COVID-19 Pandemic Committee on May 21st, 2020

[Damien Kurek, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Sorry, Mr. Chair, but once again I was unable to hear the first 20 seconds or so of your statement.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I apologize. We've been having trouble with interpretation today. I don't know if you heard the beginning of that.

We'll go to Mr. Barrett now for the question.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

Mr. Chair, why is it that after the initial inquiry was made to the government about the construction of the secret mansion, they initially replied that it was not true but then, once they were caught, they confirmed that the information was true?

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

Mr. Chair, rather than becoming mired in things like conspiracy theories, state secrets, and hidden agendas, I would ask my colleague to debate matters that pertain to the pandemic, because that is what the House of Commons decided we should be doing.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

We'll now go to Ms. Rempel Garner.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Chair, it's been suggested that Canada's government has been providing advice to Canadians based, at least in part, upon appeasing the WHO and, in turn, the Government of China. Would this be an accurate characterization?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

This would absolutely not be an accurate characterization.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

That leads into my next line of questions very well.

How many lost Canadian lives and jobs can be attributed to the government believing the statement made by the WHO in January that here's no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Chair, as the member knows, this is a global pandemic. The World Health Organization has played an important role in helping convene scientists and researchers from around the world to understand the science as it evolves around this novel coronavirus—

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

We'll go back to Ms. Rempel Garner.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

How many lost lives and Canadian jobs can be attributed to Dr. Tam's stating in January, “It's going to be rare”?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

As the member knows, we have been monitoring the coronavirus since we first found out about a cluster of unusual cases in Wuhan in December. At every step of the way, we've been transparent with Canadians about the risks to their health and safety—

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

We will go back to Ms. Rempel Garner.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

How many lost Canadian lives and jobs can be attributed to the minister's opinion that “border measures are highly ineffective” in March or that border measures don't work at all?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

In fact, we've had measures at the border since the beginning of—

[A voice]

I think we're done for now. Is that...?

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I'm sorry. There was an interruption there. Somebody had their mute off.

The honourable minister may continue.

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

Thank you.

As I was saying, Mr. Chair, to allege that there have been no border measures is actually untrue and misleading to Canadians. In fact, we've been screening arrivals at international borders for quite some time, as the member knows.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

I simply quoted what the minister said, so I think she just said that she was misleading Canadians.

How many Canadian lives and jobs that were lost can be attributed to the statement from the minister that the risk is extremely low for Canadians and there is no need for Canadians to be alarmed”?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

As the member knows, the risk assessment that we were providing to Canadians at every step of the way was posed on the actual risk to Canadians at that time. As the risk to Canadians changed, of course so did our assessment and so did our advice.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Does the minister consider the statement “If we all stopped moving for two weeks...we would see this virus die”” to be COVID misinformation?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

We know that one of the ways the virus is transmitted is through people having close contact with others. I would argue that there is still quite a bit of work to do to remind Canadians that as we loosen our economy, we need to continue to physically distance.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

When the minister stated, “It's unfortunate that misinformation is creating a perception for Canadians that belies reality” at a press conference, was she referring to the advice coming from her, the Prime Minister and Dr. Tam?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

The effects of the pandemic have had significant impacts on different groups of people in different ways. I recall that particular conversation, in fact. I was talking about the particular effects on the Chinese-Canadian community, which was suffering from a high degree of racism—

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Ms. Rempel Garner, go ahead.