SoVote

Mr. Luc Berthold (Mégantic—L'Érable, CPC)

Nov/26/21 11:13:18 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, today, I would like to share with the House my grief at the recent death of a wonderful person. I would like us all to take a moment to remember the Hon. Raymond Setlakwe, a former senator, husband to Yvette and a descendant of Aziz, the first immigrant to flee the Armenian genocide and move to Canada to raise his family and help them prosper. Mr. Raymond, as many people liked to call him, was unfailingly generous. A prosperous businessman, he was the founder of A. Setlakwe Limited. He collected political meetings like some people collect hockey cards. He was more than a mentor to me. He gave me my first real chance to work in politics by supporting me when I ran for office for the first time in 1998. I have to say that, at the time, I was running for the Quebec Liberal Party. Raymond never would have supported any other party. I thought I almost lost him for the first time in 2015 when I told him that I would be running for the Conservative Party of Canada. I want to share with my colleagues what he said to me shortly before his death: In politics, we have adversaries, not enemies. To the only friend I have left, I want to say thank you for helping me make my dream come true. I hope that in heaven he will have the chance to meet all of the great politicians in history that he never had a chance to meet here on earth.

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Context: House Hansard - 5 - Nov/26/21

Mr. Luc Berthold (Mégantic—L'Érable, CPC)

Nov/26/21 11:19:37 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, congratulations on your appointment to the Chair. COVID‑19 cases are on the rise in Quebec and Canada. Many countries have started to administer third vaccine doses to all adults. A new variant out of Africa is generating enough concern for the WHO to hold an emergency meeting today. Israel and the United Kingdom have closed their borders to six countries. We have gotten used to the Liberal government's delayed response to urgent warnings. What is the government's plan to keep our economy open?

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Context: House Hansard - 5 - Nov/26/21

Mr. Luc Berthold (Mégantic—L'Érable, CPC)

Nov/26/21 11:20:55 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that response gives Canadians cause for concern. Our economy has been devastated. Thousands of businesses have closed. We have record unemployment. You will recall that the Liberal government was slow to warn Canadians, close borders and provide vaccines. Today, we still have to protect Canadians, who are fed up with lockdowns and closures. What is the government's plan to prevent a fifth wave, which will have disastrous consequences for Canadians' health and our economy?

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Context: House Hansard - 5 - Nov/26/21

Mr. Luc Berthold (Mégantic—L'Érable, CPC)

Nov/26/21 11:22:05 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, lessons learned from the past must guide our actions now, not tomorrow or next week. In February, the government allocated $53 million to the Public Health Agency of Canada to conduct research on the variants. Today, there is no recommendation of any sort about this variant on the agency's website. The Minister of Health is shockingly silent while more and more people are calling for action to prevent this wave. The economic cost of the government's foot-dragging is in the hundreds of billions of dollars. Canadians are still paying and will continue to pay for a long time. Can the government tell us right now what is its plan to protect Canadians and our economy?

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