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Mr. Denis Trudel (Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, BQ)

Feb/1/22 4:50:41 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to congratulate my colleague on her remarkable maiden speech in the House. That is a milestone in the life of a member. I applaud her and also want to commend her on the quality of her French. She spoke at length about women and housing. The two are interrelated. For example, every day a woman in Quebec knocks on the door of a shelter that helps women who are victims of domestic violence and is sent away because of a lack of resources. Last week Scotiabank reported that Quebec was the worst country in the G7 for its average number of housing units per 1,000 inhabitants. We are at 424, and the average is 471. To get to 471, the G7 average, we would have to build 1.8 million housing units in Canada, which would be a huge job. Will my colleague advocate within her party for massive investments in social housing in the coming years? We really need them.

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Ms. Lisa Hepfner

Feb/1/22 4:51:43 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I will try to answer in French, but please excuse any errors I may make. I love Quebec and have spent a lot of time there. However, I think the problems my colleague mentioned exist across the country. For example, I talked about the risk of homelessness in Hamilton. The minister recently promised $26.7 million to build over 100 housing units for people in Hamilton who are at risk of homelessness—

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès)

Feb/1/22 4:52:40 p.m.
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Another member has to have the opportunity to ask a question. The hon. member for Nanaimo—Ladysmith.

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Ms. Lisa Marie Barron (Nanaimo—Ladysmith, NDP)

Feb/1/22 4:52:48 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, a top concern in my riding of Nanaimo—Ladysmith that has been brought forward over and over has been the skyrocketing delays through Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Delays have been so bad. They were bad before the pandemic, but they have become so much worse since then. Families have been forced apart for years, and IRCC is still years away from meeting the service standards. Families have been telling me that they have been at their breaking points, forced to struggle alone. Does the member opposite agree that it is time to take real action to address the backlogs and help reunify the hundreds of families desperately waiting for help in Nanaimo—Ladysmith?

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Ms. Lisa Hepfner

Feb/1/22 4:53:33 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I did hear our minister responsible speaking to these issues today. He spoke about how much he has been able to accomplish in terms of the immigration system and how many immigrants we have been able to bring to Canada despite the pandemic. We have obviously more to do always, but I think we have done a fair job.

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès)

Feb/1/22 4:53:59 p.m.
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Order. It is my duty pursuant to Standing Order 38 to inform the House that the questions to be raised tonight at the time of adjournment are as follows: the hon. member for Regina—Lewvan, The Environment; the hon. member for Kenora, Regional Economic Development; the hon. member for Mégantic—L'Érable, Health.

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Ms. Raquel Dancho (Kildonan—St. Paul, CPC)

