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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 13

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
December 8, 2021 02:00PM
Context: House Hansard - 13 - Dec/8/21
Mr. Randeep Sarai
  • Dec/8/21 10:42:00 p.m.
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Madam Chair, over the last few weeks, we have seen the emergence of the omicron variant. Could the Minister of Health please tell this House what actions we have implemented to stop the spread of this variant in Canada?
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Hon. Jean-Yves Duclos
  • Dec/8/21 10:42:12 p.m.
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Madam Chair, there are three things. First, we have reminded Canadians of the importance of being vaccinated. Second, we remind Canadians that we also need to keep following the public health advice, of which we are very knowledgeable now. The third thing is that we put into place some quick measures at our borders to limit the import of the variant from outside of Canada.
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Mr. Randeep Sarai
  • Dec/8/21 10:42:37 p.m.
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Madam Chair, could the Minister of Health please tell this House how the government has been there to support provinces and territories during COVID-19?
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Hon. Jean-Yves Duclos
  • Dec/8/21 10:42:45 p.m.
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Madam Chair, that is an outstanding question, and it gives me the opportunity to let Canadians know that this was a collaborative effort. There was $25 billion direct to provinces and territories, and another $30 billion of in-kind investment in vaccines, testing, PPE and other tools. Finally, obviously, there was the incredible collaboration on the economic side in order to protect the economic health of our citizens.
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Mr. Randeep Sarai
  • Dec/8/21 10:43:19 p.m.
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Madam Chair, could the Minister of Health please tell this House the importance of protecting sexual and reproductive health rights here in Canada?
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Hon. Jean-Yves Duclos
  • Dec/8/21 10:43:29 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I thank the member for the important question. We have said in the campaign platform that we will be putting into place a legal change to make clear to all of our partners that these rights are important in 2021 in order to protect the rights of everyone, including, obviously, those of women.
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Mr. Randeep Sarai
  • Dec/8/21 10:43:51 p.m.
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Madam Chair, could the Minister of Health tell us what the government has done directly to support the mental health of Canadians during COVID-19?
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Hon. Jean-Yves Duclos
  • Dec/8/21 10:44:01 p.m.
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Madam Chair, that was part of our $65-billion support for the health needs of Canadians, including long-term care, home care, digital care, primary care and, as the member mentioned, mental health care. Mental health has been severely affected by the crisis, and we have to look after the mental health of Canadians.
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Mr. Randeep Sarai
  • Dec/8/21 10:44:31 p.m.
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Madam Chair, the omicron variant has shown us that having a fast and coordinated genetic sequencing capacity across Canada is essential, and to make sure that we can keep Canadians safe and aware of new COVID-19 variants circulating in our communities. What has the federal government done to support building up Canada's capacity to detect new variants of concern?
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Hon. Jean-Yves Duclos
  • Dec/8/21 10:44:52 p.m.
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Madam Chair, we have an immensely great centre called the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg. I am not from Winnipeg, but I know how proud people from Manitoba and all Canadians are of that particular lab. It has been extremely forthcoming and often ahead of other nations when it comes to designing tests and procedures to protect Canadians from COVID-19. We can be very proud of the work it did with many other scientists across Canada.
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Mr. Randeep Sarai
  • Dec/8/21 10:45:32 p.m.
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Madam Chair, thank you. That is all.
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Ms. Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East, NDP)
  • Dec/8/21 10:45:41 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I will be splitting my time with my colleague, the member for Nunavut. I will be asking questions of the minister without preamble. Will the minister waive the refugee determination requirements for Afghan refugees as the government has done for the Syrian refugee initiative?
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Hon. Mona Fortier (President of the Treasury Board, Lib.)
  • Dec/8/21 10:46:02 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I would ask my hon. colleague to repeat her question as I missed the fundamentals of it.
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Ms. Jenny Kwan
  • Dec/8/21 10:46:15 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I hope that does not take away from my time allocation.
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Ms. Jenny Kwan
  • Dec/8/21 10:46:27 p.m.
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Madam Chair, will the minister waive the refugee determination requirements for Afghan refugees as the government has done for the Syrian refugee initiative?
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The Assistant Deputy Chair
  • Dec/8/21 10:46:27 p.m.
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I will start the member's time over.
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Hon. Mona Fortier
  • Dec/8/21 10:46:29 p.m.
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Madam Chair, as members know, our government is committed to bring the 40,000 refugees to our country, as we campaigned and as we are determined. The officials and the government are working very hard to bring these 40,000—
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The Assistant Deputy Chair
  • Dec/8/21 10:46:53 p.m.
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The hon. member for Vancouver East.
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Ms. Jenny Kwan
  • Dec/8/21 10:46:56 p.m.
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Madam Chair, that was not the question. It was about refugee determination. I know that the minister did not answer the question. Either she does not know the answer or she is refusing to answer it. My next question is this. If they are not able to obtain a refugee determination from the UNHCR, they will not be able to seek refugee status from Canada. How can they then get to safety?
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Hon. Mona Fortier
  • Dec/8/21 10:47:13 p.m.
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Madam Chair, again, we are committed to bringing the Afghan refugees and different communities here to Canada. We will continue to work hard to bring the refugees to Canada.
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