44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 14, 2022 11:00AM
Mr. Speaker, with respect to the consideration of Government Business No. 8, I move:
That debate be not further adjourned.
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Madam Speaker, I agree with the member opposite that this is a very important bill. I believe the member understands the reasons, but I want to make sure everyone knows those reasons.
Rapid tests have become extremely important for millions of Canadians over the last few weeks. Once we started not only procuring them but delivering them in October 2020, which is obviously more than a year ago, we increased by five times the number of rapid tests that we were able to deliver in December, which was multiplied again by four times the number of rapid tests delivered in January. That is 20 times more tests, but the demand is increasing. The supply chains are strained and we need to be there.
Therefore, this bill must go forward. I welcome the advice and guidance that we will be hearing throughout the day.
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Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to hear my colleague from La Prairie talking about dialogue. We are going to be having one all day with many hours of important discussion. There will be other debates to follow, because we are only at second reading for this bill.
I have had a lot of discussions over the past few weeks with my counterpart from Quebec, Mr. Dubé. Thanks to those discussions and our co-operation with Quebec, we were able to deliver 35 million tests for Quebeckers alone in January, just a few weeks ago. Those deliveries will continue. With this dialogue also comes a responsibility to continue providing federal government support to the millions of Quebeckers who need it.
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Madam Speaker, the answer is yes. That is in part thanks to the advocacy of the member for New Westminster—Burnaby. He is a strong leader in his caucus. In fact, I have been engaged with many other leaders in B.C. over the last few days and weeks, as elsewhere in Canada. Those rapid tests, as the member mentioned, are essential to keep fighting the virus, and I welcome his input and the input of his entire caucus.
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Madam Speaker, he is entirely right. These rapid tests were delivered in large numbers to the provinces and territories for the purposes he mentioned. They would also be delivered directly to chambers of commerce, the Canadian Red Cross and community organizations that have direct and strong links with Canadians in their communities across Canada. They have been extremely useful since October 2020. Provinces and territories, in the last few weeks, have asked for enhanced quantities of these rapid tests, which is great news. We must continue to support them in their important and sometimes difficult efforts to deal with and fight the virus.
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Madam Speaker, my esteemed colleague, whom I very much like, mentioned the word “urgency” several times, and this is indeed an urgent matter.
We are in the middle of a COVID-19 pandemic with the omicron variant, which is filling hospital beds in Quebec and elsewhere in Canada. The provinces and territories need more rapid tests now, in addition to the ones they received over the past few weeks and months.
I completely agree that the Canadian government needs to be accountable. Again, I note the commitment we are making with the NDP member for New Westminster—Burnaby to report back every six months. Full reports on the cost, numbers and usage for the rapid tests will be released. Again, I congratulate him on his contribution.
We have all day to talk about this in a meaningful way.
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Madam Speaker, my colleague is right: We cannot fight what we do not know or do not measure. That is one important reason, as he alluded, we need rapid tests and, obviously, the additional PCR molecular tests that we have been using for many months. These are complementary tools. We had the delivery of 140 million rapid tests in January, and in addition to that we have been delivering rapid tests to chambers of commerce, small and medium-sized businesses, community organizations, the Canadian Red Cross and many other partners across Canada. This is key, as the member rightly said, towards measuring and appropriately fighting the impact that COVID-19 has on our society.
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Madam Speaker, I will take this wonderful opportunity to say that we are all privileged to be leaders in this democratic process. We will have an entire day today to speak about this particular bill.
More generally, we have the responsibility every day of looking after the health and safety of Canadians. That comes, in part, through those investments. These are big investments. We are speaking about $2.5 billion that the provinces, territories, and Canadians more broadly need now in order to avoid many more billions of dollars of social, economic and fiscal costs that COVID-19 has created for our society and will continue to if we do not have all the tools that we need to fight this crisis.
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Madam Speaker, I confirm unequivocally that a report will be provided every six months on the important elements that the member just mentioned, and rightly so, namely, the dollar amounts, the number of tests and their use in the following months.
As he pointed out, this will be a way of ensuring that there is significant and necessary accountability on the part of the Canadian government on this issue.
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Madam Speaker, I will say three things, briefly.
First, about the investments that we have made, $8 out of every $10 of the total economic support that has gone to businesses and workers over the past 22 months has been provided by the federal government's leadership.
Second, an additional $63 billion has been invested in protecting the health and safety of Canadians. That is in addition to other investments, such as the Canada health transfers that have obviously continued and even increased during COVID-19.
Third, the federal government's leadership is key when it comes to providing rapid tests, PPE, vaccines and therapeutics, such as the Paxlovid antiviral treatment that we now have in Canada. We are among the first countries in the world to have that. As a federation, we have an advantage, but also a responsibility when it comes to the leadership of the federal government. I am glad that all members of the house, certainly on this side, agree with the importance of that leadership.
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Madam Speaker, the member for York—Simcoe is asking why they are important to the federal government. Let me give two examples.
