44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 19, 2022 10:00AM
- May/19/22 3:49:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Ottawa Centre for his speech.
I would like to hear what he has to say about the amendment proposed by the Bloc Québécois. We want to replace “immediately revert” to prepandemic rules with “gradually revert” to them.
During the pandemic, I consulted with cultural and tourism organizations in Shefford on various emergency committees. They were calling for predictability. They wanted a clear reopening plan. The government failed to come up with one, making it difficult for many businesses to anticipate what will happen next. Both of these sectors have been hit hard by the pandemic. Now they want to recover from it.
What does my colleague think about the importance of proceeding gradually, while presenting a reopening plan and providing predictability to the cultural and tourism sectors? That is what they are asking for.
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- May/19/22 3:50:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I concur with the member opposite. She is absolutely right: We need to develop plans. We need to have predictability and certainty as to the next steps as we come to an end to this pandemic. That is exactly what I was talking about. It is very similar to conversations I had with my constituents in the tourism sector that exists right here in Ottawa: the nation's capital.
We agree that we need to work together to develop those important plans, and I will continue to urge all government ministers to do so. I believe the government has been doing that. We are developing those plans. We need to make sure that we bring resources back into our services that were thinned out during the pandemic so that Canadians can get the services they deserve.
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- May/19/22 3:50:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the important point made by my colleague. The pandemic is still very much with us. He made the critical point that vaccines have saved lives here in Canada and around the world, but the reality is that so much more needs to be done to ensure vaccine access around the world and Canada is not doing enough.
We should be supporting the TRIPS waiver. We should be allowing pharmaceutical companies here to work with countries in the global south, such as in Bolivia, to produce vaccines during this pandemic that has proved to be particularly deadly for many countries in the global south.
Does the member agree that Canada ought to be doing more to ensure vaccine justice around the world?
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- May/19/22 4:05:07 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I currently serve on the Standing Committee on Health. Two or three weeks ago, the committee heard from public health officials, including Dr. Tam. We asked her whether she thought that Canada was in the endemic phase of the pandemic, and she told us that she did not think so.
My colleague says that he wants to follow the science, but I think public health officials have a lot more expertise than he does in that area. I would therefore like to ask him whether he no longer has any trust in public health experts.
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- May/19/22 4:08:10 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, just as with most problems in this country, Liberals are the cause. Over the past seven years, it feels like they have removed common sense from the dictionary.
They will try to deny it, and they will try to shift blame. They have blamed out-of-practice travellers for the delays, backlogs and travel-associated horror stories that we see coming out of Canadian airports right now, even for domestic flights. Certainly, their globally outdated mandates, red-tape-bundled policies and general lack of compassion is not at fault.
They are vindictive. They are smug, and their leadership is power hungry. The government is the root of the problem.
If I have not been clear enough already, the rest of the world is moving past the pandemic. Even Canada's provinces have learned to live with COVID, but our federal government has not. This is no longer about safety. It definitely is not about common sense. It is about control. Once the Liberals took control, they did not know what to do with their new-found power, and Canadians have suffered long enough for their half-witted initiatives. It is way past time for Canada to return to prepandemic rules and service levels for travel.
Lack of staff is not an excuse. They have had plenty of time to plan for reopening, just like they have had years to plan for passport renewals, another thing the Liberals have dropped the ball on hard.
I am hearing from many constituents about the delays they are experiencing at the passport office, how people wait for hours in line to get to the door just to be told to go home. They then phone, and the phones ring and ring, but they never get answered. I am also being told that Passport Canada is no longer accepting electronic documents and is telling people to go to their MP's office to print the documents. Where is the common sense in that?
It gets worse. It gets a lot worse, and I wonder who or what the government will blame next for the mistakes this time.
The provinces have dropped their mask mandates, yet federal buildings still require people to wear a mask regardless. People wait in those long lines at passport offices, sometimes for hours, get to the door and then they find out that they are required to wear a mask in order to get service.
When they get inside to find out they need a mask, the federal offices have none to give them and there are none to be found. What is a person supposed to do? People are sharing masks. Multiple people, strangers, are using the same mask because the government refused to have a plan.
