House of Commons Hansard #45 of the 43rd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was chair.
Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC
Mr. Chair, does the minister have a plan to compensate Canadians who are on the hook for cancelled air travel, yes or no?
François-Philippe Champagne Liberal Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC
Mr. Chair, the issue of compensation is one which is top of mind for Canadians. I do know that the Minister of Transport has been spending a lot of time talking to airlines. I understand the concern of Canadians, and we will always strive to provide an equitable solution, both to travellers and to the airline industry.
Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC
Mr. Chair, over the last two and a half minutes, I have raised core issues on the transport file, but instead of the absentee Minister of Transport answering the questions, somebody else had to. Canadians deserve better. This minister has to do better.
Matt Jeneroux Conservative Edmonton Riverbend, AB
Mr. Chair, I will split my time with the member for Souris—Moose Mountain.
In January, we began asking questions about the government's handling of the National Emergency Strategic Stockpile. As we all know in the House, the government was slow. It was slow to develop any plan, including one to ensure that Canadians have immediate access to treatments and a vaccine when one is developed. In fact, Health Canada is currently struggling to lock down a supply of the only Health Canada-approved treatment.
Why is that? It is because, like the government's approach to borders, like its approach to PPE and like its approach to getting support to Canadians, the Liberals simply had no plan.
I will ask the minister today: What is the government's plan to ensure that Canadians will have access to the first scientifically proven treatment or vaccine?
COVID-19 Pandemic and Other MattersGovernment Orders
Thunder Bay—Superior North Ontario
Liberal
Patty Hajdu LiberalMinister of Health
Mr. Chair, I am pleased to talk about our response to ensuring that Canadians have access to therapeutics, vaccines and treatments as they arise. I am very proud of the hard-working civil service that is working closely with members of the COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force, the COVID-19 Immunity Task Force and the many other experts who are advising us as a country on how best to position ourselves to ensure that we have access to these therapeutics.
As you will know, Mr. Chair, this is a space that is rapidly evolving and Canada is engaged with international partners to ensure that we are at the cutting edge of understanding new treatments and vaccines as they become available.
Matt Jeneroux Conservative Edmonton Riverbend, AB
Mr. Chair, Conservatives called on the government to shut down our borders to travellers as early as January. It took the government well into March to actually listen and put the health and safety of Canadians first. While we continue to support keeping our borders closed to travellers, Canadians have been separated from family members for months, with no end in sight.
Is the government working on a compassionate plan to expand the current definition of family, prioritize the health and safety of Canadians and ensure our borders remain closed to travellers?
Bill Blair LiberalMinister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Mr. Chair, I remind the member opposite that the Government of Canada actually implemented its first border restrictions on January 22 in response to the ongoing COVID crisis that was emerging around the world. Since that time, we have imposed extraordinary, unprecedented measures in placing restrictions on non-essential travel of people coming into the country.
We understand the impact that this has had on Canadians and Canadian families and we have been working continuously with those families. I want to acknowledge all of my colleagues in the House who have shared—
Robert Gordon Kitchen Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
Mr. Chair, in June I asked the Minister of Health for details on the supplies to replenish the mismanaged National Emergency Strategic Stockpile, or NESS. The answer provided was that 20% of items that are not being distributed to the provinces are stored in the warehouses of the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Given that there could potentially be a second wave, can the minister confirm that all NESS warehouses across the country have been fully restocked?
COVID-19 Pandemic and Other MattersGovernment Orders
Thunder Bay—Superior North Ontario
Liberal
Patty Hajdu LiberalMinister of Health
Mr. Chair, I will go one better.
We have actually, through our Safe Restart Agreement, committed to provinces and territories that we will procure and support access to personal protective equipment to the tune of well over $4 billion.
We have been there for provinces and territories, making sure that Canada has the personal protective equipment it needs, no matter what part of the country we are talking about. As we do that, we have been rebuilding the supplies in our national emergency stockpile.
I will remind the member that the—
Robert Gordon Kitchen Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
Mr. Chair, my question was: Has the NESS had been fully restocked, yes or no?
Patty Hajdu Liberal Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON
Mr. Chair, I would be happy to sit down with the member at his convenience to talk about what the role of the national emergency stockpile is. In fact, the national emergency stockpile—
Robert Gordon Kitchen Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
Mr. Chair, I take that answer as a “no”. If the warehouses have not been fully restocked, on what date will this occur?
Patty Hajdu Liberal Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON
Mr. Chair, the questions of the member opposite indicate to me that he would benefit from a briefing on the role of the national emergency stockpile and its particular role, not just in terms of acquiring equipment for surge capacity but—
Robert Gordon Kitchen Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
Mr. Chair, through you, I would ask what the exact breakdown of supplies is used to replenish the NESS warehouses. How many gowns, gloves, masks, ventilators, etc.?
COVID-19 Pandemic and Other MattersGovernment Orders
Oakville Ontario
Liberal
Anita Anand LiberalMinister of Public Services and Procurement
Mr. Chair, I am glad to be able to stand up in the House and explain to the member opposite that every single week we make this information available on our website. We update it regularly. In terms of face shields, over 40.5 million have been received; gloves, 233 million pairs received; gowns, 66 million; hand sanitizer, 12 million litres; N95 masks, 54.4 million; non-medical masks, 2.58 million, and the list goes on—
The Chair Conservative Bruce Stanton
That will conclude that round.
We will now go to resuming debate.
The hon. member for Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill.
Leona Alleslev Conservative Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
Mr. Chair, I will be splitting my time with the member for Chicoutimi—Le Fjord.
The new NAFTA agreement is not worth the paper it is printed on. The Prime Minister claimed victory when it was signed. Here we are, mere weeks after the agreement has come into force, and workers in the aluminum industry are suffering as a result of the Liberal government's failed approach.
Why did the Prime Minister mislead these workers into a false sense of security?
Bill Blair LiberalMinister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Mr. Chair, let me be very clear that the Government of Canada strongly supports Canadian aluminum workers. We will continue to do so, as we always have. The United States needs Canadian aluminum and it cannot meet its own domestic needs for manufacturing.
I also want to acknowledge that the deputy prime minister has had conversations with the leader of the Bloc and members of the Conservative Party. We are very grateful for the Team Canada approach that has been taken to this. We are going to stand up to these unacceptable and unlawful—
Leona Alleslev Conservative Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
Mr. Chair, the government negotiated away Canada's ability to hit back with retaliatory tariffs on a broad range of strategic products from across the United States. The new NAFTA is an abject failure when it comes to protecting Canada's economy.
Has the government conducted an assessment of how many jobs the aluminum industry will lose as a result of these punishing tariffs?