Thank you very much, Chair.
[Technical difficulty—Editor] I really would like to reiterate once again that there are all sorts of statements out there saying that I have been filibustering. Filibustering is actually if I start talking about whether or not my cat could get a COVID-19 vaccine, or if I start talking about how my next-door neighbour is actually mowing her lawn—we are mowing are lawns right now in Vancouver—but she hasn't had a COVID-19 vaccine and I'm concerned about that. That's the kind of stuff that filibustering is.
My intervention on this debate is that I do have a huge problem with the motion as it stands. I'm speaking right now only as a physician. For me, I'm hearing from a lot of constituents who call my office every day confused about what's happening, what's going on, when they are going to get a vaccine and are they going to get a vaccine, and is vaccine A good, is vaccine B good, etc. The more that we put disinformation in a motion that is approved by this committee, the more it confuses people.
The issue here of people dying of COVID-19 is one that concerns me greatly. For me, public health is all about testing, tracing, tracking and surveillance. Those are the four 101s of public health. That's what I want people to do. I also want people to have a vaccine when it becomes available to them. I would rather they just get clear solid information so they can make decisions based on that and we don't confuse it with disinformation.
That is my major concern with this. I'm not concerned about anything else. I am concerned about the fact that (a) when this motion first came out, this motion was making statements that are no longer true, (b) we had all kinds of misinformation about Canada's access to the COVAX vaccine and (c) we had all kinds of misinformation about whether people are going to get a variant and if they get a variant, what they're supposed to do. It is confusing. This is the kind of confusion that can cost lives and can cause the spread of this COVID-19. We don't want the spread to continue. We want to start bringing it down.
What has further increased my concern since the last time I spoke to you is the fact that we are now seeing that in Paris they're in lockdown from new variants of COVID-19. That is what the spread is now. People aren't even sure if that is a new spread, a new pandemic, or whether it's just the COVID-19 variants, etc. I think we're seeing Italy in lockdown and Germany in lockdown. We're seeing a third wave caused by these virulent variants. I just think that this is scaring everyone. The anxiety is huge. As a physician, my first role is to care about the well-being of the patient and, for anxiety, give them proper information. It's at the heart of what we do when we speak to things.
I am not filibustering. I am really very concerned about this. I wanted to make sure that everybody understood what my concern was, which is at the heart of the debate: what my concern is about and why I am worried about it. I am not filibustering.
I think people need to talk about filibusters, the historic filibusters—and I won't go into historic filibusters—where people read from the phone book. That was a filibuster. I am just concerned about misinformation that can cause people (a) not to get vaccines and (b) not to know what is the right thing to do, not to know what the status of anything is.
I think that I would entertain really any kind of motion or amendment to the motion that would ensure it is clear, that we get clarity on some of these issues, whether it be to ask ministers to come and talk to us or anything that would clarify the situation. The concern for me is about clarity, disinformation, the anxiety of people in Canada, patients getting depressed and people not knowing what to do. That is what I was talking about.
I am not going to continue to belabour this. I'm hoping that everybody realizes that for me as a physician in the time of a pandemic a filibuster is not worth it. That's not what I'm trying to do at all. I really want to clarify. I really want to make sure people get the correct information, because people are confused. They don't understand. The first thing about anything to do with public health or medicine is informed decision-making by the patients, i.e., writ large, the public.
Having said that, I would be happy to find a way to entertain amendments from my colleagues that would clarify the situation, say what is happening and change some of the language to current language with regard to this issue. I'm happy to do that because for me, the idea is to get this thing done, move forward and make sure that patients and people are getting the right information.
Without protesting.... I don't think I'm filibustering at all. I have not said a single thing that's off topic. I have not said a single word to do with anything other than my concern about disinformation and getting clear information to people so they can make the best decisions for all of us and we can get rid of this thing.
I'm also concerned about the third wave of variants hitting Europe right now and the fact that we don't know if they're variants or if they're an absolutely new type of COVID virus.
There's one last piece of information that I want to update everybody on. There has been a leisure poll, and it shows, in fact, that if you look at vaccines per a hundred persons, Canada is seventh, just behind France. We're talking here by decimal points, not by massive amounts.
Again, as to information and disinformation, let's just get the facts right and let people decide what they think from those facts.
Thank you very much. I will cede my place, Mr. Chair.