Senator Dupuis: Senator Gold, you just told us about a lawsuit filed by Canadian Pacific against the governments. Can you specify which governments? Are we talking about the Government of Saskatchewan only? Are we talking about the Government of Saskatchewan and the Government of Canada?

Senator Gold: To ensure that I give you the right response, I will add this question to the ones you asked me and I will come back to you with the answers as soon as possible.

Senator Gold: Yes.

Hon. Renée Dupuis: I would like to ask the Government Representative a question if that’s okay with him.

The Hon. the Speaker: Senator Dupuis, do you have a question?

Senator Dupuis: Senator Gold, you mentioned an amendment that would be retroactive to a specific date in the 1960s.

Can you give us some more details about that retroactivity? You know there are always questions when we want to create retroactive legislation, so I wanted to make sure I understand correctly.

(Pursuant to the order adopted by the Senate on December 7, 2021, to receive a Minister of the Crown, the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, P.C., M.P., Minister of Health, appeared before honourable senators during Question Period.)

Hon. Jean-Yves Duclos, P.C., M.P., Minister of Health: Thank you very much for having me.

[English]

The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, we welcome today the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, C.P., M.P., Minister of Health, to ask questions relating to his ministerial responsibilities. Pursuant to the order adopted by the Senate on December 7, 2021, senators do not need to stand. Questions are limited to one minute and responses to one-and-a-half minutes. The reading clerk will stand 10 seconds before the expiry of these times. Question Period will last one hour.

Only the Leader of the Opposition will be recognized, once, for a supplementary question, which reflects practices followed for previous Question Periods with ministers.

The Hon. the Speaker: Senator, I’m sorry, but your speaking time is up. Minister Duclos, do you have a response?

Since the Omicron variant emerged, this has given us a higher degree of vaccine protection in Canada than we would have had without the vaccine requirements that the Government of Canada brought in over the last few months.

We estimate that up to 3 million more Canadians would have chosen to put off getting vaccinated until the summer or late fall. Imagine how much worse off we would be now if 3 million more Canadians were unvaccinated on top of those who are still unvaccinated today.

The Hon. the Speaker: I’m sorry, minister, but your time has expired.

[English]

Hon. Pamela Wallin: Minister, in Quebec, as you know, the National Assembly’s inter-party committee report on end-of-life care recommended allowing advance requests for medical assistance in dying, or MAID.

I have two questions. First, do you agree with that recommendation? Second, I will ask you this again: Do you commit to reconvening the joint committee this month so that we can study Quebec’s report in a timely way?

Hon. Pierre J. Dalphond: I thank you and the entire government for supporting the provinces in their fight against the pandemic, for example by providing vaccines and implementing complementary health care measures, especially at the borders.

According to scientists, including federal experts, we are transitioning from pandemic to endemic, so wouldn’t this be the time to review the federal measures that may no longer be necessary?

Hon. Claude Carignan: Minister, MP Joël Lightbound made an extremely important statement yesterday. For one thing, he said that the government is using the pandemic for partisan purposes. For another, he is a key witness who was present behind closed doors and participated in developing strategies to use the pandemic to sow partisan division.

When was that strategy developed, and who was involved in developing it?

Hon. Éric Forest: Thank you, minister, for being with us during this pandemic.

The pandemic has revealed the fragile state of our health care systems, which have been crippled by years of underfunding. While waiting for the necessary reinvestment in transfers to the provinces — which we hope will increase the federal government’s contribution to health care costs to 35% — Canadians are wondering what has happened to the government’s election promise to hire 7,500 physicians and nurses.

My question is twofold. We understand that it is the responsibility of Quebec, and accordingly the provinces and territories, to hire health care workers. However, given the urgency of the situation, can you tell us if the funding of $3.2 billion or so has been disbursed to the provinces? If yes, how many physicians and nurses have been hired?

Hon. Michael L. MacDonald: Minister Duclos, your home province of Quebec has said that it will take at least two years to reduce their backlog of surgeries to pre-pandemic levels. In my province of Nova Scotia, the senior director of the cancer care program recently said that even if COVID-19 went away tomorrow it will take years to catch up on the backlog of patients needing care and to rebuild the system.

This past Friday, the provincial premiers asked your government to increase the Canada Health Transfer. What are you going to do to help Nova Scotia and all provinces to overcome these challenges?

Hon. Claude Carignan: You didn’t answer my question earlier, minister. You responded like a true politician. The Olympic Games are going on right now in Beijing. That’s where the skating should be happening.

I’ll ask my question again. When was that strategy developed and by whom?

The Hon. the Speaker: Minister Duclos, you have 20 seconds to finish your response to Senator Moodie.

The Hon. the Speaker: I’m sorry, minister, but your time is up and I have to move on to the next speaker on the list.