I am no doctor, but I am pretty sure that wearing a used mask from someone else is far worse than not wearing a mask at all. It seems like the Liberals prefer to have conflicting, arbitrary rules that cause outrage and confuse people.
Do people want more proof of Liberal political theatrics? The drama teacher in charge is ready to act stern and frighten Canadians into compliance. Afterward, when the cameras are all turned off, he is happy to rip off his mask, smile, socialize and jet set around the world just as though restrictions no longer exist. There is one set of rules for the people in power, and one set of rules for the rest.
The rules are different for people like Julie from my riding. She did the responsible thing. She applied for her family's passports months in advance of their trip, but since then, Service Canada has delayed responding to her inquiries, sent her for new passport photos multiple times and told her that she needs to pay $95 per person just to speed up processing times.
The government is using backlogs caused by its own incompetence to extort Canadians who played by the rules. It is simply shameful and unbelievable, and again, there is no common sense. If members thought that passports was a wild ride, it gets far worse.
Let us take a look at what the Liberals have been doing to boaters. Southwestern Ontario is bordered by the Great Lakes, and my riding of Lambton—Kent—Middlesex sits on the beautiful southern shores of Lake Huron. Other parts of my riding are along the St. Clair River and Lake St. Clair.
As boating season starts, boaters are wanting to go across the river to Michigan. Before the pandemic, the number of small vessel reporting sites was 400. That number has now been cut to 84. As boating season opens up, boaters will have to travel out of their way to report their vessel.
Do members not believe me? Constituents like John have written to me to say that, instead of taking their boat across an 800-metre wide river to get to and from my riding and Michigan, the CBSA wants them to reroute for 76 kilometres round trip just to check in. This is ridiculous.
John has calculated that it would cost him over $1,200 per trip just to meet this requirement. He has even calculated that this will create an extra 1,140 kilograms of carbon emissions just for one trip for him. The hypocrisy is that the government is pretending to care about the environment and Canadians but, in practice, it is needlessly adding emissions.
I just found out, minutes ago, that the government actually announced that it is going to reopen those reporting sites, but that is only after Conservatives pushed it for common sense and to lift these restrictions from the boaters.
Federal restrictions are being made and enforced without common sense. These mandates unfairly punish Canadians, and the government is giving no indication that it will ease off any time soon. It has consistently missed the mark on marine travel, from Walpole Algonac Ferry in my riding, which was shut down due to marine transportation not being included in cross-border travel exemptions earlier this year, to those recreational boaters who are not going to have points of access entry this spring. Canadians are being left behind. Continuing temporary closures for over two years is unnecessary, costly and irresponsible.
When I previously asked the minister if they will allow CBSA's regular points of entry to be reopened, he laughed. I will spell that out again: Liberal ministers are laughing at the pain they are causing Canadians. They are taking joy in the prospect of crippled tourism and empty rural small town shops during what would normally be a busy season and the busiest time of the year, which will hurt small businesses in communities such as Mitchell's Bay, Port Lambton, and Wallaceburg. This is not a joke.
The behaviour displayed by these ministers was despicable and very telling of how little a priority the concerns of my constituents are to the Liberal government.
Did members know that Canada is the only country in the world where non-vaccinated people are not allowed to travel domestically? Let that sink in. That is not okay. Requiring a type of passport for Canadians to travel domestically, creating second-class citizens, needs to end. The government is going out of its way to punish fully vaccinated travellers, no matter if they cross by land, sea or air.
I have had personal experience with this when waiting in line for security at airports, watching people struggle with delays and fighting the mandatory use of the barely functioning ArriveCAN app, something that the government insists on using.
Remember how I mentioned earlier how it would only take paper documents? Well, now it wants an app, something that is totally digital, which is another decision that spits in the face of common sense-loving Canadians.
Liberals refuse to compromise. They will not give people the choice to use paper or electronic documents. That would make too much sense.
At the land border crossings, what is happening late in the evening? Well, there is one overworked stall that is still open. Americans do not know about the ArriveCAN app when they are crossing and the requirement to use it. The government has failed to explain to them and to advertise to would-be border crossers of this requirement. This makes for frustration and delays for tourists coming to support our economy and for Canadians returning home.
