44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 24, 2022 10:00AM
- Mar/24/22 1:40:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, since this morning, we have heard several Conservative MPs talk about the need for a plan. I would remind members that, a month ago, we voted in favour of their motion for a plan to be tabled.
The problem is that there is no mention of a plan in the current motion. Why is the need for a plan being brought up in the speeches when it is not included in the motion? Would the Conservatives be open to amending the motion to explicitly set that out?
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- Mar/24/22 1:41:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for the question.
I think that we do indeed need to have a plan. The Liberal-NDP government does not have one at this time.
I believe that we must get rid of the requirements that are currently in place, for example the ones at the border for people who lost their jobs. We must put an end to these requirements immediately and set out a plan for all the rest.
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- Mar/24/22 1:41:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, everything has an expiration date. Our country was hit with a pandemic that no one had experienced before. We implemented measures we thought were best, and Canadians really delivered on what was asked of them.
An emergency plan needs to be three things: timely, targeted and temporary. We do not even have a plan, and it has been two years. Every province has lifted, or has a plan to lift, mandates. I can, in fact, go outside of this federal building right now and not show my vaccine passport or wear a mask, yet I have to in here.
How is the science outside of this federal building different than a non-federal building? People can attend an NHL game with 20,000 unmasked and unvaccinated people, but we still have not fully opened our borders. Why?
As shadow minister of tourism, I can tell members the travel industry is without a doubt one of the hardest-hit sectors. It is important to take this time to truly convey the magnitude of this industry and how hard it has been impacted by these travel restrictions. People have been shamed for wanting or needing to travel, and that is wrong.
Many people will say that travel is privilege, but I challenge everyone to think about the millions of people who have a job, a paycheque and a purpose because of the travel industry. People have saved their life savings to go on a trip. I challenge everyone to think about family members who need to travel to see each other.
Before this pandemic, Canadian tourism was a $105-billion industry. It has been slashed to less than half of that, and unless we take action today, it may not recover.
It is time to drop the federal mandates and the confusing restrictions. Canada is lagging in the world of travel, and we need to restore travel confidence today. Canadians and international travellers are travel hesitant. The rules and unnecessary restrictions are huge barriers to this industry recovering.
People will book a trip to visit family or to get away, only to cancel it shortly thereafter because the rules keep changing. We need to move forward. We need to learn to live with this virus, and we need to restore travel confidence. That is key in the recovery.
Each week, I receive hundreds of heartbreaking stories from constituents who have not been reunited with family and friends. I have a friend who never got to say goodbye to their mother, who passed away alone. This is all connected to the travel industry. Whether one travels by plane, train or automobile, one needs to rely on the tourism sector when one travels.
Maybe someone needs a dog kennel, a hotel, a restaurant, food, supplies, gifts or clothes. Maybe someone wants to visit the spa and get their hair or nails done before they leave or while they are at their destination. All of these businesses have been decimated, and it is our duty to help them recover.
The Canadian tourism and travel sector cannot recover without the support of the government. The government took travel confidence away from Canadians, and it is its job to restore it. We need to restore travel confidence and fully open the border. The government needs to show the world Canada is safely open for business. It also needs to take the action to prove it, and not just say it.
The tourism industry relies on plans that are months out, and our window gets smaller and smaller every day to help this sector recover and restore travel confidence. Travellers who are currently making summer, fall and winter 2023 plans will bypass Canada if we do not act today.
Travel and tourism is both a foundation for our economy and our mental health. Those who work in the industry are suffering and those who travel are suffering. This is a huge industry that impacts all demographics. People need hope and relief.
Tourism is the backbone of many local economies across our country, including in my riding of Peterborough—Kawartha. Rhonda Keenan of Peterborough and the Kawarthas Economic Development says that 87.5% of arts, entertainment and recreation businesses were closing their doors or cancelling.
Many businesses in the tourism sector have shared heartbreaking stories with me about their struggles. Many have invested their life savings, remortgaged their homes or can no longer afford their homes. These businesses cannot endure another season of closure and uncertainty.
