44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 24, 2022 10:00AM
- 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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- Mar/24/22 2:39:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, hardship is the right word. I was speaking yesterday with the Canadian Pharmacists Association, which represents another group of health care workers who have been at the front line and living very difficult times. Their personal mental stress has been heightened by COVID, as has the stress of their families when they go home after a day at work, the stress of their staff and the stress of the patients they have cared for, now for more than two years. This is an example of the hardship we have gone through. That is why we need to keep caring for each other.
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- Mar/24/22 2:40:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in the agreement with the NDP there is so much encroachment that they are trampling all over Quebec's jurisdictions with full force.
Housing, pharmacare, child care, health care, long-term care: encroachment from coast to coast to coast, to use the Liberals' expression.
There is a much more effective way to help people get services. The government can transfer the money that Quebec and the provinces need and give them a right to opt out with full compensation in any areas that fall under their jurisdictions.
Will the government agree to a right to opt out with full compensation and without conditions, yes or no?
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- Mar/24/22 2:41:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc is referring to an agreement that focuses on, for example, fighting climate change, which is good for Quebeckers.
Help for workers is good for Quebeckers. More social housing is good for Quebeckers. Working together on health is good for Quebeckers.
When all of that is good for Quebeckers, it is not good for the Bloc Québécois, and they do not like that.
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- Mar/24/22 2:41:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, let us discuss the fight against climate change.
When we read the Liberal and NDP marriage document, it is very clear that there are no jurisdictions. It is crystal clear.
What is not so clear, however, is the will to stop producing dirty oil. They will be “developing a plan to phase-out public financing of the fossil fuel sector”. There really is no sense of urgency.
Did the Liberal Party or the NDP decide to continue financing oil companies in the midst of the climate crisis?
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- Mar/24/22 2:42:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for the question.
I would like to remind him that we promised to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies two years before our G20 partners did. That is what we are going to do, and we will definitely work with our NDP colleagues, and our Bloc Québécois colleagues if they are interested, to advance this file.
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- Mar/24/22 2:42:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in their agreement, the great experts in the NDP and the Liberal Party chose to tell Quebec and the provinces what they need, specifically how many nurses and doctors should be hired, where the money should go, and how their networks should be managed.
However, the real experts are not on this side of the House, they are not across the way, nor are they sitting next to us. Quebec and the provinces know what they need. As we are on the verge of a sixth wave, will the government finally increase health transfers to 35% with no conditions?
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- Mar/24/22 2:43:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has already said that health transfers would be increased.
The Bloc Québécois has known that for a long time, but that does not allow for any bickering, which is what the Bloc needs. However, the kind of constitutional bickering that the Bloc is looking for does not create jobs for anyone. Bickering does not get hospitals new doctors or nurses. It does not help people heal. All that bickering does is help the Bloc Québécois find more to bicker about and be more adversarial.
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
Hon. Pablo Rodriguez: Mr. Speaker, as you can hear, they love it when I talk about bickering.
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- Mar/24/22 2:44:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, on Monday in the health committee, the Minister of Health said, “We want to apply the least disruptive measures in order to protect the health and safety of Canadians, and the conversation will evolve as the situation evolves.” The situation has evolved. We are asking the federal government to follow the science and remove federal mandates, as has been done throughout Canada in our provinces.
Does the health minister believe that all 10 provincial chief medical officers of health are wrong?
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- Mar/24/22 2:44:43 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that question gives me the opportunity to continue speaking about the hardships and stress many Canadians feel, including health care workers and obviously patients. We have seen, over the last two years, a backlog of surgeries approximately equal to 700,000 patients. Their families, friends and communities are affected by that backlog. Today, we still have about 4,000 people hospitalized. Those hospital beds are not available for other patients.
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- Mar/24/22 2:45:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, unfortunately that was a complete non-answer. The risks have changed as this pandemic has evolved. Canada has the most restrictive domestic travel mandates in the world. This is having a very real impact on families. I have been contacted by families in my riding who want to visit relatives who are in palliative care and who want to attend funerals. Vaccine mandates on travel have limited the ability of families to gather.
When will the health minister show some humanity and finally allow the transportation minister to remove domestic travel restrictions?
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- Mar/24/22 2:46:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we all agree and are all thankful for humanity. Humanity means thinking about others and caring for others. I will mention the fact that, on average, in the last week we have had about 50 to 60 additional deaths. Those are not just numbers: those are people whose families obviously are very much impacted. We have 4,000 people who are hospitalized. That is a large number of people. Humanity demands that we look after them while we repair and prepare the health care system for the future challenges we will be seeing.
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