Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Prime Minister.
Yesterday the Prime Minister showed up in Toronto without a penny in disaster relief: nothing for small businesses, nothing for hospitality workers. He said it was because federal emergency laws do not cover diseases like SARS. That is not true. Section 4 of the Emergency Preparedness Act covers “emergencies of all types”.
Why did the Prime Minister misrepresent this law and why will he not now do the right thing and help Toronto businesses and hospitality workers who are hurting so badly from the SARS epidemic?