44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 24, 2022 10:00AM
- Mar/24/22 2:22:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, let me again thank not only my colleague, whose company and work I enjoy, but also all Canadians.
Let me say the vaccination mandates that opposition Conservative MPs opposed during the campaign have saved not only hundreds of lives but thousands of lives. Estimates are about 1,600 people in the last few months have had their lives saved by vaccination mandates.
Obviously, had we not had vaccination mandates in the last year in Canada, we would not currently be meeting in this room. We would be locked down, and we would be closing schools, shops, stores and factories.
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- Mar/24/22 2:23:41 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the vaccine mandates that the government imposed at the time have served their purpose according to the top experts in every province across this country. Ten out of 10 chief medical officers of health have said it is time to end the mandates and lift the mask mandates.
What are the metrics that this federal health minister is going to follow so that he will catch up to all of the provinces and our allies who have accepted the science and ended the mandates?
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- Mar/24/22 2:24:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am grateful to the member for his work and for admitting, and I think he knew that already, many weeks ago, that vaccination mandates did work. They not only saved lives. I spoke about the 1,600 Canadians who are currently alive because of those vaccination mandates, having not been infected, sent to a hospital and then dying because of not being vaccinated.
Also there is the large number of dollars. In fact, $4 billion is the estimate that we saved collectively, in household income and small business income, because of vaccination mandates.
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- Mar/24/22 2:24:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Canadian provinces and our international allies have eliminated many of their restrictions.
The NDP-Liberal government is faster at signing secret agreements than at lifting restrictions on domestic flights. It does not realize that Canadians have had enough.
When will the NDP-Liberal government look at what is happening in other G7 countries and eliminate the federal restrictions?
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- Mar/24/22 2:25:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am trying to be non-partisan, but the hon. member was not here before the last election, so she may not know that, roughly 13 months ago, her party said that Canadians would be the last in the world to be vaccinated, that they would not be vaccinated until 2030.
Canadians have been vaccinated in large numbers and, in most cases, before other countries. It is a gift that we received from science and scientists, a gift that we must all take special care of and take advantage of while we have it.
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- Mar/24/22 2:26:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am here and I know what is happening.
Science has not been the NDP-Liberal government's main concern for a long time. It used the pandemic for political gain, and Canadians are not fools. They realize it and even the member for Louis-Hébert has condemned it.
Will the Minister of Health finally stop playing political games and immediately lift the federal restrictions?
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- Mar/24/22 2:26:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this is not about politics. It is about responsibility. When one is in government, one must be responsible. I believe that everyone in the House of Commons, not just the government members, must be responsible. I look around and see that members of the Conservative Party are suddenly declaring that COVID-19 is over and that masks are no longer necessary. COVID-19 is still with us. We will soon see the BA.2 subvariant in many provinces. The numbers are already high in Quebec. We must continue to protect ourselves and those around us.
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- Mar/24/22 2:27:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, three weeks ago, the Liberals and the NDP voted in favour of a Bloc motion stating that the Quebec nation must not lose any political weight in terms of the number of members in Ottawa. Today, they introduced Bill C‑14, which ensures that we will not lose any seats, but they are adding so many more seats elsewhere that we will end up losing some our political weight anyway. They may not be holding us under water, but they are letting the water rise very slowly. That is what they are doing.
Why does the government want to reduce Quebec's political weight?
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- Mar/24/22 2:27:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this morning, we introduced a realistic and practical bill that will protect Quebec's seats. Quebec would retain 78 seats instead of dropping to 77. The Bloc Québécois wants to reopen the Constitution, because their bill will require support from seven provinces representing 50% of the population. They want to enter into constitutional discussions, but we want to address the problem now, right away, to guarantee Quebec's political weight.
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- Mar/24/22 2:28:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, clearly the government does not know how to count. What matters to Quebec is not the number of seats but our nation's weight relative to the total number of seats. If we keep 78 seats but the total number of seats goes up to 343, 350 or 400, that does not work. One does not need an honorary degree to understand that. They are not taking away one of our seats, which would be an overt act of aggression against Quebec, but neither are they protecting our political weight, which is a roundabout way of breaking their promise.