For example, I spoke with a senior couple in my riding who are fed up with how little is being done to help them. They are in their 80s, and they are very cautious. They care about the rules, and they want to try to follow them. They asked their son for help to buy a phone, their very first smart phone, something that they were forced to buy, because they were excited to resume day trips across the border.
When they put the ArriveCAN app on, it was not working and they did not know what to do. They told me that they took time and drove down to the store to see if the young clerk could help them. Unfortunately, though, they all tried, and it still did not work. They returned their new phone, they shelved their excitement and returned home wondering why the government would make visiting loved ones for a day so hard for them.
I know that Conservatives are asking for the Liberal government to do something that is very difficult for them, which is to finally adopt some common sense and listen to Canadians instead of to themselves. People want their lives back and one way to start giving them this is to return to prepandemic rules and service levels for travel.
Everything the government touches is an absolute failure. On behalf of all Canadians disappointed with how their plans are being ruined, I will ask this: If Canadians do not have a smart phone, can they get a smart government, or at least one with common sense?
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- May/19/22 4:17:54 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I was listening to the hon. member across the way, trying to sort through the obviously emotional comments she was making about the frustrations she is feeling about the pandemic, frustrations that, indeed, many Canadians are feeling.
I wonder if the member could comment on, post pandemic, what the role of masks might play in preventing other diseases that might be passed from person to person?
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- May/19/22 4:20:56 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her speech. However, I find it a bit ridiculous that we are talking about masks and the fact that people are wearing used masks.
The government has not come up with a postpandemic plan. I am well aware of that. However, there are still solutions, and there are restrictions that must be kept in place at airports.
I would like to know why my colleague does not support our experts when they tell us to be vigilant because there could be another pandemic.
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- May/19/22 4:32:50 p.m.
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This is the problem, Madam Speaker. The Conservatives want to treat a pandemic as though it is a static problem: as though we can determine really early on what the various stages will be based on different things that are happening. We did not know the omicron virus was going to come along in January, did we? No, we did not. It really did not pop up in Canada until December. Things are changing. A pandemic is a dynamic and fluid situation to deal with. Conservatives clearly do not recognize that.
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- May/19/22 4:34:45 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, one of the challenges always has been about how to nail down a plan on something that is continually evolving, shifting and changing.
I share the member's great concern about the tourism industry. The third-biggest economic driver in my riding is tourism. That is why the government was there for tourism operators specifically when the pandemic started. It was there before the last wave and will continue to be there for tourism operators moving into the future. We cannot predict the exact moves of the pandemic, but we can be there to support small businesses and tourism operators specifically through the pandemic. That is exactly what we have been doing and continue to do.
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- May/19/22 4:35:42 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, some of my constituents have concerns. The government has been slowly lifting some of the pandemic requirements, and that includes what is going on in terms of travel. The government knew that and anticipated it. On its website, it has put out information for the public as well.
To that end, the government should have anticipated that travel would escalate, and therefore that demand for services would increase, both at the airport, with people passing through, and at passport offices. However, we have chaos going on, and people are lined up for very long times and cannot get through. At passport offices in my own riding of Vancouver East, people have to tent overnight to try to get service.
How come the government did not anticipate that and ensure that adequate resources and staffing were in place?
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- May/19/22 4:49:09 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, this is a really important issue and we are hearing from many people in my riding. Certainly, we believe that health measures should be informed by health science and not politics.
We heard Dr. Tam in March, stating that a full re-evaluation of Canada's pandemic measures would be done and that she would report back to Canadians. We are at the end of May. People have concerns. Trust in public health measures requires explaining the arguments and sharing the evidence they are based on.
For two years, the government was in front of Canadians, answering questions. We cannot find it now. It is not in front of Canadians, answering questions about this. To have trust, the government needs to be fully transparent with Canadians with the evidence behind any of the remaining health measures.
Does my colleague not agree that Liberals are failing to answer the questions of Canadians? They need to come forward quickly to ensure that there is trust in Canadians.
