Mr. Speaker, it is good to be back. I hear some cheers from the other side. They are happy to have us back, and it is good to be back. It is a little unusual here and I think we are all suffering a bit from that.
It is nice to hear the opposition applaud a Liberal member. I do like to hear that. It is good for the ego, and it encourages me to speak more in the House of Commons. I know they are worried that I have not been speaking as much as I did in the previous Parliament.
I was not going to mention this topic, but the hon. member for Windsor West brought it up, so I thought I would speak to it. He mentioned single-event sports betting, which is a topic that I know both he and I share a concern about. He asked the hon. member for Windsor—Tecumseh about it, who unfortunately did not have enough time to answer, but I want to assure him that the hon. member for Windsor—Tecumseh and I have been pushing hard, even though there is not much in the way of sports going on.
I saw an article in the newspaper recently about a casino run by organized crime that was taken down by Toronto area police. It really highlights that the impact of organized crime still exists in the gambling industry.
Single-event sports betting in this country is a multi-billion dollar industry, and very little of it is legal. In my mind, it is time to legalize it. It is time to regulate it, and it is time to take the money out of the hands of organized crime. I know the hon. member for Windsor West is in favour of it, and a Conservative member has brought forward a private member's bill on the subject as well, so I hope we move forward with that. When we can get back together, it will be an important tool for areas such as my riding, Niagara, Windsor and many other ridings that have casinos in them.
It will be an opportunity to create jobs and for Canadians to take advantage of it. Sports betting in this country is not illegal, as we see with ProLine. People can bet on sports, but it is the single events that people cannot bet on. It is time for us to move on that. I would like to again thank the hon. member for Windsor West for bringing that up.
We find ourselves talking about the throne speech in the middle of a global health crisis. I want to focus part of my speech on what we are doing right now to help Canadians. The end goal of this crisis needs to be a vaccine or treatment that really works. We are seeing second waves around the world.
We are even seeing that rapid testing is not the panacea some members are claiming it is. If we look to our allies and friends down south, every member in the White House received a rapid test before they went into work, but now there is an outbreak there. This virus keeps moving on.
The end goal has to be a vaccine. That is how we will get Canadians safe again. That is how we will get the economy back for Canadians and have them stop worrying. We all want to meet with constituents. We all want to shake their hands, go to events, see them, speak to them and be in the same room with them. We do not want to be 10 feet away from each other, as we are in this room. We want to be able to be together again. It is human nature.
I will say in the House of Commons what I have been saying on social media. I encourage my constituents and Canadians across the country to continue to practise social distancing, wash their hands, wear a mask and download the COVID alert app. These are ways that Canadians can help control the virus. There is nothing first responders, doctors or the government can do, if Canadians are not following those guidelines.
What have we done? Billions of pieces of PPE have been procured. Half of them are now being manufactured in Canada, and that is a testament to Canadian companies, which stepped up when the need was there. They stepped up to start manufacturing Canadian-made PPE. As I said, they are producing nearly 50% of it, and this is key.
As we are fighting other foreign governments to get the best price and to get access to much-needed PPE, the best way to do it and the best way to handle it is to manufacture it right here in Canada.
I also have to give credit to the Minister of Public Services and Procurement, as Canada now has contracts for five different vaccine candidates, up to 154 million doses of the vaccine. Some people may say that there are only 37 million or 38 million of us, so why do we need so many vaccines? It may take more than one dose, or one vaccine may be more effective than another. The Government of Canada is there to look out for Canadians. We are not putting all of our eggs into one basket because we need an effective vaccine.
It concerns me when I hear in this place, and I see it on social media, the anti-science rhetoric that can filter up. It is leading to a great concern in me that when a vaccine is approved there is going to be a segment of the population who does not believe in it, who says that they do not need it, that it is poison and that it is toxic. We have seen this with other vaccines. We have seen diseases that we thought we had beaten, such as measles, coming up again and killing children around the world because of faulty, flawed social media reports that get shared and believed.
Therefore, I hope every member in this place stands up and encourages their constituents, as flu season is approaching, to get a flu shot. Members can get a flu shot, post it on their social media pages and encourage it. If we model good public health behaviour, we can have an impact and be leaders in that. As our hospitals are facing the second wave, they are also facing an increased threat of flu.
As we know, and as we have heard, flu kills thousands of Canadians every year. The more of us who get the flu shot, the better we are able to reduce that surge on the hospital system. I hope every member in this place takes advantage of that and highlights that. They can take a picture of it, post it on their Facebook page and show their constituents that they care.
I am not sure why members of the Conservatives are heckling me during a pitch on flu vaccines. I would have hoped that would be the least controversial thing that I talked about today, but apparently not.
Many of these vaccines are either at the end of phase three trials or working their way to phase three trials. I am confident in Health Canada. I am confident in our Health Canada officials, who will work with companies to approve these vaccines.
We are not going to reopen the economy 100% without that trust, without the belief that we can go in and not spread this virus. We can see how rapidly it spreads. For members of the various parties, we can talk to our colleagues who have gotten this terrible disease, some of them worse than others, so we need to do everything that we can.
I hope that we are able to bury the anti-science rhetoric that often comes up. Our scientists and our researchers are some of the best in the world. Our public health officials and our Health Canada officials, who are working on the various projects that come in, are doing their best. They are working late hours. They are trying to ensure that Canadians are safe.
Therefore, I hope that on all sides of the House we can put our trust in science and we can bury the anti-science rhetoric. Again, I want to congratulate the minister of procurement and her team for the work they have done to procure in advance not only potential vaccines but also the syringes and other equipment that is needed for a mass vaccination campaign.
I see my time is nearly at an end. I welcome any questions.