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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 28

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 10, 2022 10:00AM
  • Feb/10/22 2:56:27 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the federal government must stop cutting the guaranteed income supplement for seniors who collected the Canada emergency response benefit. It is cruel to cut off money for those seniors who need it the most, those who have to keep working during retirement just to feed and house themselves. We know that the minister agrees with us about this, but why is she waiting until June to stop these cuts? We can work with the minister. She knows that she can count on the Bloc Québécois, which is on the side of seniors. What is stopping her from acting sooner?
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  • Feb/10/22 2:57:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I hear the minister, but it is February and what she is saying will not be done until May and June. We know that the minister will introduce her bill, and we will support it. However, we want her to stop cutting the guaranteed income supplement, the GIS, for workers and seniors today. We have been waiting eight months for this. The problem is that she is still forcing these people to go through months of terrible hardship, making them wait until May to be compensated and until June to stop seeing their benefits reduced. The minister has the full support of the Bloc Québécois to take action, so why does she not take this opportunity to bring in a quick solution?
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  • Feb/10/22 5:32:59 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to rise today. I would like to thank my colleague for her speech, because we in the Bloc Québécois have a terrific team. I will try not to repeat what she said, but I agree with everything she did say, which I support. I do not know if this has been done today, but I would still like to take the time to extend my condolences and sympathies to the 35,000 families who have lost loved ones to COVID‑19 in the last two years. We sometimes forget that these people went through a human tragedy and lost someone dear to them. I would also like to take a few moments to quickly thank the health care workers in both the public and community systems. When we talk about the public health care system, we talk a lot about nurses and assistants, but there are also all of the other professionals in the system who help keep it running day after day so that care can be provided, not only to people with COVID-19, but also to those who need treatment or surgery for other health problems. I therefore want to say a big thank you to public and community health care workers. My riding shares a border with the United States and is home to four border crossings: Dundee, Herdman, Hemmingford and Trout River. I would therefore especially like to thank the border officers, whom I have been talking to. They have sometimes had to grapple with instructions that were not very clear and implement health measures without the help of suitable tools or sufficient time to prepare. Their job has not always been easy. They have had to deal with travellers and people, including some of my constituents, who are having trouble getting across the border to visit their families in New York state. There are a lot of people who have been and still are having trouble because of their family situation or because they live close to the border. I therefore want to thank our border officers and express my sympathy to the people in my riding who have struggled because of the pandemic but also because of problems getting across the border to see loved ones or help sick family members. We have not talked very much about our border officers, so I wanted to mention them, because they played an important role during the pandemic. I agree with my colleague that our knowledge about the virus has grown. From what we have learned from public health, we see that it is time to reassess all the measures that have been put in place to fight the pandemic and stop the spread of the virus. Today's motion appears to acknowledge that the provinces are easing lockdowns and have their own plans and to get the federal government to work in tandem with the provinces. The idea is to give the businesses, which suffered the most, a federal plan with a timeline for when they can expect to get back to a more normal schedule and to give people an idea of when they will be able to access services or see measures lifted. As my colleague pointed out, the motion does not say that all measures will be lifted on February 28. I think that would be irresponsible. Naturally, even after the plan is presented, some measures, like masks, will remain. Even if that requirement were lifted, I would be uncomfortable flying without a mask. I think we will have to learn to live with masks. However, I think we need to reassess everything. As I was reflecting on today's debate, I remembered something that many other members in the House have noted. The current government has a hard time communicating its own directives and is slow to do so. This was clear over the past two years when we had to push the federal government to announce, implement and explain measures. There is currently some confusion between federal and provincial measures, which are clear as mud. Some public restrictions are imposed by the provinces while others are imposed by the federal government. There is confusion and people are noticing a lack of consistency as well. Here is one example. Let us say that I had COVID-19 and I go to Punta Cana. If I had COVID-19 and I go to Punta Cana, I can cross the border without having to get a PCR or any other kind of COVID test for six months. However, if I have three doses of the vaccine, I have to provide proof