44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 7, 2022 11:00AM
- Feb/7/22 2:45:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, a recent study stated that lockdowns contributed to saving 0.2% of deaths worldwide. Do members know what contributed to lockdowns in Canada? It was the abysmal lack of health care capacity in that system. The $700 billion spent on COVID created no new beds, and none of the 7,500 doctors and nurses promised by the Prime Minister have materialized.
When will the government properly fund health care?
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- Feb/7/22 2:46:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in spite of the spin doctors, I am a doctor and want members to know that Canada has one-third of the ICU capacity of Germany and roughly half that of the United States. The moral distress from working in an unsupported system with an overwhelming tsunami of backlogged cases looms. As Premier Horgan said on Friday, “a quality service“ like this is “not sustainable in its current model”.
When will the Liberal government end this moral distress and admit that the pandemic crisis has multiplied because of health care underfunding?
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- Feb/7/22 10:00:27 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to rise on this very important topic.
I really find it fascinating that the member opposite would suggest that somebody over here drove those trucks there. That is really quite fascinating that we are somehow responsible for this and that we are responsible for ending it. I believe that this evening our leader actually sent a letter to the Prime Minister imploring him to join the leaders of the other parties such that we can urgently come to a peaceful conclusion to this. The other thing that is interesting is that, my hon. colleague who spoke earlier—
An hon. member: Oh, oh!
Mr. Stephen Ellis: Mr. Speaker, the member opposite was not here to hear his speech in which he said very clearly that we agreed with law and order and that—
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- Feb/7/22 10:01:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am sorry for saying that the member was not here. I really apologize for saying that he was not here. That is unfortunate—
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- Feb/7/22 10:01:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am sorry for saying those things that I said previously, over and over again. I apologize for that.
The unfortunate thing is that, when we have these debates, perhaps everybody should pay very close attention to what is happening and that would make the debate much better.
Will you get your Prime Minister out there to talk to these people?
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- Feb/7/22 10:03:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is quite possible that I do not know the rules, but I am quite sure that “ilk” is really not a favourable term that I should be called in this great House of Commons.
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- Feb/7/22 11:08:14 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am always honoured to rise here in the House. I want to make it clear that I will be splitting my time with my colleague from Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo.
At the current time, the interim leader of Canada's opposition has reached out to Canada's Prime Minister to ensure a peaceful and urgent end to a very difficult situation, and the question that needs to be answered is this: Will the Prime Minister respond?
What has become very clear in Canada is that the mood of Canadians is moving toward the beginning of the end of the pandemic. We realize that the health of Canadians is not only influenced by their physical health but also their financial, social and mental health.
I can clearly recall, in the early days of the pandemic, holding the hand of someone about to die from COVID‑19 who was there without his family and the only way of communicating with them was through an iPad. Some small redemption in those early days with respect to this person was that I had known him previously and he had shared with me his journey in life as a young person, how he had documented a bicycle trip across southern England, how he had been essential to the development of a hospital in Cape Breton, how his wife had died and how he ended up living in the small town of Truro, Nova Scotia. Indeed, to watch this 90-something-year-old male die without his family will forever have a profound impact on my view of the COVID‑19 pandemic. Canadians have suffered.
It is also important to reflect on the grave concern we should all now have with respect to the mental health of children and adolescents. Indeed, my own son has missed out on his high school graduation and the wonderful social times that many of us have experienced in the first two years of university. Getting our own place to live, solving our own problems, meeting new friends and learning how generally to be an adult all on our own are things that have been severely dampened by the COVID‑19 pandemic.
The unfortunate part of the pandemic and the associated isolation is that many people live in their own echo chambers. We have become isolated from the views of the others who would often surround us and engage us in exciting debate and discourse, which sometimes of course led us to agree to disagree, but other times led us to truly engage in conversation that would allow us to see another point of view and perhaps indeed change our own point of view.
Another example of not seeing other points of view is our inability to travel. We need to better understand other cultures, how they solve problems, how they communicate and how they live. It is important that we do these things. This leaves us with a need to question those things that are important to us and help us better understand how we need to help our fellow human beings. As we have these multitude of different experiences, they can help us grow as individuals, understand other cultures, learn new languages and be more resilient to take on our everyday lives. That is not to say that travel is an essential part of being a Canadian. It is simply to say that there are many things that can potentially make us more tolerant of others, which we have deeply missed during this pandemic.
