SoVote

Mr. Michael Cooper (St. Albert—Edmonton, CPC)

May/19/22 4:52:25 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of our Conservative opposition motion calling on the Liberals to immediately lift remaining travel restrictions, which leaders in the tourism and hospitality sector and the airline industry say are harming business, damaging Canada's international reputation and resulting in chaos at our airports. Let me say that, while the government certainly needs to lift these travel-related restrictions, it frankly needs to lift all remaining federal mandates and restrictions, which are draconian, discriminatory and unscientific. They are mandates and restrictions that have hurt everyday, taxpaying, law-abiding Canadians and are hurting our economy. Under the Liberals' watch, thousands of federally regulated employees were fired, not because they did not perform their job ably, but rather because they made a personal health choice. The Liberals can point to provinces that imposed similar mandates. Those provinces have lifted the mandates and rehired workers who were let go, but the federal Liberals have not. There are 3.7 million Canadians who are landlocked, unable to leave the country and unable to travel freely within Canada, because they cannot get on a plane or a train, again, for having made a personal health choice. As it stands, Canada is the only country in the world, save perhaps for North Korea, where it is required to show one's vaccine status to get on a plane or train and travel internally. It is the only such country in the world. To make matters worse, the Prime Minister has repeatedly demonized and stigmatized fellow Canadians for making a personal health choice. He has routinely used hateful rhetoric, saying that they take up space and that they should not be tolerated, among other hateful words. I will tell members what should not be tolerated. It is that kind of hateful rhetoric from the Prime Minister, which is completely unbecoming of a Prime Minister. The Liberals say they are following the science and following the data. I am going to be splitting my time with the member for Edmonton West. When we on this side of the House quite reasonably ask the Prime Minister and the government to show us the science, they do not provide any science or data. What they provide is political rhetoric aimed at pitting Canadians against each other. It can be said that their policies are inconsistent with those of all 10 provinces and inconsistent with just about every country in the world. Just about every country in the world has lifted mandates and restrictions. The few that have not have set timelines to lift such restrictions, but not the federal Liberals. It begs the question: If the government is truly guided by science, why is its science so different from the science in every other jurisdiction in the world, not to mention all 10 provinces? The mandates and restrictions the government has imposed and is so invested in, for whatever reason, have not affected just unvaccinated Canadians; they have done great harm to the economy and to vaccinated Canadians. One example of that is what this motion specifically relates to, and that is the travel restrictions that have led to chaos at Canada's airports, impacting vaccinated Canadians who are seeking to travel. In recent weeks, we have seen many reports of passengers being stuck on the tarmac, on the airplane, unable to disembark because there is no room within the airport to properly process them. At Toronto Pearson, the Toronto Region Board of Trade reported that last week over 50% of passengers faced substantial delays. Just last Sunday, 120 planes were stuck on the tarmac at Pearson due to a backlog of the Liberal government's making. Pearson is hardly alone. These backlogs and delays are happening at border crossings and at airports right across the country. The Minister of Transport, in the face of this, had the audacity to blame travellers. He said that it is their fault. I say, respectfully, that the Minister of Transport ought to look in the mirror. The problem rests on his shoulders. It rests on the shoulders of this Liberal government and on what at best can be described as completely outdated COVID travel measures. Members should not take my word for it; they can take the word of key stakeholders, which I will cite momentarily. I should note that these mandates have contributed to staffing shortages at airports. We have seen, here in Ottawa, staff levels at just a little over half of what is required to properly and efficiently run the Ottawa International Airport, the airport of our capital. We have seen estimates that there are about 30% fewer security personnel than there were prior to COVID, due to the government's lack of planning and due to the mandates that led to the firing of employees. Then these restrictions were added. The random testing and health questions that are put to travellers are estimated to quadruple processing times according to the Canadian Airports Council, and the minister says we should blame travelling Canadians. When we have staffing shortages and measures that are quadrupling processing times, it is pretty clear where the problem lies. What about stakeholders? Monette Pasher, president of the Canadian Airports Council, has called on the Liberals to begin to lift these health restrictions, calling them cumbersome and contributing to the backlog. Chris Bloore, president of the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario, has said that these measures, these health restrictions, are damaging Canada's international reputation and resulting in a loss of revenue for businesses that rely on tourists and international business travellers. That association has called on the government to lift these restrictions. Glenn Priestley, president and executive director of Northern Air Transport Association, has said that these mandates are slowing things down. We need to get them under control. It is time for the Liberals to catch up with the rest of the world and end these mandates now.

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Context: House Hansard - 75 - May/19/22

Mr. Michael Cooper

May/19/22 5:03:13 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, what we have is a mess of the government's own making. It is a government that has refused to provide a timeline. It has kept in place these travel restrictions, which are clearly having a negative impact, evidenced by the enormous concern raised by industry leaders. Given that that member sits on the government's side and represents a riding near the Canada-U.S. border, I would put it to him that perhaps he should focus on addressing these very real issues, issues that are hurting our economy, damaging our reputation and making the lives of everyday Canadians miserable.

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Context: House Hansard - 75 - May/19/22

Mr. Michael Cooper

May/19/22 5:04:42 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I say very respectfully to the hon. member that I do not know how much slower the Bloc wants the government to move because it has only been two years. The rest of the world is learning to live with COVID, but the government refuses to live with COVID. Further, when we are talking about measures that are having an impact upon mobility rights, causing this level of disruption and impacting Canadians in this way, the very least one would expect the government to do is tender the evidence to justify these measures, but it has provided no such evidence. That, without more, is unacceptable.

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Context: House Hansard - 75 - May/19/22

Mr. Michael Cooper

May/19/22 5:06:32 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I have to say that the issue this motion relates to is to address a lack of planning on the part of the government from the standpoint of it providing sufficient resources at the airport and, most especially, to address restrictions that are increasing processing times by up to four times what they otherwise would be. That is the root of the problem. That is precisely what we are asking the government to fix.

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