Debates of Nov. 25th, 2020

Official Languages

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we will always continue to protect and promote our official languages.

That is why we amended the long-form census to enumerate all rights holders. That is why we supported Ontario's French-language university and developed a historic $1.7-billion plan to support our communities. That is why we have only appointed bilingual judges to the Supreme Court, something that the Conservatives refuse to do. As we said in the throne speech, we are committed to protecting French in both Quebec and the rest of Canada, and we will continue to work on modernizing the Official Languages Act.

[Erin O'Toole, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals talk about presenting a white paper on official languages, but the Liberals are rejecting a unanimous motion from the National Assembly calling for Bill 101 to apply to federally regulated businesses. We know that many senior Liberal officials in Montreal have always fought against Bill 101.

Will the Prime Minister side with the National Assembly of Quebec or with the Liberal officials?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I have a hard time taking the Conservative Party seriously when it comes to protecting French.

Will they commit to appointing only Supreme Court justices who can speak French?

That is a commitment that we in the Liberal Party have made. As a Liberal government, we have fulfilled that commitment three times, and we will continue to do so.

Will the Conservative Party commit to only appointing Supreme Court justices who can speak French?

Health

[Yves-François Blanchet, Bloc, Beloeil—Chambly, QC]

Mr. Speaker, from the French language to vaccines, the Prime Minister is definitely putting way too many things off until next year. The thing is, he is the most powerful person in the country, and it is his responsibility to protect the health, safety and lives of the most vulnerable members of society.

The problem is that he cannot tell us when we will get the vaccines. He says it could be sometime between later and much later. A lot of things are going to happen between now and then. He could have done as others did and negotiated licences to protect and produce a supply of vaccines.

Why did he not do that?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we have faced all kinds of challenges and issues since the start of the pandemic. We had to move quickly to deliver assistance to all Canadians via the CERB, the emergency wage subsidy and support for small businesses.

We had to deliver PPE across the country. We had to work with the provinces to help them protect their citizens. We worked with experts to secure the best vaccine contracts of any country in the world. We will keep working with the experts and we will keep our promises to Quebeckers and Canadians.

[Yves-François Blanchet, Bloc, Beloeil—Chambly, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am not interested in the Prime Minister's excuses for his failure. I am very interested in solutions. It is very clear that the Prime Minister needs to answer to Parliament. This is a terrible situation. The delays could go on for months.

He has made the wrong decisions. He could have authorized the production of the vaccine.

Is it because he promised not to authorize the production of vaccines in Canada in the agreements he signed?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, from the start of the pandemic and at every step, we relied on the experts, scientists, and those who have worked with vaccines and vaccine procurement for years. We relied on the experts. They provided the best vaccine plan of any country. We will continue to work with them to ensure that these vaccines get to Canadians as quickly as possible.

We will do that with a concrete plan to help Canadians. We will get through this pandemic together.

[James Cumming, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Prime Minister tried to excuse his failures by saying that Canada does not have any domestic production capacity for vaccines. Did he just realize that we have been in a pandemic for eight months? The Prime Minister has admitted that getting Canadians first access to a vaccine was not the priority for the Liberal government.

Why on earth did the Prime Minister give $173 million to a Quebec company, Medicago, to develop a vaccine and manufacturing facility and then state we do not have any production capacity?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, every step of the way, we have worked with the top experts in this country to ensure that Canada is as best positioned as possible to get through this pandemic. That is why we have invested in pharmaceutical companies and have invested to restore Canada's biomanufacturing capacities, after 10 years of the Conservative government saw most of the manufacturers leave this country.

We are continuing to invest in science and research, despite the years of neglect by the previous government. We will ensure that Canadians get vaccines as quickly as possible. We will get through this pandemic together.

[James Cumming, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Mr. Speaker, that does not help today. The Prime Minister has had eight months to deal with this. I have a son who is compromised and worries every day about his health and the health of his caregivers. We have no rapid tests, no vaccine access and no manufacturing. The Prime Minister said that the citizens of vaccine manufacturing countries will likely get the vaccine before manufacturers ship internationally.

Let us ask him this again. Did the Prime Minister even bother to negotiate the right to manufacture the leading vaccines in Canada?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, every step of the way, we have trusted experts and scientists to make the right decisions to keep Canadians safe. We have followed that advice. We have made sure that we are delivering for Canadians.

I would ask the member opposite, who understands how important it is to protect every single life, why the Leader of the Opposition took part in events in Alberta without masks or distancing, why his colleague, the MP for Lethbridge, downplayed, this week, the number of deaths in Alberta, or why the MP for Niagara West compared COVID to the flu just a few weeks ago.

On this side of the House, we respect science.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, for weeks, the Prime Minister has been saying that other countries are jealous because he secured the largest number of vaccines, hundreds of millions of them.

As far as I know, each person does not need eight doses. The vaccine only needs two doses to work. We would like an answer to the following question: Did the Prime Minister forget to negotiate a clause to allow the vaccine to be manufactured in Canada, yes or no?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I want to take this opportunity to explain to my hon. colleague that we did sign a number of agreements with different companies because this is a new vaccine and we do not yet know which one will be most effective for a particular age group, nor do we know how difficult it will be to manufacture or deliver.

