Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Chair, I don't want us to be debating what's the most important in the health care system between nurses, nurses and doctors on the one hand, and children's health and the effects of the pandemic on children on the other. It's absolutely ridiculous to be debating what's more important between the two.
For me, as for many Canadians, it's obvious. We're concerned about the impact of the pandemic on our children and grandchildren. That said, more broadly, we need to go further to find out how the health care system and Canadians in general can better help children.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, children have been put on the sidelines and tugged in so many directions. That's why we absolutely must begin our study quickly to show them that their MPs in Ottawa are interested in them. That's important to me.
A critical first step is to look at the effects on children of the pandemic, of school closures and of being confined for so long in the same space with their parents, sometimes with parents who may be abusive, sometimes with no other external resources. This has been the reality for many Canadian families.
As parliamentarians, we can't turn a blind eye to what happened during the pandemic.
With the agreement of my colleagues, I would like to start the COVID‑19 component of our studies by looking at the effects of the pandemic. We could start the study with two meetings on the effects of the pandemic on children, and we could continue the study after the six meetings on human resources that my colleague mentioned. I think that's important too.
I have a lot to say about the Liberals' handling of the pandemic, whether it's child care, human resource management, or the promise of 7,500 health care professionals, which we have not seen the first glimpse of. I'm all for talking about it, but I don't think nurses need us debating and tearing our hair out about whether it's the medical profession or children that are the most important. I think they're all equally important.
It's unfortunate that we're witnessing political jousting to give priority to one study at the expense of the other, because I had started to present my study proposal, and I was very motivated. We should have finished with that, but you want to start with the other study. That's fine. Both are important to Canadians. It's just a matter of switching them around to satisfy everyone.
Mr. chair, I'll let my colleagues speak, but we'll be ready to speak to my amendment whenever you want.