Mr. Speaker, the minister indicated that she was very concerned about the misinformation being spread about the coronavirus. I would like to read a quote from February 17, “The long-term implications of shutting borders is they are not very effective.” Who said that? The Minister of Health.
The Minister of Health also said that the risk remained low and that there was no evidence that this virus was spread without symptoms. She even praised the Government of China's handling of reporting to the WHO and other countries about the coronavirus in its country. If the minister is concerned about spreading misinformation, maybe she should stop doing press conferences.
We are dealing with a request for information. Canadians were told that by going through great sacrifice, seeing their businesses close, going bankrupt and watching loved ones die alone, they were buying the government time to increase the number of PPE that Canada had, fast-tracking approvals and purchasing ventilators. Here we are months later and all those things still have not happened, which is why parliamentarians are trying to get to the bottom of this.
When it came to the WE scandal, the government was able to hit print and dump thousands of documents on the committee. It even took the time to redact them. If the government can take the time to try to throw a smoke screen away from its corruption, why can it not take the time to provide this information to the House of Commons?