Feb/1/22 4:54:26 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I ran to be an MP because I love Canada. I love our country. My ancestors fled tyranny and war-torn eastern Europe over 130 years ago to come to the Canadian prairies for the freedom and opportunity it represented. Their hard work and sacrifice created a better life for all of those who followed, including me. I am motivated every day to honour them, to do right by them and my constituents, and to contribute to a united and prosperous Canada, glorious and free. However, since I was elected over two years ago, I have grown increasingly concerned over the state of our national unity. Whether it has been the alarming rise of western alienation or Quebec separatism, or the increasing divide between urban versus rural, or the division on the COVID-19 pandemic, national unity seems to be at an all-time low. It is understandable in many ways, given the terrible two years it has been for all of us. Thirty thousand Canadians have tragically died of COVID-19, and thousands continue to suffer from long COVID. Thousands more have suffered from delayed surgeries. Few families, including my own, have been left untouched by the cruelty of COVID-19. As a result, millions of Canadians, and I have heard this first-hand, are terrified of COVID. They feel that it would be a death sentence to them or their loved ones. Many will never recover from this fear. I have spoken to them first-hand. Many constituents of mine have said that they will never take their masks off again in public or feel comfortable in large crowds, or even travel ever again. Thankfully, with incredible human ingenuity, COVID vaccines were developed at warp speed and rolled out worldwide to billions of people in a matter of months, saving hundreds of thousands of lives. Thanks to the extraordinary health care workers, thousands of sick Canadians were supported throughout this pandemic. However, I do believe we have reached a point where we must make serious investments in transformative change and take the best practices from around the world for our health care system so that we will all be better prepared for a future pandemic. Every expert is telling us that this will not be the last one. There are more to come. We will go through this again. It is just a matter of time. The data tell us that during normal times, on average, our health care capacity operates at over 100%. Hallway medicine, eight-hour EI wait times, months for MRIs and critical surgeries for hip and knee replacements, and many other issues have been around longer than I have been alive. We know that our health care system experiences tremendous strain during flu season, let alone during the tsunami of sick people from COVID over the past two years. This is why governments say that they have needed to take extreme and extraordinary measures. It was because our health care system cannot handle everybody getting sick at one time. We were told we are all in this together, and we all stayed home. We all remember “two weeks to bend the curve”, yet two years later, we continue to live extremely restricted lives. As a result, hundreds of thousands of businesses that depend on public gatherings have closed, representing countless family dreams and all the jobs they supported being completely wiped out. Untold damage has been done to our mental health and the development of our children. The deadly impact of isolation on our elderly is immeasurable. There is increased alcohol and drug abuse, divorce, and depression. The list of the impacts of this goes on and on. As a representative of nearly 100,000 people, I have heard of these traumas first-hand. I have dealt with sobbing, threats, screaming and pleading, and their stories have haunted me. To describe the last two years in one word, I would say “trauma”. We have all experienced trauma, and millions of Canadians are at the end of their rope. They cannot take this anymore. The result of that is right outside this building. Honestly, from that perspective, I do not find all that is going on right now outside very surprising. It is like a pressure release valve has exploded after the last two years. I do want the truckers and all those who support the convoy to know that I hear them. I seem them, and I care about them and all of our freedoms. Watching the footage online of that convoy making its way across Canada, passing families of all cultural backgrounds along highways and overpasses, and the gatherings of tens of thousands of people on Parliament Hill, I have never seen so many Canadian flags waving in the wind. As a patriotic Canadian, I have to say it made me quite emotional. It makes me emotional now. I acknowledge, though, and this is important, that some people are angry. I denounce the evil people who seized this opportunity to display their ignorance and their hatred, and I denounce them fully. However, many more, thousands more, are expressing their patriotism for their country. They are expressing hope for the future and the excitement for change, which is honestly giving them the will to keep going and persevere through this incredibly difficult time. They just want to be heard by their government and have them look at other jurisdictions and what is happening in the U.K., the Netherlands, Ireland, Norway and many other advanced nations. They are opening up, moving past mandates and learning to live with this. We can do it, too. We have some of the highest vaccination rates, if not the highest vaccination rates, in the world. We have rapid tests. We have all put the work in. We have all the tools we need, and now is the time to move forward. To be honest, I fear that we may never get back to normal, especially when I see the hatred that has developed between Canadians. Treating each other with dignity, compassion and respect seems to have been forgotten long ago. I have to say, on a personal level, I understand the frustrations of some vaccinated Canadians toward unvaccinated Canadians. I hear them, too. I see them and hear from them. I get it. However, I want to share a couple of stories with everyone. When I was door-knocking during the last election, I met a single woman about my age. She was on her front step and her young son was clinging to her leg as she shared her story with me. She was a social worker. She said last year she received a hero of the year award for going above and beyond as a social worker to help the most vulnerable in our community. This is when she started to cry in front of me. She said that this year no one would talk to her. She said that she was going to be fired from her job. Do members want to know why? It is because she was too afraid to get the COVID vaccine. She was too afraid. She believed it in her bones and there was no convincing this woman otherwise. When the Province of Manitoba brought forward its strong mandates, there were articles in the local paper about nursing staff suddenly seeing a lot of anger, rage and tears from new people coming into get the jab. It seemed that some people in the public were surprised to learn this. Honestly, I did not find it very surprising that people who were forced against their will to get the vaccine, with their jobs hanging over their heads and who believed with every fibre of their being that it was not right for them for whatever reason, were angry and crying. I have talked to these people. They have reached out to me. I have made the time. They are my constituents and I have heard them out. They described to me their experience of getting the jab, so to speak. It was as if it broke them. It ripped away part of who they were and of everything they believed this country is. It took away their agency and their bodily autonomy. That is what mandates do to people. That is the reality. Of course, there were tears and rage. These are human beings. I will remind everyone that for the first year and a half of the pandemic, it was this Prime Minister who said there were vaccines for all those who wanted them. He must have said it a thousand times. With the drop of a hat he called the election, and within days of that he was yelling into a microphone at a Liberal rally, and saying that people had the right not to get vaccinated, but they did not have the right to sit next to someone who was. He said that. Shame on him for dehumanizing people that way. Canada is fracturing and the Prime Minister is winning votes on it. Whether it is the east versus west, urban versus rural, left versus right or now the pandemic, he has been dividing Canadians for six years. Uniting the country, leading freedom over fear, should be the number one priority of the Prime Minister. To be honest, I am beginning to doubt we can ever unite Canadians again, that we will ever get back to normal, and that people can make their own personal health choices and still be equal. During a particularly low day recently, and I think we have all had those over the last two years, I heard a story that gave me some renewed hope and motivation. I will share it with everyone. It is about President John F. Kennedy. In 1961, JFK had a decision to make. He wanted to call a news conference and tell the world that the Americans were going to the moon. This was a very risky decision for his reputation, because technically there was no way forward. The technology did not exist and it had never been done before. He needed to make a decision, so he went to the most brilliant aerospace engineer in America and asked him what it would take to go to the moon. The engineer responded with five words: The will to do it. The rest was history after that. What is it going to take to heal the trauma and division? What is it going to take to bring Canadians together again? What is it going to take to unite this country? It will take the will to do it. It will take courage and conviction. The will to do it will deliver the glorious and free Canada that we all rightfully deserve. I, for one, will work day and night to deliver that to my constituents and all Canadians.

