Madam Speaker, it is my pleasure to spend time talking about this motion. I have been listening attentively to my colleagues, especially the Liberal colleagues from the health committee, which I am proud to sit on. It makes me concerned for our future and dealing with things collaboratively for the betterment of our communities and, of course, for the health of Canadians.
Since March, Canada, like many countries around the world, has been severely affected by the pandemic, but many countries are doing better.
A lot of countries are doing much better than Canada is. It seems quite often that we compare our response with what I would qualify as the bottom of the barrel, which is our friends to the south, in the U.S., and how they are dealing with it. We are doing a heck of a lot better than them; however, if we compare ourselves with other countries, we are not doing as well as we have been told we have.
The motion from my hon. colleague from Calgary Nose Hill is fully in order and reasonable in making sure we have the documents required to make decisions on behalf of Canadians. We need to know where we have been and know what we have done in order to not make those mistakes in the future. Contrary to what the Liberals are trying to say, they are the ones who are trying to hide the gaps in their response to COVID-19.
I have not been in Parliament for very long, and I have not been on the health committee for very long, but I always thought that when a motion was presented in a committee, members discussed it and then amended it as necessary. Members do not stand there and filibuster for two full meetings, which is basically what has happened for both meetings of the health committee to date. As a matter of fact, I do not think I have had an opportunity to say more than three words in that committee.
I know, beyond this motion, there are a number of other motions that are great pieces of study as well. One that will be coming from our friends in the Bloc is a study of the PMPRB. Let us get moving on this first motion to provide information to the members of that committee and to the people in the House of Commons, so that we know where we have been to help us go where we want to go.
I was not going to talk about the team Canada approach until later on in my speech, but I want to underline that everybody has been raising the team Canada flag and saying that we all need to be working together. Most times, the team Canada approach is only for Liberal members. We, in the opposition, are not provided with the information we require to make decisions or to know whether something is being done correctly or not.
I want to thank all of our health care workers. I know and understand they are very busy, especially those who are working with patients who have COVID-19, or those who are working at many of our testing sites and labs. They are working to plan, especially the chief medical officers of health and the premiers who are making decisions on behalf of the provinces.
I will even thank the public servants in theminister's department, but I am sure within a few weeks they would like to prove us wrong. Why not prove the opposition wrong on some of the allegations they have been bringing forward? Would it not be better to provide the information of this motion so that they can prove us wrong once and for all, or so we can find the gaps and close them up?
Let us look at some real examples of gaps in our response to COVID-19. I will use the example of Nova Scotia. We do not necessarily have much COVID-19. I forget what the number is today, but even in the Atlantic bubble, we have fewer than 100 or so cases of COVID-19.
That is because the medical officers of health decided a long time ago that they would close our borders to visitors, and make sure that people coming in isolated for 14 days.
Even within the bubble, we have had challenges on testing, especially when students went back to school. A few weeks ago, my niece was exhibiting symptoms and my sister-in-law and brother had to call the 811 number to try to book a test. It took eight days to get the test and a response so that my niece could go back to school. Quite honestly, she was more worried about transmitting the disease than she was about getting it herself.
Luckily, in Nova Scotia there is a semi-rapid test. It is a gargle test. If COVID shows up, people can have the other test. There were eight days of lockdown, eight days of no school and eight days of no work for that family. This is the kind of thing that has been going on and that is why we need rapid tests, even in Atlantic Canada, which has the lowest numbers of COVID-19.
I am glad the folks in Atlantic Canada have made their own decisions as to how to go forward, contrary, in a lot of cases, to what the Government of Canada has been saying. I know they all sit at a table and work on things, but I am glad there is this independence of the different provinces making their own decisions.
The other thing I want to ask, in order to understand what the government has done, is why companies that we know can provide rapid testing have not been accepted at this point. In Nova Scotia, Sona Nanotech has a gold standard when it comes to rapid testing and it has not been approved yet.
Why has it not been approved? I am sure we will find that out with the information provided to us by the government through this motion.
Canadians need to know why the Liberals failed so miserably at preparing us for the second wave of COVID-19. We need those answers so we can develop a better plan for moving forward. The Liberals have plenty of public servants who are paid to do this work. There is no reason they cannot do it. That is why we at the Standing Committee on Health need to get back to work. The physical and mental health of Canadians depends on it, our economic health depends on it, and our future as a prosperous G7 country depends on it.
I invite my parliamentary colleagues of all political stripes to support this motion to finally give meaning to the term “team Canada” and restore Canadians' confidence in the independence of committees and the importance of their work. The health of Canadians is not a bargaining chip, and it does not belong to any political party.
We all need to demonstrate responsibility.