44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 24, 2022 10:00AM
- Mar/24/22 1:54:32 p.m.
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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It was kind of you to point that out.
I will be sharing my time with the member for Vaughan—Woodbridge today after my speech.
It has been two years now, and I still remember on March 13 getting ready to board a plane to return home on a Friday afternoon on Friday the 13th. It has been two years now, and we have been through a lot as a country and as a world. It was a global issue, but from day one the focus of our government has been on supporting the health and security of Canadians. The second objective, of course, was to help them financially through many of the challenges they faced.
I have to be honest. When we were faced with a global challenge and trying as a government to put programs together to meet the needs of Canadians, with everybody in this game and all members of Parliament from all parties needing to be engaged because we needed to make sure we were supporting Canadians quickly, doing that while we were moving forward at 150 miles per hour was very difficult. I remember spending 67 consecutive nights talking with colleagues in our party and with ministers and the Prime Minister about the various programs that would be needed, because we were getting information about what would be needed from our constituents, the people on the ground who were facing the challenges.
There were three million jobs lost overnight. What did we do to help them? Canadians have been there with us, paying taxes for years, and they were in need. We were in a much better position as a government to help them financially rather than to ask them to be burdened by that expense, which would be tremendous. I remember each day getting more information from our constituents, and then in the nighttime talking to members and colleagues and saying that some things were not going to work for a company and that some things were just not going to work for an individual. We put our heads together to find solutions and tweaked the various programs to meet the needs of the people on the ground.
That is tremendous, in my opinion. That is why I came into politics. It was to help and support people and Canadians, and we were doing that every single day, seven days a week. That, in my opinion, is very important. That is why I want to thank all Canadians, but I also want to thank the individual frontline workers, because most people were scared to leave their homes, yet those workers were going to work every day. I cannot thank them enough, nor our teachers. We have seen our school systems right across the country stay open and continue to ensure solid education for all students, which is crucial.
I have to thank the businesses, because we were quickly in need of PPE, gowns, gloves and whatnot. Our companies right across the country, from all provinces and all ridings, were able to find ways to support Canadians, and that was extremely important. Then it was a question of making sure we could find vaccines, and it is a very tough challenge to be able to get that done very quickly. Again I want to thank our researchers and the health organizations. All countries were working together to help and to meet those needs, and we were ahead of everybody in the G7 in getting vaccinations. Today, as we speak, over 90% of Canadians have had at least one dose.
What types of programs did we use to help Canadians? We had the CERB for people, which guaranteed $500 a week for up to four months to help them. We had the wage subsidy, because we wanted people to stay at work if at all possible. We knew companies were struggling and could not keep people at work, but instead of keeping them at home, we could keep them at work, so we offered the wage subsidy at 90%, which was extremely important. Then we moved forward all kinds of recovery benefits as well. Those are some of the programs we put together to allow Canadians to pull through this pandemic.
I will have the opportunity to go into more detail on how our government invested in various funding. I can tell members right now that we have spent over $72 billion in supporting Canadians through the pandemic, and we will continue.
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- Mar/24/22 3:22:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to continue my important speech on vaccination and the work that our government has been able to do.
I want to start again by thanking Canadians. Canadians have been doing what they have to do to ensure that the health and security of others are top priorities. I want to thank Nova Scotians as well, because we were the envy of the world for a long time because we had no numbers. Again, this was because of the high number of vaccinations. It was also because of—
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- Mar/24/22 3:23:43 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, thank you. I will speak in French, so there is no need for interpretation.
I was saying that I wanted to take a moment to thank Canadians for their efforts and the work they have done to help us ensure the health and safety of all Canadians. It is extremely important to point that out. I also want to thank our frontline health care workers, the people who had to go out during the pandemic when it was extremely dangerous.
As I said in my speech earlier, eight dollars out of $10 spent by governments was spent by the federal government to support Canadians right across the country. We saw this in vaccination and PPE investments, and we saw Canadian companies come forward as well to provide supports. Let us not forget that we invested $72 billion in health care and education to support the provinces and territories. Another $45 billion will be coming forward in the next few days through the health accord, which is also essential.
Throughout the pandemic, we have also seen some of the challenges with the health care system and hospitals. Our government, in our platform, indicated clearly that we would invest more in doctors, nurses and assistants to help the provinces with health care and in any other way we could. Long-term care was another area.
Let us talk about how many lives were saved, which is very important to note. In the United States, some studies are showing that 1.1 million people were saved because of vaccinations. That is a very high number and it is a good indicator for us. In Canada, the numbers from some studies indicate that over 400,000 Canadians were saved. The minister talked today about 1,600 being saved in the last few months alone, which is another very important number. In Europe, over 500,000 people over 60 were saved because of taking the vaccine. The answers are pretty clear on that front.
On easing the restrictions, I know the opposition has been talking about that, but let us look at what has been done. We have already said that as of April 1, which is in a few days, a test will not be required before boarding a plane to Canada. People coming by air or water will not need one either. We also talked about cruise ships. People only need an antigen test one day prior, and when people get off a ship, they will not need a test.
Let us also talk about quarantine. Today there is no quarantine needed while waiting for results. Last February, I was here for three weeks and then I went to Nova Scotia. I had to quarantine for 14 days. We are easing restrictions. We are moving in the right direction. The Speaker is indicating he had to sit out 14 days twice or three times, and he was in his trailer. He knows as well I know that we have been easing restrictions, and we will continue to do so as the information we get indicates we can.
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- Mar/24/22 3:28:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, those health care workers do not work for us; they work for the provincial governments. The restrictions were placed by the provincial governments.
Let us talk about numbers, as the member said, in Canada. The minister just indicated today that over 1,600 lives were saved in the last few months. Families can celebrate with other individuals. Over 400,000 have been saved since COVID started. Those are Canadian numbers. They are not my numbers; they are numbers from studies.
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- Mar/24/22 3:29:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for the question. I always like having the opportunity to answer questions, especially in French.
As the Minister of Health explained today, we have no control over what is happening. We can only make decisions based on the results we are receiving. There is no doubt that this situation is complicated, but we are already seeing that the government is in the process of lifting restrictions.
The situation is progressing and will continue to do so as we become comfortable with the numbers. However, let us not forget that hospital capacity also leads to more difficult situations in the provinces.
This is complex, but our government has repeatedly shown, through straightforward processes, that it is lifting restrictions. It will continue to do so.
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- Mar/24/22 3:30:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the work my colleague has done on veterans affairs is very much appreciated.
As he indicated, people need to know that we were set up from the beginning to review decisions every six months depending on what was happening. That review is taking place as we speak. As Dr. Tam said, we will continue to take advice based on science, but we are moving forward on a review as we speak, so we should get some results very soon on that.
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- Mar/24/22 3:32:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague always has good questions, and I appreciate this question. We could have had a much better progressive discussion. However, this does give me the opportunity to share that our government has announced a mainstream program that will help tourism right across the country and help various organizations. We are on the right track on that front.
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