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Mr. Taleeb Noormohamed (Vancouver Granville, Lib.)

Feb/1/22 5:04:20 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague for her speech and for our ongoing wonderful working relationship in committee. The member spoke about the importance of vaccination and the value it has provided us in a path toward freedom, as she refers to it. She also expressed some other concerns. Could the member share with the House how she reconciles the views that folks have right now about not getting vaccinated with the fact that we have mandatory vaccination for children in many provinces across the country in order for them to attend school?

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Ms. Raquel Dancho

Feb/1/22 5:04:58 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I have enjoyed working with the member. We are setting some really important issues right now. Over the last two years, particularly since the Prime Minister called the unnecessary $600-million election that further divided Canadians, I have been concerned, as I am sure he has been as well, about the hatred from all sides. There is not nearly enough communication. I think it was a recent poll that said 20% of Canadians think unvaccinated people should go to jail. We are pushing this so far. I am seeing it. I have been door knocking for years, and during the election I saw so much hate, so much division and lots of tears. I appreciate the member's question, but I would say that we need to move forward and recognize we have done an astounding job. We have one of the highest vaccination rates in the world and we need to move forward.

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Ms. Bonita Zarrillo (Port Moody—Coquitlam, NDP)

Feb/1/22 5:06:04 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to talk again about the care economy and elevating the traditional work that belonged to women for many years. If the needed investments in health care transfers had been increased instead of cut by the Conservatives and then not restored by the Liberals, we would have had a stronger health support system to support COVID alongside cancer and pediatric surgeries, which cannot be done right now. If we do not invest in the care economy in a way that increases health care transfers, as the premiers are asking for, we will not be able to weather any other health crises. Do the Conservatives support greater health care transfers to the provinces?

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Ms. Raquel Dancho

Feb/1/22 5:06:54 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I congratulate the member on her first election. Absolutely, I do. As I mentioned in my speech, we need more investment in health care and we need transformative change. We need to be looking at best practices around the world. We are seeing other countries with far better surge capacity than we have in Canada. As I said, this is not the last pandemic and this is not the last wave. We need to prepare our health care system to have that surge capacity so that we do not need to do what has been done to people for the last two years and so that governments can no longer default to telling people they have to stay home for two years because our health care system cannot work. I do not want to hear that excuse anymore. I want to see transformative change so that we can usher in an era of health care that truly supports everyone. No more eight-hour ER wait times. No more waiting two years for a hip replacement. No more shutting down the economy because we cannot handle a surge. We need to build a robust health care system.

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Mr. Mario Beaulieu (La Pointe-de-l'Île, BQ)

Feb/1/22 5:07:57 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, right in the middle of a pandemic, the health care system was compromised in Quebec and all the other provinces. In the 1970s, health transfers covered 50% of health care spending. They were cut back and now they cover 22%. Quebec and the Canadian provinces all agree that health transfers should be increased from 22% to 35%, and yet nothing is being done. The health care system was already strained; with the pandemic, it will take years to recover. Does my colleague not think it is time to increase health transfers?