That is why the government listened to the experts. We signed agreements with many companies to ensure that when the vaccines are available, Canadians will receive safe doses so that we can put an end to this pandemic.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, what I get from that answer is that the government failed when it comes to negotiations and at the operational level.

There are vaccines coming. They are soon going to be approved. Why will the major nations of the world get the vaccine quickly while Canada still has to wait several more months? Can the Prime Minister explain that? People want to know.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, as my hon. colleague knows, we signed agreements with as many companies as possible to get as many doses of the vaccine as possible for Canadians.

We know that that is how we are going to get through the pandemic. We will continue to work with experts to make sure that the vaccines are safe and that Canadians can have access to them as quickly as possible.

I want to point out that three very promising vaccines are currently being examined by Health Canada so that they can be delivered to Canadians as quickly as possible.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the outbreaks of COVID-19 in Nunavut could have dire consequences for the people of Nunavut, who are already faced with historic underfunding when it comes to health care. We have written a letter to the Prime Minister asking the Prime Minister to deliver all help necessary, including more protective equipment and more testing to help the people of Nunavut.

Will the Prime Minister commit to doing everything within his power to help protect the people of Nunavut?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Yes, Mr. Speaker.

From the very beginning, we have been working closely with the northern premiers, including Premier Savikataaq of Nunavut, to ensure they get all the support they need. We have ensured that northern and remote communities have the resources they need, with 3,792 rapid tests shipped, 771,000 items of PPE shipped, $13 million through the safe restart agreement and $130 million in federal funding to address health, economic and transportation priorities across the three territories.

I am in regular communication with the Nunavut government and I spoke to the premier last week. We are continuing to assist the government in any way necessary.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, many of the hardest hit communities in our country, like Brampton, are communities that are predominantly racialized, with front-line essential workers. These are the people who deliver the goods that help feed our families and keep us safe. They do not need to be blamed; they need to be supported. Brampton and many other communities like Brampton have been underfunded when it comes to health care. They were in a health care crisis before the pandemic.

Will the Prime Minister commit to providing the adequate funding for health care, resources and testing that Brampton and hard-hit communities need?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, over $25 billion is the money we transferred directly to the provinces to help them with the safe restart, with getting kids back to school, with supporting their health systems and with protecting the most vulnerable.

That is on top of the money we sent directly to citizens across the country to replace lost income because of COVID-19 and lost jobs because of COVID-19, and to support small businesses in Brampton, Mississauga and right across the country that had to close down.

We have moved forward, with the unanimous consent of the House, on extra help for commercial rent support of up to 90% where places were closed down.

Women and Gender Equality

[Patricia Lattanzio, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Mr. Speaker, today is International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, which marks the beginning of the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence.

It is an opportunity to reflect on the devastating effects gender-based violence continues to have, and to renew our commitment to end violence against women, girls and people of all gender identities and expressions.

Could the Prime Minister explain to the House today what our government is doing to end this violence and to support survivors?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel for her question and for the hard work she does for her constituents.

To support victims and survivors of violence, and to ensure that no one is left behind, we have allocated $100 million in emergency funding to shelters, crisis centres for survivors of sexual assault and other organizations serving people living with violence. Today, and every day, we are committed to ending gender-based violence in all its forms.

We recognize that the COVID-19 crisis has made things even more difficult for many people. We will be there to help them.

Health

[Gary Vidal, Conservative, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the second wave is overwhelming many indigenous communities and they are concerned the government does not have a plan. Ensuring vulnerable populations and communities have access to a vaccine must be a priority.

The Prime Minister was slow on the border, slow to make up his mind on masks, slow to get rapid tests and now Canadians are worried these last-minute Liberals were too slow in securing vaccines.

When will the Prime Minister outline his plan to ensure indigenous communities have access to a vaccine?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we have seen an alarming rise in the number of COVID-19 cases across Canada, particularly in indigenous communities.

We have ensured indigenous communities have what they need to fight and prevent the spread of COVID-19, including $2.4 billion to support indigenous families, students, businesses, communities and organizations. We have processed more than 1,300 PPE shipments. We will continue to work hand-in-hand with community leadership and are ready to provide additional support as needed, including as we move forward in rolling out vaccines to the communities most in need.

[Erin O'Toole, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, we have heard horror stories about the government's attempts to roll out PPE deliveries and COVID-19 testing. Members of the James Smith Cree Nation were told by indigenous services staff to sew their own masks. The Liberal government sent PPE to China and told indigenous Canadians to sew their own masks.

Will the Prime Minister have a real plan to ensure vaccine distribution to first nations communities is a priority, or will they once again be told to fend for themselves?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, from the beginning of this pandemic, this government has stepped up in partnership with indigenous communities to ensure that the first wave did not hit them particularly hard, and throughout the second wave, we continue to be there for them.

We will continue to be there to support communities across Manitoba, for example, that are suffering a terrible spike in the province, and communities across the Prairies facing challenges right now. The federal government will continue to be there to work with them, to protect them, to support them, and we will continue to do so with experts as we roll out vaccines to the most vulnerable populations.