Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to be able to speak to that matter. We have had many discussions and a lot of action in the last few weeks and months with my health minister colleagues. It is true that our health care workers are very burdened physically and mentally with COVID-19 and many other serious issues. In fact, I am speaking again this afternoon with my health minister colleagues on that topi…
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Mr. Speaker, today I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the first report on COVID‑19 rapid test procurement and distribution.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by thanking our colleague from Pierrefonds—Dollard for his excellent work. Last week I did indeed have the opportunity to participate in the World Health Organization's 75th World Health Assembly. The theme was “Health for peace, peace for health”. At the assembly, I was able to meet, talk and work with many of my counterparts regarding the fight against the pand…
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Mr. Speaker, I am always happy to talk science when it comes to such an important topic. Take the number 130,000. That is the number of hospitalizations that the United Kingdom was able to prevent in recent weeks because it has a high third-dose vaccination rate. Because so many people have gotten vaccinated, they are better protected individually and are also helping to protect their communities …
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Mr. Speaker, here is a basic number: 690,000. That is the number of hospitalizations that the United States would have avoided, just in the last few months during omicron, had it had a high vaccination rate like the one we have in Canada. As I said earlier, there is more work to do because, unfortunately, however difficult it may be for some to hear and understand, the pandemic is still with us an…
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Mr. Speaker, there is no secret. The data are available. The experts have been very clear. Consider this example. During the omicron wave, a total of 163,000 deaths could have been prevented in the United States alone if the U.S. had had a higher vaccination rate like we have in Canada. That said, Canada still has a lot more work to do. We need to keep increasing our third-dose vaccination rate to…
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Mr. Speaker, I am very glad to receive this question from a member who is normally less interested in health. Obviously his interest in health will be followed up on, and I look forward to working with him on this particular matter.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my wonderful colleague from Fredericton for the excellent work that she does. I also want to thank all nurses. It is very important to acknowledge the work that they do during National Nursing Week and during every week of the year. I also want to acknowledge Linda Silas, the president of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, and her entire team. I thank them for giving me…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from London West for her excellent work in support of the LGBTQ+ community. Today is a great day for anti-discrimination, justice and equity. Canadians have been waiting for this day for many years. Health Canada has approved Canadian Blood Services' request to eliminate the deferral period for men who have sex with men and to replace this policy with a single uni…
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Mr. Speaker, I am so pleased to be able to hear our colleagues speak about this great day we are having today in removing discrimination in this particular matter. As our colleague said, we are so grateful to the activists, as well as the scientists, for having worked so hard over the last few years to get to that outcome. We look forward to working more together to make sure that Canada is a coun…
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moved: That, notwithstanding any standing order, special order or usual practice of the House, (a) on the day of the adoption of this order, the ordinary hour of daily adjournment shall be 12 a.m., that until Thursday, June 23, 2022, a minister of the Crown may, with the agreement of the House leader of another recognized party, rise from his or her seat at any time during a sitting, but no later …
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Mr. Speaker, I am so glad to get this question because it points to our great collaboration with the Government of Newfoundland and the great minister of health in Newfoundland. We have worked extremely well together over the last few months. I want to congratulate Newfoundlanders, in particular, for having some of the highest vaccination rates in Canada for children and adults, including boosters…
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Mr. Speaker, the Canadian government has invested a total of $63 billion over the past two years to support all of the amazing work that my dear colleague just spoke about. This $63 billion was invested to protect the health and safety of workers and residents, and the outcomes we have seen have been extraordinary, especially compared to what might have happened under another government or in anot…
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Mr. Speaker, once again, I thank my colleagues for giving me a chance to talk about the $3-billion investment in mental health that is already allocated in our budgets. We look forward to being able to transfer that investment to the provinces and territories to help look after Canadians' mental health. We know how much people's mental health has suffered, including that of health care workers who…
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Mr. Speaker, I once again sincerely thank my colleague. I will be able to add more information to the list. One billion dollars is the sum we agreed to transfer to the provinces and territories just a few days ago. We are really looking forward to making an official announcement to all the provinces and territories. That money will help take care of our seniors, who went through very hard times an…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to join the member in thanking and congratulating all health care workers in Quebec, who have worked so hard over the past two years to protect us against COVID-19. Thanks to the extraordinary co-operation of all levels of government, we collectively saved tens of thousands of lives and tens of billions of dollars in revenue for families and small businesses. We are very …
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Mr. Speaker, I am grateful to our colleague for generously giving me the opportunity to add further information to the previous question. Exactly 10 days ago, we announced $2 billion. That is an extra $2 billion, no strings attached, to help the provinces and territories clear the terrible backlog in surgery, treatment and diagnosis, because we know just how important this is to the provinces, the…
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Mr. Speaker, the reason we are able to lift restrictions is that we have a large number of people here in Canada who have been vaccinated. I just spoke a moment ago about the recent U.S. study. What I did not mention is that in that study 163,000 deaths would have been averted between June and November last year in the United States, had there been more vaccinated Americans during that period.