For many others, it has led to the tragic end of a business that they worked so hard for and spent their entire life savings trying to build. The travel sector of course has been particularly hard hit, as has the hospitality sector. Restaurants are essential to our communities and the socialization that happens therein has suffered under this unbearable yoke. We all know that Canadians love to have a beer or a coffee and catch up with their friends, to see their expressions, to understand their burdens, to help shoulder the load and to share a great laugh. Sadly, this too has been transformed by COVID‑19, with no customers, no socialization and all of us living in our own echo chambers.
Moreover, Canadians and indeed people around the world have suffered with increased levels of anxiety. They have lost trust. They have lost hope for the future. They have lost their security. What is hope? One might define it as a feeling of expectation and a desire for a certain thing to happen. Unfortunately, there's been no certainty and the ability to plan for the future has been lost.
We do know there are several things that can benefit the health of our human species, such as good sleep, meaningful employment, doing something purely for the benefit of another, important relationships and physical activity. Essentially all of those things have been disrupted by the COVID pandemic.
As we are all aware, many, if not most, of the provincial medical officers of health are calling for the end of mandates. Countries such as the United Kingdom, with 64% vaccination rates, and Denmark, with 80% vaccination rates, compared with the over 86% that we have here in Canada, are removing mandates for masks, vaccines and passports.
We need to begin to recognize that the time to move forward is now, and that Canadians cannot be expected to live their lives in this perpetual state of uncertainty and without hope as we go forward. To be very blunt, there are many people out there who do not have many years left. I am a 53-year-old man. Realistically, I may have perhaps 15 vigorous years left. Prior to the pandemic, it would have been 17. Do I want to continue my life not seeing the joy of smiles on faces, not being able to travel, not being able to have social events with constituents, limiting my gatherings with family on special occasions such as Christmas and Thanksgiving, and having birthdays that are drive-bys with horns honking from neighbours with signs on their lawns? This, my friends and colleagues, is not living.
It is also very clear from recent studies that lockdowns are not effective. We now know how much the poor federal health care funding in Canada and the lack of surge capacity have perpetuated this pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, in my small town with 100 beds in our hospital, we perpetually worked at between 90% and 130% capacity. Our intensive care beds in Canada per 100,000 people are half of those available in the United States and one-third of those available in Germany.
Now, sadly, we have an unimaginable tsunami in terms of the backlog of cases for diagnostic imaging, laboratory and specialist appointments and missed treatments. How is this perpetual underfunding ever going to allow this catch-up to happen with an overburdened infrastructure and a tired, exhausted, burned-out human health resource of physicians, nurses and other allied health care providers?
How does this all end? Do we simply trudge forward, one foot in front of the next, without any hope, or is this a defining moment in humanity where those around the globe begin to realize that, unfortunately and sadly, sometimes there can be a fate worse than death?
How do we begin to move forward? One great way is to look at the legendary Colin Powell's legacy, the 13 rules of leadership. General Powell was arguably one of the most influential writers on leadership in the western world in modern times.
As he would suggest:
1) It ain’t as bad as you think! It will look better in the morning.
2) Get mad then get over it.
3) Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it.
4) It can be done.
5) Be careful what you choose. You may get it.
6) Don’t let adverse facts stand in the way of a good decision.
7) You can’t make someone else’s choices. You shouldn’t let someone else make yours.
8) Check small things.
9) Share credit.
10) Remain calm. Be kind.
11) Have a vision. Be demanding.
12) Don’t take counsel of your fears or naysayers.
13) Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.
These rules of leadership are not perfect. Leadership is not perfect. One of these things that we also must know about great leaders is that we must try. We must care. In the immortal words of John F. Kennedy, “We do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”
I implore the Prime Minister to check the ego, check the position and meet with leaders of the other parties and bring this situation to a peaceful and urgent end.
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- Feb/7/22 11:18:47 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, my speech tonight was an attempt to turn the temperature down here. This is a very volatile and unfortunate situation. It is really important that we understand that members on both sides of this House have continued to say that those acts are deplorable and despicable. I find it unfortunate if my colleague opposite wants to continue to perpetuate the idea that it is something that anybody in this House would stand for. That is very, very unfortunate. It is inflammatory. It is for those exact reasons that I chose not to talk about those things in my speech but to emphasize that we need to begin to get to the end of this very volatile situation.
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- Feb/7/22 11:20:46 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I think there is a time for meetings and a time for action. The government talks a lot about meetings, but the time has come to take action, to set a direction and to establish a plan for the future, not only for the occupation, but for our country, Canada.
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- Feb/7/22 11:22:19 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, that is exactly the thing that we are trying to avoid here this evening. We think it is very important, even with respect to the audacity of the members opposite, that we need to turn the temperature down and we need to get the occupation finished and be able to move forward and get back to the great things that we have to offer here in Canada.
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