I want to share some stats with you. The Canadian Federation of Outfitter Associations is a voice for resource-based Canadian tourism. The industry has an economic impact of over $5 billion annually and provides over 35,000 jobs. The industry can accommodate over 700,000 clients for fishing and hunting, many of whom come from outside of Canada. Clearly, this is a significant industry and it needs our help to recover. Ending federal mandates would help it recover. The Saskatchewan Commission of Professional Outfitters reported decimating revenue losses of up to 100%. One in five outfitters did not open its camps in 2021.
Next, I want to share the experiences of Brian Edwards of Rocklands Entertainment Canada. Brian has been in the industry for decades. He, like so many others, has seen it destroyed. Brian wrote to me recently saying that I was 100% correct that tourism and entertainment are about as connected as one can get. He described how every year they booked hundreds of airline flights, hotel rooms, buses and meals. The bus groups they worked with all across Canada in some cases survived entirely on taking people to entertainment venues. He also said that, for the mental well-being of everyone, including, but not limited to, artists, producers, technicians, promoters, agents, managers and, last but not least, the audience, it needs to survive. He asked if I could believe that one of our most celebrated and successful Mirvish productions, Come From Away, had had to shut down and cease production.
As we start to hear these stories, we are reminded just how big the travel and tourism industry is and how many lives it impacts. Stewart Grant from Stonetown Travel said that revenue is down over 90% and 50% of retail travel agencies had been lost in their constituency. ITAC, which is the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada, said that Canada's indigenous tourism sector has experienced an almost 70% decline in direct GDP and a 59.4% decline in employment. The Tourism Industry Association of Canada, TIAC, is still at 50% of where it was in 2019.
Since the pandemic started, only 1% of all cases of COVID-19 in Canada have been related to travel, yet it is portrayed and perceived as an unsafe thing to do. The constantly changing restrictions also cause so much confusion. To put this into perspective, in 2021, which was supposed to be a year of recovery, the industry reached only 13% of the total number of international visitors compared to 2019. The year 2021 was worse than 2020 in terms of international inbound travellers.
The tourism industry was the first hit. It was the hardest-hit. It will be the last to recover if we do not plan and act now to remove the unscientific mandates. It is time for the NDP-Liberal government to give hope and relief to the tourism sector and end the restrictions that continue to hold their businesses back.
Why are we punishing the industry that brings us the things that we need the most right now: jobs, mental health, a thriving economy, happiness and hope? It is time to end the federal mandates.
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- Mar/24/22 1:50:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, on the topic of vaccine mandates and requiring people to have vaccines, it was found out that during the 2021 election this particular member went into a retirement home being not fully vaccinated. I wonder whether she has had an opportunity to reflect on that and if she thinks that was a wise choice.
More important, would she recommend that somebody else do the same thing? Would she encourage anybody going into a long-term care home to be fully vaccinated?
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- Mar/24/22 1:50:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is important to note that many of those who work in long-term care are not fully vaccinated.
I want to point out for the member opposite that it is unfortunate that he does not care about the travel and tourism industry and all of the statistics I provided in my speech. Clearly, for somebody who has a riding as beautiful as the member's, it is unfortunate he does not care about the travel and tourism industry.
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- Mar/24/22 1:51:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, on February 4, Dr. Tam said that Canada's public health restrictions should be re-evaluated. Later that month, the Conservatives brought a motion to the House for the government to table a plan. New Democrats voted against that motion at the time because there was an illegal occupation in the nation's capital, and we did not think it was appropriate to signal that public health restrictions were to be re-evaluated at that time. That is not a secret to the Conservatives. They knew that at the time because we said it at the time.
The illegal occupation is now over. Today, the member for Vancouver Kingsway proposed an amendment to this motion that would call on the chief public health officer of Canada to conduct that review in a timely way and for that to be concluded within four weeks. Unfortunately, the Conservatives, despite knowing that is something that would lead to greater agreement in the House, declined to have that amendment considered. Can I ask the member why?