of vaccination and test results. People do not understand this discrepancy. Perhaps there is some scientific basis for the fact that, if a person had COVID-19, they do not have to be tested for six months, but if they have three doses of the vaccine, they still have to be tested to cross the border. I am not a scientist, but what I do know is that people are confused. They do not understand this measure. People do not understand why, if they travel with an unvaccinated child under the age of five, the child has to isolate for 14 days when they return. In Quebec, children under the age of 5 with COVID-19 symptoms have to isolate for five days. When they no longer have a fever, they can go back to school or day care. There are some guidelines that seem inconsistent, and pandemic fatigue is being exacerbated by these inconsistencies. People are frustrated and, as my colleague said, we get that. In Quebec in particular, 80% of people have received two doses of the vaccine. People feel as though they have done their part. Things are tense right now. It is as if there are two camps: the unvaccinated and the vaccinated. People are starting to say that the unvaccinated are bad and the vaccinated are good. I do not agree with that at all because I do not believe that the world is black and white. There are people who cannot get vaccinated. Constituents have called my office to explain that they were waiting to receive a medical assessment to get their medical exemption. When people talk about the unvaccinated, they feel wrongly judged, and this is creating a bad social climate right now. It is high time we thought about this and maybe came up with a plan. I think it is important for us to say this today. I have heard many members talk in their speeches of health measures that are under provincial jurisdiction rather than talking about the ones that are the federal government's responsibility. Basically, the measures we are talking about today are not the ones that affect people on a daily basis, unless we count federal public servants. We are talking about measures that affect those who cross the border by train or by boat, or those who want to travel. This is about the border issue. The measures people are fed up with are mostly the ones that are under provincial jurisdiction. There is some confusion. Once again, I think that if the provinces and other countries were able to come up with plans, it is high time the federal government also presented its own plan, to ensure that it coordinates and aligns its efforts with the provinces. I will conclude by saying that I dream of a country, a country that manages its borders, takes sole and full responsibility for the management of its borders, and manages its own areas of jurisdiction. That would be much simpler, because there would be less confusion. In the meantime, in Quebec, we will continue to demand our due, which is to get back the money that we pay to Ottawa, so we can pay for our health care and build a strong and robust system to help and support all our citizens.
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  • Feb/10/22 5:43:40 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for that question. I do not get the sense that the Prime Minister understands the urgency of the situation. This gives me an opportunity to explain to him that all of the provincial premiers are calling for a 35% increase in funding because it is not Dr. Tam or her team or the Public Health Agency of Canada that provides care in hospitals, long-term care facilities and private residences. Quebec health care workers are the ones who do that and, right now, the Quebec government is crying for help. It cannot fulfill all of its responsibilities and provide the level of service required because Ottawa is holding back a portion of the money collected from Quebeckers. Ottawa wants to give the money back with strings attached, and that is unacceptable.
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  • Feb/10/22 5:45:33 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I feel compelled to say that what has been happening on the Hill over the past two weeks shows a real lack of leadership from the Liberal government. I think that things are crystal clear. Mistakes were made. No crisis task force was put together in advance when it was known that the trucks were coming. A crisis task force should have been set up, and all the various stakeholders should have been brought together to come up with an operational plan. Now we find ourselves in such a serious situation that any action taken will also need to be quite serious. This is sad, because the government could have done things differently. I have noticed somewhat of a pattern with the Prime Minister. I will not say the word I have in mind, because it may not be parliamentary, but I do find that he lacks leadership. I expected him to be someone who would mobilize people. All the opposition party leaders offered to call a truce, come together and collaborate on finding a solution. However, this was flatly rejected. I do not understand, and I will say that, honestly, what we are going through right now is because of the Prime Minister’s lack of leadership. He is responsible for the current situation.
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  • Feb/10/22 5:47:57 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I think that I understand the question that was coming. I think that we sometimes cut corners in our speeches, and I think that our colleagues opposite would have us believe that the Conservatives are demanding an immediate end to all measures as of February 28. That is petty politics. I think that today there was a great opportunity to say that it is time to work together, to join forces and to help the government with ideas so that it can come up with a plan—
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