Debates of Nov. 26th, 2020

Health

[Alain Therrien, Bloc, La Prairie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Émile de Girardin once said, “Governing means looking ahead.” I believe the government members have no idea what that means. We have been waiting for months.

The federal government should have closed the borders quickly to halt the spread of the virus. It did not. It should have approved rapid testing to prevent the second wave. It did not. It should have increased health transfers so that Quebec could take care of sick Quebeckers. It did not. It should have obtained vaccines as a priority. It did not. This government deserves a big fat “F” for this monumental failure.

Will it at least have the decency to answer the Government of Quebec? When will we have a vaccine?

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, the only “F” our government deserves for its pandemic response is an “F” for “fantastic”.

Members must understand that we are talking and negotiating with the Government of Quebec on a regular basis. The Prime Minister will be speaking with the Premier of Quebec this evening. Moreover, as we mentioned earlier, we have agreements with the seven vaccine manufacturers. They are being reviewed by Health Canada. When the vaccines are ready, Canada will be ready.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Prime Minister blamed the Conservatives for the fact that Canada could no longer produce vaccines. It is not a surprise for anyone that Conservatives let down Canadians when it came to health care, but what does the Prime Minister have to say about 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and this year? Why is the Prime Minister making Canadians wait for a vaccine?

[William Amos, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Innovation]

Mr. Speaker, in contrast to the other side, our government has been aggressively pursuing new bio-manufacturing capacity. We have taken serious action since well before the pandemic.

In our first mandate, we restored the ability for ISED to invest in life sciences, which had been pulled back by the previous government. We have accelerated our investments significantly since the pandemic, with major investments in our manufacturing capacity, Medicago, the National Research Council in Montreal. We are on our way to building a beautiful portfolio of vaccines. It will be delivered when Health Canada says they are ready.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, we are right in the middle of the second wave of COVID-19.

People are afraid, but the vaccine announcements gave them a little hope. Now, however, the government is not sharing its plan with us. What is the plan for the vaccine rollout? When will we have the vaccines? What is the actual plan?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, we have the best portfolio in the world, more doses per capita than any other country, three of the leading vaccines under regulatory review, expedited, working in partnership with the Americans and the European Union, so we can share our data and approve those vaccines even more quickly. We have a plan.

We are working with provinces and territories at all levels. Let me remind the member opposite that they are actually experts at immunization. Every single year they deploy immunization, as is their health care responsibilities. We will be there to support them, including by providing the vaccines.

Official Languages

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, there is nothing of substance behind the government's talk of a white paper.

The Liberals have been promising official languages reform for five years now. Let the record show that nothing has been done and nothing is being done. What has it been doing for the past five years? A little of this and a little of that. A unanimous motion was adopted calling on the Minister of Official Languages to introduce a bill to modernize official languages.

We want to know if she intends to do that.

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague wants to know what we have been doing for the past five years.

We have repaired the damage done by the Harper government and cleaned house with respect to official languages. That being said, the Conservatives' current strategy clearly involves courting Bloc votes. They are motivated purely by political interest, because none of it is in line with their values and none of it will ever be actioned.

Yesterday, the member for New Westminster—Burnaby, speaking on behalf of the NDP, even pointed out that every time a Conservative government takes power in Ottawa or the provinces, they suppress francophone rights.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I suspect that there is some bickering going on in the Liberal caucus.

First, there is the member for Mount Royal, who has never tried to hide his opposition to protecting the French language with Bill 101. Then, there is the member for Saint-Laurent, who denies that French is on the decline in Montreal. Then, there is the Quebec president of the Liberal Party of Canada, who has been liking all kinds of tweets disputing that French is on the decline.

The minister is losing the game. By delaying the modernization of the act, she is giving in to pressure and waving a white flag, masked as a white paper. Why will the minister not stand firm against pressure from the Liberal machine and introduce a bill before Christmas?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, there are no surprises.

We announced in the throne speech that we would introduce a bill to modernize the Official Languages Act.

However, our objective is to bring in some broader linguistic reform, because the French language is a minority language in Canada. We are the first government to acknowledge that since this is a minority language, we must do more to protect and promote it.

That is what we must do, not only across the country, as we have been doing for the past 50 years, but also in Quebec, in particular. That is what we will do.

[Alain Rayes, Conservative, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the minister cannot even tell us when she will introduce her modernization bill, but she is trying to lecture everyone here in the House.

I am going to give her the opportunity to take a leap of faith and express her real desire to defend the French language. The Government of Quebec and the parties in the National Assembly unanimously adopted a motion calling on the federal government to apply Bill 101 to federally regulated businesses in Quebec.

I am giving the minister the opportunity to clearly state in the House for all Quebeckers to hear that she agrees with the Government of Quebec's request. Does she agree, yes or no?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, it goes without saying that our government recognizes the importance of the legacy of Bill 101.

As the member for Ahuntsic-Cartierville, I see it every day when I meet with the families of newcomers whose children speak to me in French. I am pleased to see the high schools in my riding filled with people from around the world who speak the common language of Quebec, French.

Under the circumstances, we will of course continue to work with the Government of Quebec. My conversations with my counterpart in Quebec, Simon Jolin-Barrette, are ongoing. I look forward to the introduction of his bill. As for us, we will do our work and reform the Official Languages Act.

Health

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Speaker, there is a difference between signing a contract for a vaccine and when the average person in Canada will actually receive it.

