Madam Speaker, my two colleagues claim to be shocked that the Red Cross and the army stepped in to help long-term care facilities, but we Quebeckers pay these people too.
The army carries out missions elsewhere in the world, so I do not see why it should not step in domestically when we are fighting a pandemic that the government was unable to protect us from. It did not take the necessary precautions in order for us to have the equipment we needed to look after our seniors.
Beyond that, does my colleague not believe that we only had to call in the army because, as stated in the army's own report, 25 years of accumulated budget cuts left us with a labour shortage that, in turn, made it necessary for workers and orderlies to work in several different long-term care centres, which only increased cross-contamination?
Instead of being shocked and saying there should be national standards, would she not agree that that was the true source of the problem?