Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I agree with what Mr. Davies was saying. We are having Canada's worst health crisis. I have seen these impacts, including in my own riding. The CF report on long-term care homes included one home in my riding. These issues are extremely important. We need to analyze these things properly. PROC had a similar long motion that came forward, and they had to take time to analyze it properly. As Mr. Fisher was saying, it's long. I know we have to analyze it properly in the next three days before moving forward on it.
All of us on this committee want to do good work for our constituents and for the country. We have to be reasonable and work together. I think it's reasonable to take some time to go through this very long motion. As Mr. Davies said, we were working through COVID for seven months. We did a lot of good work. We heard many, many witnesses from many parts of the country.
I would also like to speak on the importance of my friend Tony's motion. It's so important. Limiting the discussion of COVID-19 by studying what he proposed, and narrowing it to the part of the pandemic is important. The mental health of many Canadians is affected. The mental health impact of COVID-19 is real.
It is here, and things are only worsening with COVID-19. I was at my youth council yesterday, and they were telling me horrible, horrible stories. That is why it's so important, as well, because in different parts of the country people are being told to stay home once again. I'm from Peel, and the cases there are rising. We need to prioritize issues. May I mention the Canadian Mental Health Association and its CEO, Margaret Eaton, who also came to HESA? Members know that. There were mental-health-related COVID-19 meetings. She phrased it as, “We are experiencing two pandemics. The first is obviously COVID-19. The second is the mental health impacts of it.”
She also said we are at the tip of the iceberg in understanding the impact this pandemic is having on Canadians' mental health.
CMHA did a study and found that Canadians are feeling more isolated then ever. According to CMHA, 47% of people are feeling more alone than before. Luc said earlier that we were looking at many issues under COVID-19. I think it is important to focus on one area and then move forward on the next one.
I appreciate what my other colleague said about the importance of being on team Canada. I would agree. We must work together, and Canadians expect us to work together. Providing an extremely long motion during a meeting and not allowing members to have time to review it is not exactly operating as a team.
I have not had the time to properly assess the motion, but I want it. There's so much to it that we need to use a reasonable time to take a look into it. I think my other colleagues agree with that. I ask how we are able to prioritize paramount points for the health of Canadians. I ask who decided on how to support provinces for long-term care on mental health. It's very, very important.
In my riding, the cases are rising. Long-term care is an issue. Mental health is an issue. This is not the time to play politics. Just prioritize, and focus on, the health of Canadians. I sincerely believe that we are not prepared to properly study this issue, and we need time to. Let's prioritize issues one by one. I can say over 80% of all COVID-related deaths occurred in long-term care homes.
This issue is very close to my heart. I know many colleagues agree. I know one of the issues is this, too: I think we need to prioritize, one by one. It's extremely important for this committee to study how the federal government can work with its provincial and territorial counterparts to ensure what happened in our long-term care homes, and the first wave, won't happen when we hit the second wave. This is very, very important.
Is it more important than issues raised by all our colleagues? It's hard to decide. Are we going to have another chance to do it? Therefore I ask you all, why this rush?
Let's set up our priorities and prioritize the issues. I hope we will all understand this, and then we can properly study this issue, which is more important to Canadians.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.