Mr. Speaker, the hon. member said that hindsight is 20/20. Actually, he did not need hindsight. He could have just listened to what the Conservative opposition was saying precisely at that time, which was calling, for instance, for stronger border measures.
He talked about countries that did that, and mentioned Italy and the U.S. as examples. Italy and the U.S. are not examples of countries that effectively implemented those policies. He should be looking at South Korea. He should be looking at Taiwan. He should be looking at the Czech Republic. He should be looking at what New Zealand and Australia were doing. These countries understood the need to have effective border measures and screening, as well as early masking.
The science was in place. When the government was telling people not to wear masks because it would create a false sense of security for some, the reality was that people were deploying masking already. In the Czech Republic, South Korea and Taiwan it was working, and they still have lower death rates today.