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Mr. Speaker, “cruel” is indeed the right word when we speak about the impacts of COVID-19 on our families, our children, our seniors, our economy, our workers and our businesses over the last two years. It has been extremely harsh and cruel. The reason we are able to make life more normal now is that we are continuing the fight against COVID. Living with COVID means continuing the fight against CO…
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Mr. Speaker, again, we are very grateful to the almost 30 million Canadians who got vaccinated. That is the reason we were able to avoid the closing of schools and the shutting down of businesses, restaurants, theatres and cinemas. That is the reason we will be able, on April 1, to make it easier for people to travel into Canada by changing the prearrival testing rules. This is all very good news,…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for giving me one more opportunity to speak about the importance of vaccination. Just this morning, we were informed of a recent U.S. study that showed that, between June and November 2021, had there been more vaccinated Americans, they would have saved about $14 billion in the cost of hospitalization and 700,000 would not have ended up in the hospit…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Alfred-Pellan for his hard work and for his excellent question. On Friday we announced $2 billion in additional unconditional funding to help the provinces and territories address the delays in treatments, diagnosis and surgeries; to support health care workers, who have suffered considerably because of COVID‑19; to improve access to primary care; to create d…
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Mr. Speaker, I am very glad to answer this question. Because of our joint work together with the provinces and territories over the last two years, which involved a lot of difficult decisions and difficult actions on the part of individual Canadians, together we essentially saved tens of thousands of lives. Had we not done that and had the types of public policies and vaccination rates we saw sout…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank our dear colleague from Mississauga—Streetsville for her hard work. Last Friday we announced additional support of $2 billion to help provinces and territories reduce backlogs in surgeries and treatments and also to support our health care workers to ensure better access to a doctor or family health team, to create digital health records for all, to improve mental health and s…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for giving me the opportunity to say more about the important investment we announced on Friday: a $2‑billion unconditional top‑up to the Canada health transfer, in addition to the $45 billion, effective April 1, to reduce wait times for treatments, surgeries and diagnostics, which have done so much harm over the past few months. It is time to clear the ba…
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Mr. Speaker, trusting and working together is exactly what we have been doing over the past two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, with record investments in health and safety worth $63 billion, in addition to $43 billion through the Canada health transfer. Most importantly, this exceptional collaboration has saved tens of thousands of lives in Canada. Tens of billions of dollars have been injected t…
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Mr. Speaker, I think the member of Parliament was very right in pointing to the difficulties many millions of Canadians have lived through in the last two years in the biggest health crisis in over a century and the biggest economic crisis since the Second World War. The reason we went through this crisis well in Canada, and better than in many other places, is that we have stuck together and we h…
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Madam Speaker, I will repeat what I said yesterday. I have a great deal of respect for my colleague from Mégantic—L'Érable and the work that he does. He does great work, not only within his Conservative caucus, but also in the House of Commons. I will always be there to help him do his job. As I said, if he wants to see other studies and work, he can contact me, and I will be pleased to continue w…
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Madam Speaker, the member is absolutely right. Not only are we listening, but we have been working together for several months now. My colleague, the former health minister, did just that for several months, from the beginning of the pandemic. We talk almost every week. We are working together. That is why we now have a Canada health transfer that is going to increase from $43 billion to $45 billi…
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Madam Speaker, this allows me to highlight the role, importance and benefits of a federation that has been working together for more than two years. The reason why Canada was able to emerge from the pandemic earlier and in better shape than many other countries is that we had the benefit of a federation where governments worked together to deliver 81 million doses of vaccines, 400 million rapid te…
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Madam Speaker, this is a question about Service Canada, which I like very much. I used to be the minister responsible for Service Canada and I still remember how hard the workers at Service Canada work every day. It has been very difficult for them over the last two years because of family stress and professional stress. I think we all want to thank and congratulate them for their work and for con…
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Mr. Speaker, I am trying to be non-partisan, but the hon. member was not here before the last election, so she may not know that, roughly 13 months ago, her party said that Canadians would be the last in the world to be vaccinated, that they would not be vaccinated until 2030. Canadians have been vaccinated in large numbers and, in most cases, before other countries. It is a gift that we received …
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Mr. Speaker, I am grateful for the opportunity to rise today in the House to address this very important topic. The COVID-19 pandemic has obviously impacted everyday life across Canada and around the world for two years now. It has also put our health care systems to the test, disrupted our economy, and altered our social and economic interactions. In response to the crisis, the Government of Cana…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for his fair and fine question. I will answer only one piece of it, as he spoke about border measures. We have been using a set of measures to monitor the way in which those border measures should be adjusted. One of them has been on the PHAC website for more than a year now. It is the positivity rate for people entering Canada. We have had tests, PCR tests,…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his very good question. First, as my colleague suggests, the Canadian government and Canada will have to continue to work with the other countries to ensure that the distribution of pharmaceutical production capacity, such as for vaccines, is equitable, including in developing countries. Second, Canada committed to delivering 200 million doses of vaccine in 20…