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- May/19/22 4:50:12 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to talk about the words “two years” that the hon. member used. I want to thank Canadians because it has been over two years, and it has been a long two years. I want to thank them for their sacrifices. I want to thank them for protecting their families when they were asked to, for social distancing, for staying home, for wearing masks and for hunkering down. I want to thank them because they sacrificed that. It is because they received their vaccines and got our vaccination rates to very elevated levels, protecting themselves and their loved ones, that we are able to exit the pandemic in a very safe and prudent manner under responsible leadership from all governments collaborating together.
Yes, we need to continue to follow the public health guidelines. We must maintain a high level of confidence in the measures we put in place, directed by health officials. We have seen a loosening of the restrictions occur. I hope to continue—
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- May/19/22 4:51:58 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question.
I will say this: Our government must always provide the relevant information to Canadians to maintain a high level of confidence in the measures that we put in place. That is why, as Canadians have been vaccinated and as we exit the pandemic, restrictions have been loosened very prudently. We must always protect the public health and safety of Canadians. That is our number priority and our number one job.
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- May/19/22 5:07:19 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from St. Albert—Edmonton for splitting his time with me, and, more importantly, the member for Thornhill for bringing this very important issue to the House.
Essentially, the debate is about calling on the government “to immediately revert to pre-pandemic rules and service levels”, but I say that we should call for the government to get its act together. Seriously, it is time for the government to get its act together and stop making excuses about its failures.
We repeatedly hear many excuses from the government, such as it cannot open offices and it cannot allow public servants to return in person because there is a sixth wave coming in the fall. It is spring now, yet the government is saying it has to wait because there is a sixth wave coming in the fall. We hear the government say it cannot do this because there are still people in the hospital with COVID. The government makes the excuse that there are still people to be vaccinated.
Canada has, to its credit, one of the highest vaccination rates in the OECD. It is time for the government to recognize what the provinces have recognized and what many of our allies have recognized, which is that it is time to move forward—
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- May/19/22 7:36:49 p.m.
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Madam Chair, here is a quote. It is something the minister wrote in the PSPC 2022-23 departmental plan. It says:
Nearly two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, protecting the health and safety of Canadians remains a priority for the Government of Canada. PSPC will continue to play a central role in our response by procuring critical supplies, including vaccines, tests and therapeutics.
It has now been over six years since British Columbia declared a public health emergency. Is the health and safety of some Canadians, like people who use drugs, not a priority for the government? Why has PSPC not played a central role in responding to this crisis?
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- May/19/22 8:20:22 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I am pleased to have the opportunity to address this committee to discuss the procurement activities of the Government of Canada and how these are being leveraged to meet our goals for equity.
I believe every member of the House would agree that the government wields considerable buying power as one of the largest public buyers of goods and services in this country. Every year, Public Services and Procurement Canada manages or facilitates approximately 23 billion dollars' worth of contracts for goods and services.
Our procurement activities keep the government functioning so it can serve and protect all Canadians. These procurements generate economic activity and bring money into the hands of Canadian companies, sustaining many thousands of jobs in cities and towns all across this country and contributing to our prosperity as a nation.
Government procurement has always been an important catalyst for change, and the opportunities it provides have never been more evident than they are today. It is our focus as a government to bring our purchasing power to bear as we work to improve the way the government buys goods and services to support Canadians.
While our economy is making a strong recovery, we know the pandemic has affected the lives and livelihoods of so many across our country and around the world. Most recently, our bulk procurements of rapid tests, vaccines and therapeutics have helped Canada respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, a top priority for our government.
We have also seen how these economic hardships have affected some communities more than others. For members of under-represented groups in this country, the pandemic is just the latest in a long history of tragic events that have led us further and further from the image of equality that we want to see for Canada. There is still so much work to be done if Canada is to become a country with equal opportunities for everyone.
As this government finishes the fight against COVID-19, we are committed to creating an environment where all Canadians can benefit from a robust economic recovery. That means ensuring that those who are facing systemic barriers to success are able to successfully participate in federal procurement and benefit from our considerable buying power. That is exactly what we have been doing in recent years.
We have been consulting businesses led by indigenous people, Black Canadians, other racialized Canadians, women, LGBTQ2+ Canadians and Canadians with disabilities. These discussions have informed us, and we have developed concrete plans to increase their representation in federal procurement to better reflect our country and society.