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- Mar/24/22 1:52:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this tourism sector cannot take anything else. That is what I am here to talk about today. That is my role, to stand up for this sector that cannot survive another season of closure. There are no more plans. How do we not have a plan? How do we not have these mandates being lifted when they have been lifted in every other province? We are the last in the travel industry worldwide.
That is what I am asking for today.
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- Mar/24/22 1:53:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola we have three valleys. The Okanagan Valley is well known for tourism, but so are the Similkameen and Nicola valleys. In fact, Experience Nicola Valley recently received the 2022 marketing program of the year award from the Canada Prestige Awards program. They are sharing the stories that get people to come to places like Nicola Valley, but unfortunately, many of the restrictions on travel are stopping people from coming.
Could the member please say what needs to happen to allow groups, such as Experience Nicola Valley, to capitalize on their good work? What other things can the government do to make it better for our tourism sector?
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- Mar/24/22 1:53:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the very short answer is to restore travel confidence. People need to know that Canada is safely open for business. As I said, less than 1% are impacted by this. We need to open it up. The government took travel confidence away. It is its job to restore it.
I cannot wait to visit the Okanagan Valley.
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- Mar/24/22 1:54:17 p.m.
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Resuming debate. Before giving the floor to the hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs, I must note that he will have about five minutes to speak right now. He may continue his speech after oral question period.
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- 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 2:00:03 p.m.
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The member will have four and a half minutes remaining when we return to debate.
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- Mar/24/22 2:00:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House today to recognize a unique and effective approach to domestic violence prevention and education that is happening in my community and reaching people throughout North America.
She Is Your Neighbour is a powerful awareness project and storytelling series created by the incredible team at Women's Crisis Services of Waterloo Region. The podcast explores the realities and complexities of domestic violence. The stories talk about the many types of abuse. They address myths about victims and survivors. They discuss the role of men and more.
Throughout the series, they emphasize that we all have a role to play in ending domestic violence. Their third season comes out in May and features some amazing guests, including Anna Maria Tremonti.
I invite all colleagues in the House, and in fact all Canadians, to listen in for themselves. They can find She Is Your Neighbour wherever they download podcasts or online at sheisyourneighbour.com.
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- Mar/24/22 2:01:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Mrs. Kamalambikai Kandasamy, a brave mother of the Tamil nation. Throughout 2008 and until May 2009, Mrs. Kandasamy worked day and night as a pharmacist embedded with the Tamil medical team in Mullivaikal. As makeshift hospitals were targeted and bombed by the Sri Lankan armed forces, she fearlessly helped thousands of survivors.
The world ignored her pleas in 2009 but heard her loud and clear as she became a critical witness and voice to the war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide of her people. She campaigned for accountability and justice, seeking to end impunity for Sri Lankan officials by speaking at the United Nations Human Rights Council and advocating to our Minister of Foreign Affairs and many other world leaders.
Until her last breath, she supported the mothers of the disappeared, raised money to support survivors and ensured that those who made the ultimate sacrifice were never forgotten, including her only son, Thivaharen.
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- Mar/24/22 2:02:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, today I rise to commemorate the life of my friend Walter “Wally” Philips. The son of Ukrainian immigrants, Wally was born in Saskatchewan before moving to B.C., where he began several careers in his life. He was a fixture in the White Rock community, a fellow Rotarian, former president of the Richmond Chamber of Commerce and a dedicated champion of medical rehabilitation programs, mental health and the like. Wally was a passionate community leader and volunteer. He often reached out to me with welcome and wise advice and will be greatly missed by many.
Above all else, Wally was a family man. When his delightful wife Kay passed away, he said it felt like he had lost his right arm. Sadly, his son Alan passed away six days after him.
Wally's legacy will live on through his remaining children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren while he rests peacefully with his brother, sister, son and Kay. He believed they would all be together on the other side, and I have no doubt they are.