This week, we have heard from the Americans that in December they are going to vaccinate 20 million of their people and in January 30 million, which means by the middle of January, the Americans will have vaccinated the equivalent of the entirety of the population of Canada.

I know the minister will say that she has a big portfolio. Will 33-plus million Canadians be vaccinated at the same time that 33-plus million Americans are?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite knows that, in fact, we do have the biggest portfolio per capita in the world. We do have a plan with the provinces and territories. We are working incredibly hard, including with our American and European counterparts, to make sure we are able to deliver vaccines to Canadians.

We are going to stay focused on that goal. We are not going to sow division among Canadians. We are going to ensure we work together to protect Canadians and move forward. We will get through this together.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the minister talked about working with the provinces, but hours ago the Ontario health minister said that province is no longer expecting the delivery of any vaccine in early 2021. On Friday, the government tabled projections that showed that roughly 2,000 per month will die of COVID as we move forward.

In April, will the minister have to stand here and apologize to the families of 8,000 Canadians for the fact that they died because she could not roll this vaccine out?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, what will help save Canadians lives is if the member opposite and the Leader of the Opposition stop their members from sharing fake and dangerous news like the members for Lethbridge and Carleton. We will stay focused on saving the lives of Canadians instead of spreading conspiracy theories.

In fact, the member for Calgary Nose Hill is focused on keeping us together, rather than pitting us apart because the virus thrives on us working at opposite ends. We need to work together. We need to stay together. We need to support provinces, territories and Canadians. That is exactly what this government has done since day one.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Speaker, that answer, when Canadians are looking for a plan on when they are going to get a vaccine, will be remembered as desperate political flailing. The question I asked is one that is on the minds of every Canadian. It is at the heart of the mental health crisis in this country. It is at the heart of jobs lost in this country. It is at the heart of separated families in this country.

I ask again, I beg the minister, when is she going to tell Canadians when they are going to produce a vaccine and give it to Canadians? Will she have to stand here in April and apologize to the families of 8,000 dead Canadians?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, my heart goes out to all Canadians who have lost a loved one to COVID-19. Our hearts break for them, I will tell members that we are going to continue to work day and night to protect Canadians from contracting COVID-19 and spreading COVID-19. The vaccines, indeed, are a light at the end of the tunnel, and we are working across government to make sure that we have access to the vaccines and we can deploy them.

In the meantime, I call on all Canadians to do everything we can together because we know that collective action is going to protect our lives.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we all thought we would have to put up with bloody COVID-19 for another few weeks. The media were reporting that pharmaceutical companies had discovered a vaccine and that it would be here in January at the latest.

Quebec is already buying freezers to store the vaccine doses that Ottawa promised. There is just one little problem: The Prime Minister forgot to mention that he has no clue when we will get the vaccine.

Does the Prime Minister understand that reserving vaccine doses is all well and good, but what we need to know is when they will be here?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, we are going to work very hard with Quebec.

The fact that Quebec is actually procuring the materials it will need to store in particular the Pfizer vaccine is good news. It means we are all working together. It means provinces and territories are working with the federal government on a deployment plan that will ensure we have what we need in place to help all Canadians, including Quebeckers, get access to these vaccines.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Government of Quebec wrote to the Minister of Health on October 23 to ask for an update on the vaccines.

Not only did Quebec never get a response, but the Prime Minister half-heartedly told us a month later that there has been a slight setback and that the vaccines will not get here on time. What a complete mess. Quebec will be vaccinating people, not Ottawa. Quebec is introducing lockdown measures to protect Quebeckers, not Ottawa.

When will we have a specific date for the vaccine?

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, the Bloc may not like this, but there is good co-operation between Ottawa and Quebec. It might instead prefer us to be at odds with each other, but that is not the case. We are working to procure the requisite refrigerators as well as syringes. We are working to procure and distribute the vaccines, because it is the responsible thing to do.

When the vaccines will be ready, so will Canada.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

What a complete mess, Mr. Speaker. The federal government has been suggesting for months now that we will soon be able to vaccinate those most vulnerable. This week, we learned that is not true. Seniors have been asked to make sacrifices for the past eight months.

Things may have gotten a little easier for us, but not for people 70 and over. They were asked to not go outside or see their loved ones for the past eight months. After eight months, this week's news that the vaccine will not be ready for December or January is devastating.

When can we expect the vaccine? We owe seniors an answer. When?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite does not realize that, in fact, Quebec and Canada are working hand in glove to make sure that we are ready to deploy vaccines when they become available. The officials are working at their level, ministers of health meet on a weekly basis, and people are planning.

That is exactly why Quebec is moving to procure the kinds of devices it needs and we are also procuring, by the way, devices for provinces and territories; and, we are purchasing the vaccines and we will deliver them to provinces at no cost. That is true collaboration. We will be there for the people of Quebec.

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

Mr. Speaker, how can anyone believe anything that the minister and this government say?

The Quebec health minister, Christian Dubé, never heard a peep in response to the infamous letter he sent to the federal health minister. Minister Dubé turned to the media this week to express his frustration about the lack of communication.

We were just told that the ministers meet on a weekly basis, and so do the bureaucrats. Why does the Quebec health minister need to write a letter and tell the media that he has received no reply? This is not working; no one believes it.

Can the minister confirm that immediately after question period she will pick up the phone and call Christian Dubé?