The Liberals and the NDP voted to recognize the Quebec nation. Why diminish its political weight here?
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- Mar/24/22 2:29:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have 35 Liberal members for Quebec who are proud to be Quebeckers and who are here to stand up for Quebec. Today we introduced a bill that guarantees Quebec's 78 seats, but all the Bloc Québécois wants is to open up the Constitution and start a fight.
The only people that is good for are those who hope to win points by raising a hue and cry, but we, on the other hand, are here for all Quebeckers.
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- Mar/24/22 2:29:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, today marks 30 days of the war in Ukraine, and President Zelenskyy has asked the world to reflect on what that means. When he spoke here in the House of Commons, he asked us to imagine what the war means and what it would mean to Canadians, and he asked for help.
One of the most important ways that we can help, and are helping, is by welcoming people from Ukraine, but recent reports are showing that people who come here from Ukraine are not getting the help that they need. What is the government going to do to ensure that Ukrainians fleeing a humanitarian crisis get refuge in Canada and the support and help that they need?
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- Mar/24/22 2:30:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, certainly, Canada will provide a safe haven for those fleeing Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine. Since January, Canada has welcomed more than 10,000 Ukrainians. Last week, as members know, we launched our new Canada-Ukraine emergency travel authorization, which will make it easier, faster and safer for Ukrainians to come to Canada.
We are working with our partners, including provinces and territories, the business community, the Ukrainian Canadian community and settlement organizations on how best to support people arriving from Ukraine. We will continue—
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- Mar/24/22 2:31:02 p.m.
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The hon. member for Burnaby South.
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- Mar/24/22 2:31:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have spoken with people. There are reports that Ukrainians coming to Canada are not getting the support they need. We are asking the government to recognize that this is the 30th day of war. Ukrainians still need help, and one important way we can help them is to welcome them here and make sure they are supported.
What does the government plan to do to ensure that Ukrainians who come to Canada get the help and support they need to have a good life here in Canada?
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- Mar/24/22 2:31:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his question.
We completely agree that we need to help. That is why we launched the new Canada-Ukraine authorization for emergency travel last week, which will allow Ukrainians to come in.
We are working with our partners, including the provinces and territories, the business community, the Ukrainian Canadian community and settlement agencies, on how best to support those arriving from Ukraine.
We continue to closely monitor travel volumes and needs, and we will take appropriate action.
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- Mar/24/22 2:32:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, all 10 provinces and most G7 countries around the world are lifting the mandates. Despite this, federal mandates around vaccines for employment and travel persist. At the health committee, we already heard the Minister of Health talk specifically about the plan to end federal mandates, but he did not quite make it. He talked about this complicated science and did not elaborate further.
We, on this side of the House, would like to know. What is this complicated science the NDP-Liberal government is not sharing and when will the minister make it available to all Canadians?
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- Mar/24/22 2:33:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, let me try again to make it very simple. I will use one number this time, instead of two, which is 135,000. That is the number of Americans whose deaths were avoidable. If the U.S. had been vaccinated to the extent we have in Canada, in part due to vaccination mandates, they would not have died. Those lives had a value. How much it is in dollars very few people would know I suppose, but they had personal, health, human, social and family values.
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- Mar/24/22 2:33:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the minister for his non-answer reply to that question.
We know there are countless federal employees who are off work who sadly perhaps have not been immunized. What about Douglas, who is a federal scientist? He has a unique story. He has had COVID twice and is also in an antibody study at the Ottawa Health Research Institute. Interestingly enough, and shockingly, he works from home and is still not allowed to go to work. How can this happen?
When will the current federal government stop politicizing this and discriminating against hard-working Canadians and provide a date they can go back to work?
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- Mar/24/22 2:34:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we spoke about being responsible and being kind to each other. I will try to make it even more simple. Instead of 135,000, I will use three, which is a simple number. Three times is how many more deaths we would have had in Canada if we had followed the example of the United States when it came to public health measures and vaccination rates. Three times more people dying would be 60,000 more people in Canada who would have died.
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