Public Safety Committee on March 10th, 2021

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

We worked really closely with the Canadian hotel association. In fact, we posted requirements that hotels needed to meet in order to be considered as a facility that we would contract with.

I'll turn to Iain Stewart to speak to some of the specifics on the requirements that hotels needed to meet in order to be considered for the program.

[Iain Stewart]

Thank you for the question.

We put a slate of criteria on our website that hotels had to meet if they were to be deemed eligible to receive travellers. They have obligations that they have to meet including, as was mentioned earlier, the safe transport of travellers from the airport to the hotel, security on site to ensure the safety of people and also providing the necessities of life, a safe, food and also housing adequate to their needs.

There is a number to call if they have any issues or concerns. We also do spot checks and site inspections regularly to make sure that they are complying with the requirements.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

You have about 30 seconds.

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Was the removal of the locks on the room doors a directive from the Public Health Agency or was it arbitrarily decided by the hotels? For example, the woman who was sexually assaulted at the Sheraton Hotel in Montreal could not use the lock on her door.

[Iain Stewart]

There are locks on all the doors of the DQFs—the designated quarantine facilities—that PHAC runs. The private sector hotels that we're referring to here had no direction from us at any time to remove locks or security devices of any nature.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you, Madam Michaud.

Mr. Harris, you have two and a half minutes, please.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

Thank you.

I would like to avoid the risk of not getting this question answered. Rotational workers in the offshore industry in Newfoundland work internationally. Many of them are working directly in a quarantine situation in an offshore location, with quarantine before they go to the offshore rig, quarantine on the rig and then quarantine when they come back to Canada.

Why are they not able to be exempted from some of these obligations, so they can come back to Newfoundland and Labrador and be with their families instead of having to go through a hotel?

We have workers coming from Houston, Texas and other parts of Texas to work in our offshore and they are provided with an exemption. Why can't the rotational workers who are also working in the same industry—it's essential work being done—and are already subject to very serious quarantine locations all the way through their work rotation be exempt?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Thank you—

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

This is for Minister Hajdu.

The exemptions and exceptions are determined by them. You guys just apply the rules, as I understand.

If I'm wrong, please correct me.

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

It's been a collaborative approach, actually. The essential workers list has been developed across government.

It's hard to speak in generic terms. Many workers in a variety of fields are considered essential and therefore are exempt from quarantining in hotel upon arrival at airports. It's hard to speak to the specifics of those particular workers without understanding their nature.

Maybe I can turn to Minister Blair, in case he wants to add anything.

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Public Safety did develop the list in defining essential work. That is a determination made by the border services officers at the customs hall on whether the person qualifies for exemption.

Jack, I'm going to agree with you that we put a number of very significant exemption measures in place, but also protection measures for temporary foreign workers. If you want to follow up with me on the specific aspects of those workers, I'll pursue it on your behalf.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

You have roughly 20 seconds.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

Thank you, Chair. I can give 20 seconds to someone.

Maybe Mr. Stewart could reflect on this. If the responsibility for security is downloaded to hotels, and you say you didn't mandate that they take the locks off, who made sure they had locks on?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

Mr. Chair?

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

That 20 seconds has just become two seconds.

I'm going to move on because I'm—

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

Mr. Chair, I think that an answer would be in order here.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

I'm sure—

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Agreed, absolutely. There should be an answer.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

There were a lot of answers from Ms. Rempel that went over time.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

No, Ms. Rempel did not go over time.

If I am going to run a clock and try to stay within some semblance of the time allocated, I have to be somewhat arbitrary. I've now had to be arbitrary twice, Mr. Harris.

With that, Mr. Motz is up. You have five minutes, please.

[Glen Motz, Conservative, Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB]

Thank you, Chair.

Minister Hajdu, you claim that there is a need for hotel quarantines rather than to quarantine at home. You then claim that the data to support that decision is incomplete. Can you table the evidence you do have, although incomplete, to support the determination that hotel quarantining was required rather than quarantining at home?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

No. What I'm saying is that the data is incomplete to determine the best approach at the border to manage COVID-19. We do know that mandatory quarantine has been an essential component of controlling COVID-19 domestically, and we do know that mandatory quarantine has reduced significantly the infiltration of COVID-19. But with the variants of concern, of course, we want to be able to screen those positive cases to understand how the virus is changing and shifting—and it is early days.

[Glen Motz, Conservative, Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB]

I'm still confused, then. You said the data is incomplete and yet you don't want to present it. And yet, I'm led to understand that there was a federal judicial review done just recently on a suit that came out of Alberta. The Department of Justice lawyers on the government's behalf sent some information back that said that they're not able to release the data used to make these determinations because of cabinet confidences, which means that you do have some data, you're just not telling us. Don't you think that a government that trumpets itself as being transparent would want Canadians to know? Don't you think Canadians want to know the data used to make these important decisions?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

Mr. Chair, again, Canadians expect us to take strong measures at the border to prevent the importation of COVID-19. Of course, it's important that any Canadian who arrives at the border who is positive or who does not have a quarantine plan that protects the other people in their household has an appropriate place to stay. That's why we have the designated quarantine facilities. The quarantine hotels that we've contracted with the Canadian hotel association are there to help support Canadians to isolate while they await their mandatory tests upon arrival at the border. It is very important that we have the positive tests to run sequencing on so that we can understand how the virus is shifting and changing. We watch for variants of concern that we know and for any changes that we don't know.

[Glen Motz, Conservative, Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB]

Mr. Chair, the minister doesn't have the data or doesn't want to share the data, or isn't telling us the data that they do have.

In the time I have left, I just want to share my own thoughts as well as Canadians' to both of you as ministers.

Canadians believe and I believe that you have failed in your duty to protect Canadians and instead put them at greater risk. You have refused to disclose information explaining the public health benefits, leaving us to conclude that there is no data and no information to support your position on this. You misled Canadians and travellers making them believe they would be in a hotel, but instead they were in an unlocked room with limited water, no food, and under watch of cameras with no security personnel to help them. This was a massive, expensive and dangerous failure. We have victims, only two whom we know of, and if there are two, we know there are a lot more who will now carry this for the rest of their life.

Will you remove the risk to future Canadians and end this mandatory hotel quarantine?