44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 10, 2022 10:00AM
- Feb/10/22 2:42:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the blockade at the Ambassador Bridge, the siege of Parliament Hill, threats at the Ottawa airport and border blockades in Alberta and Manitoba are not isolated incidents. It is not up to any particular city or province to deal with this. They are targeting Canada.
That is why the Prime Minister of Canada needs to take the lead. We are witnessing an organized occupation by experts in police and military tactics targeting the federal government. When will the government find a way to deal with the crisis happening right before its very eyes?
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- Feb/10/22 5:17:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to be here tonight to speak to this extremely important issue. I would like to inform you that I will be splitting my time with our wonderful whip, the member for Salaberry—Suroît.
I will read the Conservatives' motion, which is quite short and pretty self-explanatory, because I want people to have a clear understanding of what we are talking about today. I am really addressing my comments to the people back home because, as it is plain to see, Quebeckers are all fed up. They have had enough of health measures in general and are eager to move on. I hear it a lot at home, just like everywhere else. Therefore, it is to them that I speak today.
I will read the motion:
That, given that provinces are lifting COVID-19 restrictions and that Dr. Theresa Tam has said that all existing public health measures need to be “re-evaluated” so that we can “get back to some normalcy”, the House call on the government to table a plan for the lifting of all federal mandates and restrictions, and to table that plan by February 28, 2022.
It is not a bad motion. In fact, it is a very good motion, seeking some predictability. We have not had any for such a long time, for two years, with everything that has been put in place by the federal government. We understand that this is a unique situation.
I will refer to a tweet that I saw from a Quebec comedian I will call Louis T. He says that asking for a concrete plan is like asking the Weather Network to tell us exactly what the weather will be like in the next few days so that we do not have to worry about unpredictability and know when we can wear shorts.
We understand that it would be a bit of a stretch to ask for a clear picture of what is going to happen, because even the government does not know. We all saw it. When omicron hit us hard just before the holidays, it seemed like things were going well. Parliament here was full. We thought that we had put much of the pandemic behind us, but then it started up again. I myself caught COVID-19 over the holidays. I can say that it was no fun at all. I was pretty sick for 10 days, so we never know what can happen.
We understand what the government means when it says we need to be cautious and listen to public health guidelines. We completely agree and are calling for that as well. We must listen to public health guidelines and reassess measures that are no longer relevant. That is what provincial governments are mostly doing now. That is what is happening in Quebec. Things are moving gradually. The Legault government did not announce that all measures would be lifted overnight. That is not how it works. He gave dates for restaurants or theatres to reopen, for example, or for when it might be possible to have more guests in private residences.
People have an idea of what is coming. I think that gives hope to the people who are tired of all this. Knowing that we will be able to start having guests over and see our families gives people some joy. It is good for them. Just hearing that can make people feel more positive.
This is not about getting a date to lift all federal measures. Not at all. This is about wanting a plan so that we know what is coming. I completely agree with the Conservatives. I think we and all Quebeckers and Canadians need to know what is coming.
This week we learned that the Conservatives and the Bloc Québécois are not alone in thinking this. The member for Louis-Hébert thinks so as well. He called on the government to develop a clear plan for moving forward.
That reminds me of what is happening outside. At first, people said that perhaps the protesters did not know enough about why the health measures were in place, and that perhaps it had not been properly explained to them. In Quebec, we have seen the Legault government giving almost weekly updates and explaining why each measure is important, why it is in place and when it might be lifted. I have not seen the federal government do as much of that in the last few months or years of the pandemic. It would introduce a measure, then say that it was not really based on public health recommendations, but that it was implementing it anyway. We saw this several times. People are wondering why. They are wondering what is going on, and they are not necessarily getting any reassurances.
I think it would be good to come up with a reopening plan and to really explain why today, it is good to have border restrictions, and why in three weeks, for example, it might be all right to lift them. The reasons need to be explained. We do not want people to feel as if they have been working hard for two years for nothing, because the number of cases is still high. We do not want them to think that we have decided to lift the restrictions just because everyone is fed up.
I heard the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs say several times that we really need to listen to public health and not give in to pressure. I am thinking about the truckers' convoy right now. It is not a public health advisory, and I liked what the minister said, even though I do not always agree with what Liberal ministers say.
