how important it is, with the new omicron variant, to protect people's health and safety. He knows very well that these measures take some time to implement. By the way, I would like to thank all our partners, including our airport partners. I would like to thank public health, obviousl…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, the $2.5 billion is not for vaccines. It is for additional investments to help other countries not only receive and manage, but also administer those vaccines.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, every opportunity to answer such questions is a welcome opportunity. I thank the member for providing one. He is right that we need to be focused on the health and safety of Canadians. We need to do this in a science-based manner, and we also need to follow public health advice. While I hear some interesting comments from the Conservative MPs, I would like to ask them whether they hav…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I am obviously very pleased and grateful to be able to answer this question. Since we have spoken about this several times, my colleague knows very well how invested we are in taking action on several fronts, including harm reduction and the safe supply of medications and drugs. We naturally want to work with the community so that services are available for those who need them most. M…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, I am again very pleased to say a bit more on that. We are delighted to work very well and very constructively with airports across Canada and with public health officials. I am also pleased to remind every Canadian that the best way to protect ourselves is by following public health measures and being vaccinated. Talking about calls to action, what about the actions of Conservative …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, I am obviously pleased to take the first question from my colleague, the Conservative critic, regarding health and safety. I want to quickly say three things. The first is that this is all based on science. The second is that, with regard to any confusion, I am sorry to say that, just a few days ago, my colleague was asking for us to stop all testing at the border. Third, it would b…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, I am happy for the opportunity to answer this question. Before I respond, however, and since this is my first opportunity to do so, I would like to quickly acknowledge the new cohort of pages, of whom we are already very proud. The member for Hull—Aylmer and I were once pages, many years ago. We know how challenging it can be to manage work and school. We thank them in advance for e…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, I am so happy to answer that question because, a few months ago, my colleague and his colleague from Calgary Nose Hill said Canadians would have to wait until 2030 to get vaccinated and would be the last people in the world to get vaccinated. I am delighted to remind my colleagues that we are leading the pack. How long will it be before all the Conservative members get vaccinated? M…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I will digress briefly from my notes to speak in English given that I am fortunate that the member is here before me. I want to let the member know what I think he already knows, that his advocacy and length of experience with the matter is very credible, very touching, and everyone listening to him knows that we owe him a debt of gratitude. I would like to indicate that in the proces…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for giving me my first opportunity in this Parliament to address the House and thank all those who put their faith in me for the third time just a few short weeks ago in the great riding of Québec. Of course I want to thank my family, my partner Marie-Chantal, our children, Étienne, Clémence and Antoine, my parents, who guided me toward everything I …
Read full speech →