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House Hansard - 30

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 14, 2022 11:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 30 - Feb/14/22
Mr. Don Davies (Vancouver Kingsway, NDP)
  • Feb/14/22 9:15:50 p.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-10 
Mr. Speaker, I would also like to wish my lovely wife Sheryl Palm a happy Valentine's Day, since I do not want to be left out in this. She is my sweetheart. We have known from the beginning of the pandemic that testing and tracing are critical components of dealing with it, and I think that is still true today. We know that the authorization for $2.5 billion would purchase about 400 million tests because that is the information I got when I asked the minister's staff at a briefing. Dr. David Juncker, department chair of biomedical engineering at McGill University, estimates that with the omicron variant, Canada could require 600 million to 700 million tests a month and then two tests per person every week once the wave subsides. Does the the minister think that 400 million tests are going to be anywhere near enough? If not, how many tests do Canadians need for the rest of 2022 to deal with this virus?
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Context: House Hansard - 30 - Feb/14/22
Mr. Don Davies
  • Feb/14/22 10:44:59 p.m.
  • Watch
  • Re: Bill C-10 
Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague raises something very important, which is that health policy in this country should and must be driven by data, science and evidence. It should not be driven by political interests or wedge issues. I was very disappointed to see members of the Liberal caucus stand up and accuse the Prime Minister of using the COVID pandemic as a partisan wedge issue. I think members of the Conservative Party, who are flirting with insurrectionists in this country, are also engaging in politicizing this pandemic. Canadians can see that, and this should have nothing to do with how we deal with it. We need data, and I want to point out, as I said in my speech, that when we do not have enough tests, we do not get an accurate view of how many people are testing positive or negative. When we do not have that data, we cannot create the kinds of public health responses we need, or target them in the right regions or areas, to respond appropriately. We need to get this legislation passed right away. We need to get testing and every other public health tool into the hands of Canadians as soon as possible.
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Context: House Hansard - 30 - Feb/14/22
Mr. Don Davies
  • Feb/14/22 10:46:34 p.m.
  • Watch
  • Re: Bill C-10 
Mr. Speaker, I am glad my hon. colleague called my speech “great”. There are a number of reasons for this. I think I speak for all Canadians when I say that we are entirely fatigued by COVID. Everybody wants to see a return to normal as soon as possible. However, we in the NDP believe that should be based on science and data, not on politics. We saw the interim leader of the Conservative Party move a motion in the House to get rid of mandates right after she was out publicly cavorting with the convoy and the people who are calling for an insurrection in this country. They are anti-vaxxers. They are flying swastika flags and Confederate flags. It shows the Conservatives are playing politics with this matter. The truth is that we are still in a pandemic, and we need public health officials to be guiding policy in this country, not politicians who are playing politics with the pandemic.
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