44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 14, 2022 11:00AM
Madam Speaker, he is entirely right. These rapid tests were delivered in large numbers to the provinces and territories for the purposes he mentioned. They would also be delivered directly to chambers of commerce, the Canadian Red Cross and community organizations that have direct and strong links with Canadians in their communities across Canada. They have been extremely useful since October 2020. Provinces and territories, in the last few weeks, have asked for enhanced quantities of these rapid tests, which is great news. We must continue to support them in their important and sometimes difficult efforts to deal with and fight the virus.
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Madam Speaker, it is always nice to rise and speak in the House, but I would rather be debating something other than a gag order.
What is happening once again this morning is that the government has decided to shut down debate on a bill that will cost billions of dollars.
Let us be very clear. On this side of the House, we are in favour of purchasing rapid tests, and I think it is safe to say that all parliamentarians agree on that. For more than a year and a half, we have been pushing the government to purchase and develop rapid tests to give people more tools, so they can get on with their lives, despite the pandemic we are facing. We have no problem with that.
What we have a problem with is the $2.5 billion we are talking about spending. Parliamentarians must at least have a chance to carefully examine each expenditure. As my Bloc Québécois colleague said earlier, that is our job, and we must do it properly.
We are also surprised by the sense of urgency. Why the rush to act immediately? There is no hurry. First of all, the bill, as drafted, is retroactive. This proves that we have already started to act, so there is no immediate urgency.
Better still, if by chance this motion is adopted with the complicity of others, the bill will be passed around 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. I say bravo and thank you, but it will have to go to the Senate, and the Senate is not sitting this week. There is no urgency.
Why is the government creating yet another crisis?
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Madam Speaker, my esteemed colleague, whom I very much like, mentioned the word “urgency” several times, and this is indeed an urgent matter.
We are in the middle of a COVID-19 pandemic with the omicron variant, which is filling hospital beds in Quebec and elsewhere in Canada. The provinces and territories need more rapid tests now, in addition to the ones they received over the past few weeks and months.
I completely agree that the Canadian government needs to be accountable. Again, I note the commitment we are making with the NDP member for New Westminster—Burnaby to report back every six months. Full reports on the cost, numbers and usage for the rapid tests will be released. Again, I congratulate him on his contribution.
We have all day to talk about this in a meaningful way.
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Madam Speaker, I must say, parenthetically, that I sat on the health committee for the last two years and my hon. colleague, the member for Calgary Nose Hill, a year and a half ago, was hammering at the need for this government to provide rapid tests. Here we have a bill before us, a two-section bill, that would allow this government to provide rapid tests to Canadians, and the Conservatives are saying, “We have to hold this up.” I do not understand their position.
However, my question is about the numbers. In my talks with department officials, they confirmed that this $2.5 billion would purchase about 400 million rapid tests. To put that in context, Dr. David Juncker, the department chair of biomedical engineering at McGill University, estimates that with the highly transmissible omicron variant Canada would require as many as 600 million to 700 million tests per month and then two tests per person every week once the wave subsides.
Considering how important testing and tracing is, because we cannot treat what we do not measure, can the hon. minister tell us if this is anywhere near the number of rapid tests that this country is actually going to need to help get Canadians out of this pandemic?
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Madam Speaker, my colleague is right: We cannot fight what we do not know or do not measure. That is one important reason, as he alluded, we need rapid tests and, obviously, the additional PCR molecular tests that we have been using for many months. These are complementary tools. We had the delivery of 140 million rapid tests in January, and in addition to that we have been delivering rapid tests to chambers of commerce, small and medium-sized businesses, community organizations, the Canadian Red Cross and many other partners across Canada. This is key, as the member rightly said, towards measuring and appropriately fighting the impact that COVID-19 has on our society.
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Madam Speaker, one of things that we have begun to talk about in the House over and over again is democracy. I think it is incredibly important, when we understand exactly what is going on outside, that people are frustrated with the democratic leadership from across the aisle here. If we do not begin to address these things, if all we do is pass motions that the minority government wishes to have passed, then we are not honouring the democratic process and I take significant umbrage with that. I think that is inappropriate and not what I was elected to come here for. I would really like to hear the hon. minister speak on that.
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Madam Speaker, I will take this wonderful opportunity to say that we are all privileged to be leaders in this democratic process. We will have an entire day today to speak about this particular bill.
More generally, we have the responsibility every day of looking after the health and safety of Canadians. That comes, in part, through those investments. These are big investments. We are speaking about $2.5 billion that the provinces, territories, and Canadians more broadly need now in order to avoid many more billions of dollars of social, economic and fiscal costs that COVID-19 has created for our society and will continue to if we do not have all the tools that we need to fight this crisis.
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Madam Speaker, of course we hope that rapid tests will be available. The member for Burnaby South has been a strong advocate for increasing distribution to everyone and, as I mentioned earlier, the member for Vancouver Kingsway really pushed for greater transparency in Bill C-10.
Can the minister officially confirm whether a full report will be provided to the House every six months on how much money was spent, how many tests were purchased and how the tests were distributed?
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Madam Speaker, I confirm unequivocally that a report will be provided every six months on the important elements that the member just mentioned, and rightly so, namely, the dollar amounts, the number of tests and their use in the following months.
As he pointed out, this will be a way of ensuring that there is significant and necessary accountability on the part of the Canadian government on this issue.
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Madam Speaker, I wonder if the Minister of Health could provide those following the debate with an explanation of what the federal government's role is, with respect to rapid tests. I think it is an excellent example of a team Canada approach where provinces, territories and communities are working with Ottawa to ensure that rapid testing is done.
Could the minister just go over the process of why the federal government is the governing body that is actually buying and procuring these rapid tests?
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Madam Speaker, I will say three things, briefly.