It is true that we have to go by what public health says and we must listen to the experts. I think we have reached a turning point where we are able to reassess what has been implemented.
Today I was listening to some of the speeches by Conservative colleagues, who took the opportunity to talk about the rules and health measures in place in the provinces, as well as vaccination. Some are against vaccination, but I do not think that the House is the ideal place to talk about that. It is time to call for a clear plan.
There are not that many federal measures compared to the provincial measures. At the federal level, we are talking about measures that were put in place at the borders, which, again, benefit everyone: the use of ArriveCAN, the requirement to show proof of vaccination for travellers and, obviously, for truckers at the border, the PCR screening tests, quarantine in the federally mandated quarantine hotels that everyone will recall, the requirement to show proof of vaccination on federally regulated modes of transportation such as train or ships, mask wearing in federal buildings, and, of course, the vaccine mandate for employees of the public service.
It is not like we need to look at a hundred measures. I think is reasonable enough to wonder whether the numbers from the past few months prove that these measures have yielded tangible results and whether, given the current percentage of the population that is vaccinated, we could, if not lift the lockdown, at least relax the restrictions a bit.
I think those are some of the questions we should be asking to give our struggling businesses some predictability. I am thinking of businesses in the tourism, hospitality and aerospace industries, which are very much affected by these measures, particularly the border measures. We need to give them a game plan to tell them when they can start thinking about all of that again. We have seen how hard the Quebec government's measures have been on restaurants, which were given 24 hours' notice that they would have to close or a few days' notice that they could reopen. It has not always been easy for them to change tack so quickly. If the federal government could come up with a plan with specific dates, I think that would help them prepare as best as possible to get back to business.
I also wanted to talk about another point the member for Louis-Hébert raised, and that is health transfers. The Bloc Québécois has been talking about health transfers non-stop for the past two years, to the the point where I am wondering why the federal government has not taken any action on that, since it must be sick of hearing us talking about transfers.
Furthermore, the Conservatives have joined our call in recent weeks, as have the NDP and the provinces through the Council of the Federation, which met recently. Once again, the request is unanimous. We will keep talking about it, but I think enough has been said and the federal government has heard sufficient sound arguments to finally agree to this request.
Why are lockdowns needed? It is because our health care systems are incapable of dealing with the impact of COVID-19. We have seen this in Quebec and elsewhere in the country. Increasing health transfers is crucial for the future because, as I said, the omicron variant hit us without warning, and there is no guarantee that we will be insulated from another pandemic or another variant. Our health care systems must be ready to deal with them.
The federal government has a duty to transfer money to the provinces and Quebec. I think this is a fairly legitimate request, since it is clear that our health care professionals have been stretched thin for months if not years. They need a little help, and I think the federal government could provide it.
I see my time is running out. I would have liked to speak to a number of other issues, but our whip will perhaps be able to fill in the gaps later, in her speech. I would be happy to answer any questions my colleagues may have.
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- Feb/10/22 5:28:32 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, as I said a little earlier, Quebec definitely has a plan, which was announced this week. We have also seen Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario announce plans to reopen not too far down the road.
Other countries, such as Denmark, France, England and Sweden are on track to completely lift their health measures. At least, they have announced their intention to do so. That is all we are asking the federal government to do.
We agreed with the measures applied at the border, and the Bloc Québécois really insisted that the federal government take the appropriate steps at our borders to ensure the safety of Canadians.
However, at this stage, I think we can reassess the measures in place, and we need to show Canadians this is being done.
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- Feb/10/22 5:30:29 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question.
That is exactly what we have been asking for from the beginning: that the government listen to the public health authority. That is stated in the motion itself. Dr. Theresa Tam stated that all existing public health measures need to be re-evaluated. We are not saying that the plan must specify the date on which each measure will be lifted. That is not the case.
We are asking that if public health officials say that the border measures must be lifted, but that we must wait two more months to do it, that must be stated in the plan so we have an idea of what to expect in the short and medium terms. We are asking that this be done by listening to what public health authorities have to say. Naturally the decision must not be a political one; it must come from the public health authority.
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- Feb/10/22 5:32:32 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, that is a very good question.
It is a little hard to discern the Conservatives' position. We have heard the potential future leader of the Conservatives demanding freedom and encouraging the convoy. However, we have also heard other Conservatives—
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