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Mr. Speaker, through the member for Nunavut, I would like to thank Minister John Main in Nunavut, with whom I have a very good relationship. I have a lot of esteem for him. We have been working on many different things, including providing health care support to the people of Nunavut, including providing rapid tests. We had a brief very recent exchange on that to make sure that the rapid tests and…
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Mr. Speaker, I think we heard recently that if we had the same death rate in Canada that we saw in the United States, there would have been 60,000 more people dying in Canada than we saw over the last two years. Despite that, 7,000 Canadians did die over the last few weeks because of omicron. These are obviously individual and community tragedies. The reason we have been able to do much better in …
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Mr. Speaker, I have these brief reactions. The member is correct in speaking to the impact of COVID-19 on mental health. About half of Canadians report that their mental health has suffered because of COVID-19. Eighty per cent of health care workers also say that their mental health has fallen. I was speaking to a representative of the Canadian Pharmacists Association yesterday. About 90% of pharm…
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Mr. Speaker, I know this might sound a bit complicated, so let me make this very simple. It is 8,000 and 25,000. Eight thousand is the number of people who will be receiving either their first or second dose today, and 25,000 is the number of people who will be receiving their booster dose today. We are very grateful to them, not only for protecting their health but for protecting the health of th…
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Mr. Speaker, let me again thank not only my colleague, whose company and work I enjoy, but also all Canadians. Let me say the vaccination mandates that opposition Conservative MPs opposed during the campaign have saved not only hundreds of lives but thousands of lives. Estimates are about 1,600 people in the last few months have had their lives saved by vaccination mandates. Obviously, had we not …
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Mr. Speaker, I am grateful to the member for his work and for admitting, and I think he knew that already, many weeks ago, that vaccination mandates did work. They not only saved lives. I spoke about the 1,600 Canadians who are currently alive because of those vaccination mandates, having not been infected, sent to a hospital and then dying because of not being vaccinated. Also there is the large …
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Mr. Speaker, let me try again to make it very simple. I will use one number this time, instead of two, which is 135,000. That is the number of Americans whose deaths were avoidable. If the U.S. had been vaccinated to the extent we have in Canada, in part due to vaccination mandates, they would not have died. Those lives had a value. How much it is in dollars very few people would know I suppose, b…
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Mr. Speaker, we spoke about being responsible and being kind to each other. I will try to make it even more simple. Instead of 135,000, I will use three, which is a simple number. Three times is how many more deaths we would have had in Canada if we had followed the example of the United States when it came to public health measures and vaccination rates. Three times more people dying would be 60,…
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Mr. Speaker, we would all like to be able to declare the date when COVID‑19 will disappear from the earth. That would be marvellous. I would certainly be the happiest man on earth, and in this Parliament, to be able to tell the House on what day COVID‑19 will disappear. Unfortunately, I do not know.
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Mr. Speaker, it is true the mental health of Canadians has been deeply affected the last two years. We estimate that about one Canadian out of two has seen his or her mental health deteriorate over the last few months. For health care workers, it is about three quarters. Now, health care workers have been at the front lines of this crisis—
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Mr. Speaker, I was going to point to health care workers. Obviously, we are deeply thankful to them, but thankfulness is not enough. We need to think of them and we need to act in a way that protects them if we want them to protect us.
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Mr. Speaker, hardship is the right word. I was speaking yesterday with the Canadian Pharmacists Association, which represents another group of health care workers who have been at the front line and living very difficult times. Their personal mental stress has been heightened by COVID, as has the stress of their families when they go home after a day at work, the stress of their staff and the stre…
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Mr. Speaker, that question gives me the opportunity to continue speaking about the hardships and stress many Canadians feel, including health care workers and obviously patients. We have seen, over the last two years, a backlog of surgeries approximately equal to 700,000 patients. Their families, friends and communities are affected by that backlog. Today, we still have about 4,000 people hospital…
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Mr. Speaker, we all agree and are all thankful for humanity. Humanity means thinking about others and caring for others. I will mention the fact that, on average, in the last week we have had about 50 to 60 additional deaths. Those are not just numbers: those are people whose families obviously are very much impacted. We have 4,000 people who are hospitalized. That is a large number of people. Hum…
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Mr. Speaker, Conservatives have to choose between vaccination, which is not punishment but protection, and lockdown. We cannot have no vaccination and no lockdown. The fact that the Conservatives do not seem to believe in vaccination, in March 2022, is very serious. If we did not have vaccination, and if we did not keep insisting on vaccination, we would be closing schools, shops, stores and facto…
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