Time and time again, I think we have learned that trying to develop work plans by motion is not a good way to go, and we need to be able to have a constructive discussion about how we would go forward.
I think this motion is totally inadequate to allow the supervision of this outbreak in a comprehensive way. We need to find a way that should the level rise to level 5, level 6 on a weekend, we can have updates. We need a way of going forward.
I hope the House leaders will make a decision about that, but the idea that this motion moves us any further forward to an active supervision of this outbreak is not good enough, I think, in terms of the Liberal position. We don't need a motion to call public health officials, but we also have been, I think up until now, heartened by the fact that when I spoke to the minister on Sunday and asked for a briefing on Monday, we got it.
We then spent two hours this morning trying to get an update, a briefing for today, and finally got it. I don't want to spend two hours of every day trying to negotiate with the minister's office about whether we get a briefing or not. We want an ongoing way that we can do this so that we can know on the weekend if there's a way that members....
Madam Chair, today in the briefing what we heard from Dr. Grondin was so important, in terms of just how we as parliamentarians can accidentally use the words “travel advisory” instead of a “travel warning”. These kinds of things make it hugely important that we all be on the same page at all times. An extra meeting here or there is not going to do the job of having parliamentarians seriously in the loop at every decision taken.
I was told this morning by the minister's office that nothing had changed since the briefing yesterday and we didn't need one. In fact, the WHO had raised the level up to level 4. In fact, Canada had issued a travel warning, and therefore we had to fight back.
I do not want to spend my time as a parliamentarian fighting with the minister's office to get briefings. I want something formal and I want it ongoing, and this motion goes nowhere near what we need.