44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 24, 2022 10:00AM
- 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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- Mar/24/22 2:35:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, many Canadians cannot travel. They cannot leave this country. Many have been terminated and have been othered by the current government for long enough. Its top doctor stated that vaccine mandates are not effective anymore, yet the health minister will not discuss any timelines, benchmarks or plans for ending them. He is not taking hints from provinces. He is not taking cues from our international allies. He is not listening to his own experts.
On what day, in what year, will the health minister end the federal mandates that nobody is telling him to keep?
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- Mar/24/22 2:35:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we would all like to be able to declare the date when COVID‑19 will disappear from the earth. That would be marvellous. I would certainly be the happiest man on earth, and in this Parliament, to be able to tell the House on what day COVID‑19 will disappear. Unfortunately, I do not know.
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- Mar/24/22 2:36:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, things would be better if the minister cared about workers even half as much as he does about optics. Employers in air transportation are experiencing worker shortages. They are terminating experienced workers because of the federal mandates. The very workers who were mandated to work through the pandemic are the same workers who are now on the verge of losing their livelihoods for good. The transportation minister can end the interim order on mandates before he strips workers of their pensions, their benefits and their years of service. That is before April 16.
Why is the Minister of Health saying no?
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- Mar/24/22 2:36:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I really want to ask my colleague to remind Canadians that vaccination is not a punishment. Vaccines have saved lives, communities, our economy and jobs.
I understand there are questions about when these mandates will be lifted. We will continue to follow science and advice, and I ask the hon. member to avoid partisanship in the face of vaccination and science.
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- Mar/24/22 2:37:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the health minister talks a lot about numbers.
I am wondering if he can tell us whether mental health, particularly the mental health of Canadians who still today cannot work or travel to see loved ones because of the mandates, is one of the metrics being considered in regard to lifting the mandates.
If so, what specifically are those mental health metrics?
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- Mar/24/22 2:38:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is true the mental health of Canadians has been deeply affected the last two years. We estimate that about one Canadian out of two has seen his or her mental health deteriorate over the last few months. For health care workers, it is about three quarters. Now, health care workers have been at the front lines of this crisis—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Mar/24/22 2:38:34 p.m.
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Order, please.
I will let the minister restart.
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- Mar/24/22 2:38:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I was going to point to health care workers. Obviously, we are deeply thankful to them, but thankfulness is not enough. We need to think of them and we need to act in a way that protects them if we want them to protect us.
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- Mar/24/22 2:39:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, even after the imposition of vaccine mandates, some Canadians chose to remain unvaccinated. Many of them sacrificed jobs and their ability to travel to see loved ones because of their authentic anxiety about COVID vaccines.
The Prime Minister's response was to go on television and proclaim that many of those Canadians were “racists” and “misogynists”.
What does the minister have to say about the mental health impact of a Prime Minister publicly shaming Canadians who experienced genuine anxiety that has undeniably caused them legitimate hardship?
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