Thank you so much, Madam Chair, and I'll thank Ms. Vecchio, who is a dear colleague, as well.
I really am here to represent my constituents of Etobicoke North. I stand here debating the motion at hand, which is to invite several ministers to appear in front of this committee. I am here to support this motion and explain why I think it's important that we extend the invitation to them.
As I was saying, we bought personal protective equipment, testing kits, and we pre-ordered vaccines.
The most important thing we can do to address the spread of COVID19 is to vaccinate, test, contact trace and isolate. I want to make it clear, our government bought the vaccine doses, tests, provided contact tracers and quarantine hotels.
Here in Canada the largest immunization campaign in our country's history is well under way. According to our country's top vaccine coordinator, there should be enough COVID-19 vaccines available to give every Canadian who is eligible a first dose by the end of June. With this vaccine rollout, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
In the spring, when the women and men of the Canadian Armed Forces were needed, they went in to care for our elders. We know that our long-term care facilities really bore the brunt of wave one in Canada, and tragically it happened again in wave two.
I think of several long-term care residents in our Etobicoke North community. Deaths among seniors are not just numbers. Our seniors are people we know, people we have listened to. We have heard their life stories, learned from them, laughed with them, sang with them and danced with them. We owe all of our seniors who have helped build this country safe and dignified care. The greatest tragedy of this pandemic is the lives lost in long-term care homes.
I took every opportunity to stand up for our seniors and particularly those in long-term care.
I think it's relevant to bring this up, because if we have the Deputy Prime Minister, we can hear about the action that is planned. Although long-term care falls under provincial and territorial jurisdiction, our government will take any action it can to support seniors while working alongside provinces and territories.
Our government will work with Parliament on Criminal Code amendments to explicitly penalize those who neglect seniors under their care, putting them in danger.
Our government will work with the provinces and territories to set new national standards for long-term care so that seniors get the best possible support, and we'll take additional action to help people stay in their homes longer.
These important actions were outlined in the throne speech that was delivered after prorogation and after tremendous consultation. I think it would be very important to hear from the Deputy Prime Minister on where we are on implementation. Our seniors are an integral part of our communities and we must do everything possible to protect them.