Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I appreciate the comments from my colleagues. A couple of things jumped out at me in the comments from Mr. Kelloway and Ms. Sidhu. I certainly respect their perspectives, but they're asking us to do in-depth studies that are, for most intents and purposes, provincial issues. Sick leave, mental health and long-term care are, for the most part, under provincial jurisdiction. The provinces should be the ones focusing on that.
However, for Mr. Kelloway to say it's too much work for this committee go through the documents that would be given to this committee as part of this study is very short-sighted. That is our job. Our job here is to look through the documents and find the information that our constituents are asking for. If it's going to take me all night to read the documents to ensure we have the information we need, that is what I was elected to do. It's to do the hard work that my constituents expect me to do. There have been all-night votes. There have certainly been some long nights reading documents, but I think that is one of our responsibilities. Our constituents expect nothing less from us.
This is one of the most important issues we have ever dealt with as parliamentarians. When we were elected, I don't think any of us were expecting to deal with something like COVID-19, which has seized our entire country and our entire economy.
However, Canadians are looking for a couple of things. They're looking for a strategy, a path forward. To arrive at that, we also need to understand how we got to where we are right now.
That brings us to this motion, which I believe is completely fair and is certainly not an omnibus motion. I have it sitting in front of me. It's on a page and a half. Mr. Kelloway should look at the 300-page omnibus bills that the Liberals have been putting forward for the last couple of years—like an 800-page budget bill—if he wants to see an omnibus document. It is by no means overwhelming for a parliamentarian to look at this motion. I think it's quite fair. Certainly some details are being requested of the government, but that is what we need to be looking at.
There's no question, Mr. Chair, that this is the number one issue for our constituents. They want to know what decisions were made for the pandemic and why decisions were made when it came to the pandemic alert system. They want to know what strategy was in place to get us to where we are right now. I think that includes the details that these documents are going to provide. That's why I fully support the motion that Ms. Rempel Garner put forward, and the amended motion that makes it more palatable to all the parties involved. I don't see any reason to delay proceeding.
Seeing the filibusters going on in the other committees, I think Canadians would be looking to the health committee to get some real work done. It is real work, Mr. Kelloway, to be looking at the details of the pandemic assessment, the pandemic reaction and the plans for dealing with this crisis for Canadians right across this country.
I vehemently disagree that this motion is asking us to do too much work. I think this is exactly why our constituents voted to bring us here, no matter what party stripe we are wearing. They are asking us to do everything we need to do to find out as much information and as many details as we possibly can on COVID-19. That is why I fully support that we move along on this study as quickly as possible.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.