The first is from the regulatory side, which the member mentioned. Health Canada has approved dozens of rapid tests. These are not only antigen tests, but molecular tests. It has approved all sorts of other tests over the past months and years. Canadians expect Health Canada to do its job, which is to protect the health and safety of Canadians, by approving as many rapid tests as it can, but also by making sure that these tests are efficient and safe.
The second reason I can give to demonstrate the importance of rapid tests is as I mentioned. Before December, 2021, on average, provinces and territories were requesting about seven million rapid tests per month. We moved from seven million to 35 million in December, 2021, and then to 140 million rapid tests in January, multiplying by 20 the number of rapid tests available to provinces and territories, despite the fact that every other country on earth was fighting for these rapid tests.
We are doing the right thing, and we are doing it in exceedingly challenging global supply chain circumstances.
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Madam Speaker, I have a great relationship with Minister Main: my colleague, the minister of health in Nunavut. We have been working together really well, and I want to commend him and his government on their leadership and what they have done over the past few weeks and months. It has been critical for us to do that together, because the people in Nunavut are facing challenges that southerners are not always able to fully appreciate. I want to congratulate them for their collaboration and I would be glad to provide, through my team, more details on the exact numbers and circumstances in which rapid tests have been provided to the Government of Nunavut.
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Madam Speaker, I not only very much like the member for Guelph on a personal level, but also very much value his role and leadership in his community and for his riding as an outstanding member of Parliament.
He mentioned a couple of things that he does with his community in part through working with businesses, small businesses in particular, and through chambers of commerce. Chambers of commerce have been allies, but also leaders in their own communities, helping to deliver rapid tests more efficiently and more quickly because of their role and leadership through businesses that do not always have the time or ability to look for rapid tests.
Small businesses and business leaders have been challenged in the past 22 months. Because of the leadership and partnership on the part of chambers of commerce, we have been able to indirectly support small businesses and protect not only them, but the workers who are essential to their activities.
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Madam Speaker, vaccination is not a punishment. Vaccination is protection. The enemy is not vaccination. The enemy is the virus. When we hear members of the opposite side talk about vaccination as the enemy, I am a bit disturbed by it.
There is a tool we need to use that we were given by science and scientists about a year and a few months ago. If there is a tool we should all be grateful to be using, it is vaccination. Imagine if we did not have vaccines in Canada in February, 2020, with omicron. Let us imagine that. Scientists have given us that gift, and I am troubled hearing views of the Conservative caucus pretending that vaccination does not work and that we should not be using it.
Let us imagine what the situation would be now if we did not have vaccination.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from La Pointe‑de‑l'Île for the opportunity to speak to this. We must use every tool at our disposal, including PPE, vaccination, antivirals and rapid tests.
Furthermore, the government has supported the provinces and territories by providing $63 billion since March 2022 specifically to keep people healthy and safe, as well as investing over $280 billion in direct support to businesses and workers. That is an example of how the government has already supported and will continue to support the provinces and territories.
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Madam Speaker, I would invite my colleague to continue working with my own colleagues, the Minister of Seniors and the Minister of Finance, on this very important other bill that is before the House. On the commitment for this particular bill, I am very happy to repeat that we are going to report to the House every six months on the use, cost and number of rapid tests that will have been delivered and that will have a beneficial impact for all Canadians in the weeks and months to come.
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Madam Speaker, approximately 130 people die of COVID-19 every day, so that is one example of the sense of urgency. Provinces and territories are requesting the help of the federal government in providing greater numbers of rapid tests, in addition to the substantial numbers I mentioned earlier.
Obviously the Senate is going to do its own job, and we value and appreciate what they will do at the appropriate time. We are in the House of Commons. We need to do our job, and that is why most of today will be focused on the use and usefulness of rapid tests.
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- Feb/14/22 2:31:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague and want to congratulate her on talking about a plan. We have had a plan for the past 22 months, and the plan is working. We have the lowest mortality rate of any G7 country by far, except Japan. We have enjoyed some of the best economic growth of any G7 country and most OECD countries. People have been doing their part, including getting vaccinated, for quite some time. Nearly 80% of Canadians of all ages are fully vaccinated, and nearly 50% have received a booster.
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- Feb/14/22 2:32:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, speaking of division, I think that in Canada most people are not divided. On the contrary, they support vaccination and think it is important. Eighty per cent of people have chosen to get fully vaccinated. Nearly 50% have gotten a booster dose and that number is going up every day. Every day, 150,000 Canadians are receiving their booster shot and 10,000 others are getting their first dose. It is those 10,000 people that I would like to congratulate in the House for making the right decision every day to protect themselves and their loved ones. That is particularly appropriate on Valentine's Day.
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- Feb/14/22 2:44:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the opposition would like someone, perhaps the health minister, to declare that COVID-19 will end on a particular date. Unfortunately, that is not how the virus operates and that is not what science tells us. What science has told us is that we need to be prudent and responsible in assuming federal leadership. The federal government does not dictate everything. A lot of the restrictions to which the opposition is alluding are restrictions imposed by provinces and territories, and we are going to support them in whatever manner we need to.
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