Mr. Speaker, as was previously pointed out, the NDP does support the bill but we do have some concerns.
I previously mentioned the importance of protecting workers like our customs officers and our health care workers, and ensuring that they have the resources they require to do their jobs.
In the submission to the standing committee, the Canadian Medical Association pointed out that during the SARS outbreak of 2003, physicians and other health care providers were not only partners in containing infection, but many became ill or died as well, and since health care workers expose themselves to infection as they respond to health emergencies, protocol should ensure that care and attention is paid to their safety through measures such as ensuring ready availability of proper masks.
The CMA went on to say that the act or regulations should address precautions required to protect quarantine officers and other health care workers from transmission of disease or the effects of becoming ill. For example, it should address compensation for quarantine officers who lose work because they become infected in the course of their study. It is absolutely essential that we ensure those kinds of protections are available for frontline workers and that they get the resources they need to do their jobs.
We also need to have one clear health authority and urge that the enabling legislation for the Public Health Agency be expedited. This has been pointed out by a number of organizations, including the Canadian Nurses Association and the Canadian Medical Association. They were not included in this legislation because the expediting legislation for them has not been brought forward.
The Canadian Medical Association also talked about the importance of supporting the need to enact this legislation for the Public Health Agency, and pointed out the need for a comprehensive Canadian emergency response strategy so that when we are faced with things like the SARS crisis, we have a coordinated response.
It is our hope that we never need this bill and that we will never have to use it, but if we do, it does give sweeping powers to the minister to detain people, to use privately owned facilities and to force people to accept medical assessment or treatment. Not enough assurances are in the legislation that the minister will act in a reasonable manner, that people's privacy rights will be respected or that workers affected by the quarantine will actually be protected.
Some of these areas of concern are going to be dealt with by regulations, and we have already indicated how important it is that the government act quickly on this, but other areas will not and we need to know that the government will soon bring forward legislation, especially for workers, that provides a quick response during a health emergency to such issues as employment insurance claims, medical leave and health and safety standards for frontline workers. We are asking our frontline workers to put their lives on the line in a crisis and they deserve every protection that the government can afford them.
Another omission that was identified during the committee stage was how the bill covers travellers and materials travelling in and out of Canada but has absolutely no provisions for interprovincial travel. Considering that it takes longer to fly from Vancouver to Halifax than it does to fly from Europe to Halifax, the chances of a communicable disease being transmitted from one end of the country to the other are great.
I would urge the House to consider the various concerns that members have raised around some of these issues and that we look forward to passing the bill quickly.