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- Mar/24/22 2:03:41 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to an incredible young woman from my community who passed away far too soon on Tuesday.
Natalie Pauline Agustin, or Nalie, as she was known to her loving parents Tess and Jess; her partner Vee; her wonderful, large Filipino family; and her many, many friends and followers, faced life with cancer with courage, creativity and humour as she shared her daily challenges on social and public media, as well as in her beautiful book of poetry and observations, The Diary of Nalie.
Today we mourn Natalie, but as she said in her own words, “I want to be remembered by how I made you feel in my presence...I want to be remembered for always giving it my best and, despite how I felt or what was said, I never stopped believing in me—and you...I don't want to be admired, I want you to feel inspired. Through you and your inspired-living is how I wish to leave my legacy.”
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- Mar/24/22 2:04:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is with emotion, appreciation and conviction that I rise in the House today to mark Purple Day for epilepsy.
It is with emotion, because I have an extraordinary four-year-old son named Ulysse who has suffered from the neurological disorder of epilepsy since he was barely ten months old.
It is with appreciation, because the 100,000 or so Quebeckers living with this disorder can count on health professionals, organizations like Épilepsie Québec, and people like us to support them.
It is with conviction, because I know that all the support we provide, whether it be in the form of concrete gestures to support epilepsy organizations or symbolic ones such as wearing purple, improves the lives of people living with epilepsy.
On my own behalf and that of the Bloc Québécois, I want to thank everyone for showing such goodwill and solidarity on March 26 by wearing purple for all the Ulysses of this world.
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- Mar/24/22 2:05:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this week is Quebec Intellectual Disability Week, and I would like to take this opportunity to highlight the work that dedicated organizations are doing in the Outaouais.
For example, this year, the Association pour l'intégration communautaire de l'Outaouais is celebrating its 65th year of serving our community. The association provides services to people with intellectual disabilities and their families to help them integrate into the community both socially and professionally. I am thinking about Marie-Ève, who has visited us here in Parliament. During my visits to APICO, I have witnessed the positive impact that this organization, its employees and its volunteers clearly have on the people they serve.
I thank the entire team, the families and the precious volunteers for the tremendous work they do for people with intellectual disabilities. I wish APICO a happy 65th anniversary and continued success in the future.
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- Mar/24/22 2:07:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, today 30% of the seats in the House of Commons are held by women. March 24 is Agnes Macphail Day, in celebration of her birthday and honouring her as the first woman elected to this chamber just over 100 years ago. Agnes was first elected to federal politics to represent the riding of Grey Southeast and would later represent the Grey—Bruce riding, part of the riding I have the honour of representing.
Last night I had the privilege of listening to the winning speeches at the 76th annual Grey County Federation of Agriculture public speaking contest. What stood out to me was that the overwhelming majority of the student participants were young women. I am confident in saying that many of them will be future leaders in my riding and across Canada, especially in the cultural, political and agricultural fields.
I hope all members will join me in recognizing the historic and inspiring contributions Agnes made to Canada and in honouring her as a pioneer who inspired and continues to inspire women across this country to take their place in the House of Commons.
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- Mar/24/22 2:08:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, tomorrow, March 25, marks the 201st anniversary of the Greek war of independence. This day is important not only to Canadians of Hellenic origin, but also to people all over the world.
I remind everyone that this day is dedicated to all those who love liberty and freedom, and I warn all who would deny them these human values. This is a moment for Greeks to celebrate and an invitation for all to follow the spirit of the Greek revolution and fighting oppression.
In light of the threat of Russian aggression in Ukraine, I would like to acknowledge the struggle of the countless Ukrainian men, women and children who have been displaced, killed or wounded, and the millions fighting for their sovereignty, identity and freedom. As long as there are heroes ready to sacrifice for justice and liberty, the Greek spirit of freedom and democracy will live on.
Slava Ukraini. [Member spoke in Greek].
Long live Canada.
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