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Ms. Raquel Dancho

Feb/1/22 5:08:53 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I certainly support investments in health care, and greater investments seem to be needed. However, there is one point I want to make. I believe I read that Canada has one of the most expensive health care systems per capita in the world. Why are we spending so much and getting so little? Why are people waiting eight, 10, 12 or 14 hours in an ER? Why are they waiting years, in normal times, to get a hip and knee replacement or an MRI? We need to invest, look across the globe for best practices and transform our health care system to be more competitive and to better serve all Canadians.

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Mr. Richard Lehoux (Beauce, CPC)

Feb/1/22 5:09:34 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House today to respond to the government's Speech from the Throne. As I stand here, I wonder why we are responding to yet another throne speech. The Prime Minister decided to call an election for no reason during a global pandemic, when Canadians needed us to be here in the House to find solutions and bring us out of the pandemic. I was disappointed again when I listened to the throne speech. It used so many words to say nothing. I was stunned to see how short on substance the last two throne speeches were. Still, I am here today because I believe I can make a difference in my riding, Beauce, whose residents trusted me to represent them by giving me a second term. I sincerely thank them.

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Address in Reply to the Speech from the Throne

M. Richard Lehoux (Beauce, PCC)

Feb/1/22 5:10:52 p.m.
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As the House knows, the Beauce region is a hotbed of entrepreneurship. Our rural community is full of dynamic, ingenious people. We work together to strengthen our community, but we often feel forgotten by this government. The government continues to ignore one of the worst problems of all: cell phone coverage. Technology is more advanced than ever in 2022, yet people in my riding have a hard time getting service in municipalities like Saint‑Martin and many others. There is nothing in the throne speech about how the government intends to solve this problem. Moreover, now that the Prime Minister has finally released the ministerial mandate letters, I can confirm to the House that the minister in question has received no instructions to do anything about it. When will this government understand that this is not only a matter of fairness, but also a matter of public safety? In the community of Saint‑Victor, a resident was stung by a bee and went into anaphylactic shock. As he lay unconscious, a friend of his had to climb to the top of a hill to call 911. Once the ambulance arrived, it also had difficulty contacting the Saint-Georges hospital because the signal was so weak. In this case, this person was extremely lucky not to lose his life. This should serve as a reminder to the government that it still has a lot of work to do on this issue. It may well say that cellphone bills must be reduced, but it is also necessary to have equitable basic service in all regions and not create two classes of citizens. I would now like to draw attention to another urgent issue that the government has not yet addressed in this speech. My constituency offices are inundated daily with calls from citizens pleading for help. These citizens are running out of patience as they wait for answers from Service Canada. Criminals have stolen their identities and are applying for benefits on behalf of other people. There have been so many cases of fraud since the government funding programs were created during the pandemic. I agree that these programs were necessary to get us through this pandemic, but when is the government going to show some real leadership and fix this problem? My staff are getting calls from people in tears because their EI or GIS payments had been stopped after being targeted by fraudsters. These Canadians deserve to have their files processed quickly. They cannot wait months to get answers from an investigator when they are not able to pay rent or put food on the table. The government has done something in recent days by reassigning Service Canada employees to this issue, but pulling officials off other important files to address a major problem seems like a band-aid solution to me. Quebec is an epicentre of fraudulent activity, and this has been going on for months. The government's inaction in recent months is unacceptable. The Department of Employment and Social Development and the Department of Citizenship and Immigration have the same problems as Service Canada. Officials are exhausted. Files are taking longer and longer to get processed. There is a chronic labour shortage in my riding, where the unemployment rate is below 4%. My riding is constantly looking for more workers in all sectors. Businesses in my riding rely heavily on the temporary foreign worker program. The problem is that these businesses are unable to get the workers they need, workers they have already recruited. These businesses are drowning in paperwork, and when that is finally completed, they still face long wait times. The effects of this labour shortage are felt every day. Take for example Olymel, a company in my riding. It is short roughly 200 workers right now. This major shortage is causing serious delays in hog slaughtering, which has repercussions on producers and on the land because producers have to keep the hogs much longer than planned and may even have to euthanize some of them if they cannot be slaughtered in a timely manner. Businesses in my riding are always trying to grow their operations with new advances in automation and robotics, but government funding is simply not there to help businesses achieve their full potential. Many businesses in my riding will have to close their doors if the labour shortage is not adequately resolved, and many others might ship their activities overseas. The fact is that no matter the percentage changes in percentage or the policies the government puts in place for the programs, the problem is that the government is failing to address the unacceptable delays. We need real action from the government to get rid of the excessive red tape and to streamline the application process in every area. As many of my colleagues know, I would love to be able to discuss agriculture and agri-food. Unfortunately, agriculture is not mentioned in the throne speech. I believe that is a huge mistake on the government's part. These sectors have been and will continue to be significant economic drivers in our country. We should be promoting these sectors, not using them as a bargaining chip on the international stage. I hear about these problems every day from my constituents. We have to do what is required for our citizens and solve these problems. These are not partisan issues. I have had these conversations with several ministers on different occasions, but nothing changes. This government needs to get its priorities straight. I will continue to stand up for the people of Beauce every day and every time I have the opportunity to rise in the House. I will ask the hard questions and, above all, I will hold the government to account.