I would like to now take a few minutes to explain in detail our actions to attract a wider diversity in suppliers to government.
This government remains committed to building progress to address the inequalities that exist between indigenous and non-indigenous people. As we continue to walk the path of reconciliation, we are working to help indigenous communities seize economic opportunities and promote self-determination.
This past August, we announced that our government is implementing a mandatory requirement for federal departments and agencies to ensure that a minimum of 5% of the value of their contracts is held by businesses managed and led by first nations, Inuit and Métis people. The new requirement will be phased in, and we expect it to be fully implemented by 2024. It will be mandatory to report publicly on our progress against this target.
I would like to make it clear that when it comes to ensuring that indigenous-owned and indigenous-led businesses are full partners in government contracting, the 5% requirement is the floor, not the ceiling. We will continue to work actively with indigenous groups to increase their participation in federal procurement more broadly.
I would like to remind members of the House that even as this government worked tirelessly to acquire supplies and equipment to support Canada's frontline health care workers and all Canadians during the pandemic, we were also creating opportunities for businesses led and managed by indigenous people. To date, 41 self-identified indigenous businesses have contributed to the government's pandemic response through contracts awarded by Public Services and Procurement Canada for goods and services collectively worth about $197 million.
These contracts represent vital services that include logistics, air charter services, accommodation, cleaning services and IT professional services. They also represent much-needed goods, such as medical and laboratory supplies, masks, hand sanitizers and thermometers, contributing to more than 2.7 billion pieces of personal protective equipment acquired by the government since the beginning of the pandemic. By increasing contracting opportunities, we are able to generate economic prosperity in communities that have not traditionally shared in this country's economic wealth. As we have said many times, this government is committed to reconciliation. That includes increasing the participation of indigenous-led businesses in the federal procurement process, and helping them to succeed and grow.
Our plan is also to continue addressing barriers faced by other groups that are under-represented in Canada's business community: Black and racialized Canadians, women, persons with disabilities and LGBTQ2+ Canadians. In January, Public Services and Procurement Canada launched the supplier diversity action plan, which includes concrete steps to increase the participation of businesses from under-represented groups in federal procurement. The foundation for this plan was the result of a number of pilot projects. One of these projects involved opening select bidding opportunities in several regions for various goods and services to Black-owned and operated businesses. The department then invited a number of these businesses to answer an online questionnaire about their experiences with federal procurement. This information has been helping PSPC improve efforts to attract more Black-owned and operated businesses to offer their goods and services to government.
A cornerstone of the supplier diversity action plan is the policy on social procurement. This policy demonstrates our government's commitment to using procurement toward greater economic and social opportunities for under-represented groups. The policy empowers procurement specialists to pursue this objective in their day-to-day work. By enacting this policy, our government is making it clear that including more under-represented groups among our suppliers is now a core objective of our procurement function.
I would like to highlight some of the ways in which our government is working to increase the participation of women-owned and led businesses in federal procurement. Encouraging women-owned and led businesses to do business with government will help ensure that our economic recovery after the pandemic will be strong and inclusive.
To help increase diversity and social procurement, Public Services and Procurement Canada is providing education and assistance on federal procurements to under-represented groups across Canada through the Procurement Assistance Canada service, formerly known as the Office of Small and Medium Enterprises. Small and medium-sized businesses can take advantage of webinars, seminars and events organized by regional offices across the country to learn more about how to do business with government. In addition, as part of the supplier diversity action plan that I mentioned earlier, these offices now offer personalized coaching to give targeted advice to enterprises that have previously bid on government contracts but have not been as successful as they could have been. The coaches provide information and tools that help guide companies through their bidding process.
When this government took office in 2015, one of the principles it wanted to reinforce was that Canadians should see themselves reflected in their government. Diversity and inclusion are crucial so that all Canadians feel they are participating in society. Can the minister elaborate on what actions her department has taken to help diversify the Canadian government's procurement process and to have the vendors and suppliers the government buys from better reflect the Canadian people it is serving, while advancing reconciliation?
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- May/19/22 8:34:28 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I wonder if the minister could speak to the work around therapeutics in the COVID-19 pandemic fight.
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