Okay, sorry about that. I'll try to slow down. I get excited when I get talking about some of these things.
When it comes to personal protective equipment, we have first-hand knowledge. We have some front-line workers who work at airports, and who are expected—without going into names, some people have asked what happens if they have to screen someone coming through the scanner and the buzzer goes off. They weren't given face shields and were told that if someone coughs they should just turn their head. What kind of society are we talking about if we can't protect workers?
Each and every one of us gets up in the morning to go to work to fend for our families, each and every one of us who is here today, yet we don't have the ability to go to work and do a fair day's work to have pride in the work we do. The most important thing is that you have the ability to come home to your loved ones. I see it time and time again. The tragedy is, unfortunately—we just had April 28, Peter, which is the day of mourning, when we mourn for the dead and fight for the living.
In Canada, we still kill over a thousand people each year who do the same thing we do every day: getting up and trying to go to work and fend for ourselves. We have an opportunity to reset some of these inequalities or inefficiencies that have taken place in the health care system and the PPE, where we can't produce our own equipment to protect our front-line workers, protect our people.
We represent a lot of workers in the nursing homes. If you look at the baby boom burst, these are the folks, if you're fortunate enough to still have parents who are living, who are going to be in need of home care and these nursing homes. If you've witnessed what we've all witnessed over the last several weeks, it's not a pretty picture. It's not something I'd want to be saddled with, to say that I think it's time for my parents to go to a nursing home, considering what has transpired. We have a fiduciary responsibility, an obligation, to make sure we treat those people with dignity and respect. They have helped us build this great country.
Peter, here's an opportunity to reset and move forward, and to close those gaps, to stop those loopholes and to have a fairer society that's going to prosper for all.