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Mr. Yves Perron (Berthier—Maskinongé, BQ)

Feb/1/22 5:19:26 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I first want to congratulate my esteemed colleague for his down-to-earth speech. When I listen to him, I understand why we often agree despite our fundamental differences of opinion, in particular about the future of Quebec. My colleague spoke about several subjects that I would also like to address, but I will focus on cell tower coverage. He told us about an emergency where someone had to climb a tree to call 911. They were lucky. In one area of my riding, in Saint‑Édouard‑de‑Maskinongé, there was one unfortunate death that occurred because of the lack of cell service. There is also a problem in the Lac-Souris area. Even people in the Pointe-du-Lac area in Trois‑Rivières have poor cell coverage. That is unacceptable. I believe that we should create a specific program to address the issue of funding for cell towers once and for all so we can eliminate dead zones in cellular coverage. I would like to hear what my colleague has to say about that. Does he believe that we could work together to move this file forward?

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Mr. Richard Lehoux

Feb/1/22 5:20:40 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. It is very germane. I could have named off all 40 municipalities in my riding. I have visited them many times. There are issues with cell coverage in almost every rural municipality. Yes, there should be a program, but the government should also show that it is firmly resolved to send a clear message to the CRTC, the national organization that must ultimately regulate these companies, which are located in various parts of the country. Yes, we need programs to support them, but the minister to whom the CRTC reports also needs to send a clear signal so that we can resolve this issue once and for all. I asked the minister some questions earlier. People are saying that cell phone bills are too costly. I understand that urban centres are complaining about this issue, comparing themselves to other big cities in Canada and abroad, but I think we need to start with ensuring adequate coverage in all of our communities across Canada.

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Ms. Laurel Collins (Victoria, NDP)

Feb/1/22 5:22:07 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, health care is in crisis, and in my riding of Victoria, many of my constituents are struggling to access primary health care. There are 100,000 people in the capital regional district who do not have a family doctor, and we are losing multiple walk-in clinics as physicians retire or move on. Decades of health transfer cuts have had devastating impacts on our province's capacity to address issues in our health care system. We have seen that acutely during this pandemic. Premiers across the country are asking the government for health transfer increases. Does the member agree we need to increase health transfers now more than ever, and that the government needs to show leadership and work with the provinces and territories to tackle wait times, improve access to primary care, and ensure we recruit and train doctors and other health care professionals to identify the gaps in our health care system?

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Mr. Richard Lehoux

Feb/1/22 5:22:54 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for that great question. During the election campaign, I think our party was clear about its commitment to increase health transfers unconditionally. I believe the government really needs to help all Canadian provinces so as to improve health care everywhere. I think that is worth emphasizing. There are problems in big cities, but there are problems in my riding and everywhere else too. It is hard to recruit doctors and maintain adequate services. The solution is financial support, so that is what the government should be doing.

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Mr. Damien Kurek (Battle River—Crowfoot, CPC)

Feb/1/22 5:23:42 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, representing a largely rural constituency, I have certainly heard about the challenges concerning the rural-urban divide. I am wondering if the member could comment further on that.

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