First, about the investments that we have made, $8 out of every $10 of the total economic support that has gone to businesses and workers over the past 22 months has been provided by the federal government's leadership.
Second, an additional $63 billion has been invested in protecting the health and safety of Canadians. That is in addition to other investments, such as the Canada health transfers that have obviously continued and even increased during COVID-19.
Third, the federal government's leadership is key when it comes to providing rapid tests, PPE, vaccines and therapeutics, such as the Paxlovid antiviral treatment that we now have in Canada. We are among the first countries in the world to have that. As a federation, we have an advantage, but also a responsibility when it comes to the leadership of the federal government. I am glad that all members of the house, certainly on this side, agree with the importance of that leadership.
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Madam Speaker, the hon. health minister suggests that rapid tests have been important to his government. Two summers ago my colleagues and I in the Ontario Conservative caucus tested a rapid test that was widely available in the U.S. and Europe, but had not received approval by Health Canada after months of delays. We were condemned by the Prime Minister and state media. The article is there. Instead of picking up the pace on approvals, Health Canada tried to threaten me and punish the rapid test manufacturer.
If rapid tests are so important to the Liberal government, why has there been a constant pattern of delay and intimidation from it, instead of actually working to get more tests into the hands of Canadians?
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Madam Speaker, the member for York—Simcoe is asking why they are important to the federal government. Let me give two examples.
The first is from the regulatory side, which the member mentioned. Health Canada has approved dozens of rapid tests. These are not only antigen tests, but molecular tests. It has approved all sorts of other tests over the past months and years. Canadians expect Health Canada to do its job, which is to protect the health and safety of Canadians, by approving as many rapid tests as it can, but also by making sure that these tests are efficient and safe.
The second reason I can give to demonstrate the importance of rapid tests is as I mentioned. Before December, 2021, on average, provinces and territories were requesting about seven million rapid tests per month. We moved from seven million to 35 million in December, 2021, and then to 140 million rapid tests in January, multiplying by 20 the number of rapid tests available to provinces and territories, despite the fact that every other country on earth was fighting for these rapid tests.
We are doing the right thing, and we are doing it in exceedingly challenging global supply chain circumstances.
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Qujannamiik uqaqtittiji.
On January 6, the Government of Nunavut announced it would limit testing to preserve tests only for health care workers. By January 12, the federal government announced that 140,000 tests would be sent to Nunavut. Nunavut's population is more than double that.
Can the minister confirm more than 155,000 tests will be sent to Nunavut so that any resident requiring the test will be able to take it?
Qujannamiik.
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Madam Speaker, I have a great relationship with Minister Main: my colleague, the minister of health in Nunavut. We have been working together really well, and I want to commend him and his government on their leadership and what they have done over the past few weeks and months. It has been critical for us to do that together, because the people in Nunavut are facing challenges that southerners are not always able to fully appreciate. I want to congratulate them for their collaboration and I would be glad to provide, through my team, more details on the exact numbers and circumstances in which rapid tests have been provided to the Government of Nunavut.
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Madam Speaker, it is great to see that we are using chambers of commerce as a delivery tool to get to the small businesses in our communities, so that they can continue to operate safely with their employees having access to rapid tests. The Guelph Chamber of Commerce has been able to distribute tens of thousands of tests in my community. It is a neighbour of ours, and on Wednesdays we see people picking up rapid test kits so their employees can be safe.
Could the hon. member talk about the use of chambers of commerce in our communities to help keep employees safe?
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Madam Speaker, I not only very much like the member for Guelph on a personal level, but also very much value his role and leadership in his community and for his riding as an outstanding member of Parliament.
He mentioned a couple of things that he does with his community in part through working with businesses, small businesses in particular, and through chambers of commerce. Chambers of commerce have been allies, but also leaders in their own communities, helping to deliver rapid tests more efficiently and more quickly because of their role and leadership through businesses that do not always have the time or ability to look for rapid tests.
Small businesses and business leaders have been challenged in the past 22 months. Because of the leadership and partnership on the part of chambers of commerce, we have been able to indirectly support small businesses and protect not only them, but the workers who are essential to their activities.
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Madam Speaker, here we are again having debate shut down by the government, shamefully, and Canadians do not really trust the minister or the government.
We found out last week that, shamefully, the Liberals have been intentionally using a dangerous, divisive and deceptive narrative to infringe on Canadians' charter rights for partisan reasons. They justified their hate and demonization by inferring that unvaccinated Canadians were dangerous, racist, misogynist and spread COVID, while vaccinated Canadians were safe. The Prime Minister even said they were safe to sit beside.
Will the minister, on the record, condemn the Prime Minister's inciteful, hateful speech? I want to know from him, on the record, on what date he and the government became aware that vaccinated people could spread COVID as well as unvaccinated people. What date?
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Madam Speaker, vaccination is not a punishment. Vaccination is protection. The enemy is not vaccination. The enemy is the virus. When we hear members of the opposite side talk about vaccination as the enemy, I am a bit disturbed by it.
There is a tool we need to use that we were given by science and scientists about a year and a few months ago. If there is a tool we should all be grateful to be using, it is vaccination. Imagine if we did not have vaccines in Canada in February, 2020, with omicron. Let us imagine that. Scientists have given us that gift, and I am troubled hearing views of the Conservative caucus pretending that vaccination does not work and that we should not be using it.
Let us imagine what the situation would be now if we did not have vaccination.
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Madam Speaker, we agree that more rapid tests are needed.
However, Quebec's health care systems and hospitals were already in trouble because of the federal health transfer formula, which does not even cover the increase in health care system costs. As we know, Quebec and all the provinces are calling for health transfers to increase to 35%.
Can my colleague talk to us about this without distracting us with all kinds of other things? What is going to happen with the recurring transfers?
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