Debates of Sept. 30th, 2020

Health

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, from the very beginning, we have worked with all provincial authorities, all Health Canada experts, to ensure that the products we are approving in Canada are done quickly but are also safe for Canadians. We saw examples in the spring of approvals given that then had to be rescinded. We need to make sure that at every step of the way we are putting the health of Canadians at the forefront.

We will continue to work with partners around the world as we deliver the products and the technologies that Canadians need. Every step of the way, we promised to have Canadians' backs. We will continue to have Canadians' backs.

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

Mr. Speaker, on May 22, the Prime Minister said that rapid testing was essential to keeping businesses and schools open during a second wave.

It is now September 30, and rapid testing is not available. Businesses in Montreal are having to close.

What exactly will the Prime Minister do to make rapid testing available to all Canadians?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to confirm that, yesterday, the ministers of Health and Public Services and Procurement announced that we have purchased 7.9 million tests for Canada.

Health Canada approved these rapid tests today. We will be making these tests available to Canadians in the coming weeks.

Every step of the way, we have put science first and listened to the experts. We have not put politics first. We will keep doing whatever it takes to protect Canadians.

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

Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate the new leader of the official opposition. I hope he will be as good for Canada as the Bloc is for Quebec.

I have a question for the Prime Minister. Let's talk about competence. Competence refers to what we know how to do, what we are capable of doing and what we do well. We also talk about competence in the sense of responsibility. Health is a provincial responsibility.

Does the Prime Minister realize that health is a responsibility of Quebec and the provinces?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, at each stage of the pandemic we worked with the provinces and territories to protect people across the country.

We were there with health transfers from the start of this pandemic. We allocated $500 million to help the provinces. We were there with $19 billion to support a safe recovery that includes even more health transfers. We were there to support the provincial responsibilities, such reopening schools.

We will continue to be there, as a partner, to help the provinces protect Canadians from coast to coast to coast.

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

Mr. Speaker, no matter the question put to the Prime Minister, he answers with an amount, and that amount always comes out of our pockets.

Can the Prime Minister tell us how many doctors on the federal payroll directly treat Canadians and Quebeckers?

How many nurses on the federal payroll directly treat Canadians and Quebeckers?

How many federal hospitals directly treat Canadians and Quebeckers?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we respect the provinces' jurisdiction over health care, but there are health issues that are a federal responsibility, in particular the provision of medical services to indigenous people and the military.

It is a good thing that we have that expertise in the military because we were able to put military doctors to work for our seniors in Quebec who really needed them. We are fortunate that the federal government has expertise in certain fields that it was willing to offer to Quebeckers and Canadians during this crisis. As Canadians, we help one another. That is what we do.

Indigenous Affairs

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, with her last breath, Joyce Echaquan asked for help, as she lay dying in a hospital bed. An indigenous woman died at the hospital while hospital staff mocked her.

I am very sorry, Joyce. Your final moments should not have been like this.

Systemic racism robs people of their dignity and kills them. The time for rhetoric is over.

Will the Prime Minister commit to finally taking real action to address systemic racism?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, all Canadians were shocked to see the video of Joyce Echaquan's final moments. I offer our sincere condolences to her family and to the people of Manawan in these incredibly difficult times.

This was the worst form of racism at a time when someone was most in need of help. This is another example of systemic racism, which is completely unacceptable in Canada. An investigation must be completed quickly to determine whether Joyce was the victim of more than racist comments.

We commend Quebec's decision to act quickly to launch an investigation, and we will do everything we can to condemn all forms of racism and discrimination and to support those affected.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, throughout the pandemic, we have heard the very sound public health advice that we need to wash our hands. In a second wave, this is all the more important. However, for so many indigenous communities, there is no access to clean drinking water. They simply cannot drink that water or even use that water to wash their hands.

In the throne speech, the Liberal government mentions nothing about its 2021 deadline. In a time like this, with the technology that we have, there is no excuse for every community in our country to not have access to clean drinking water.

Will the Prime Minister commit to basic human rights and ensure that every indigenous community in Canada has clean drinking water?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, not only do I make that commitment today, but we made that commitment five years ago and we acted on it. Over the past five years, we have eliminated over 80 long-term boil water advisories that had gone on for decades. We continue to work very hard.

We recognize the May 2021 deadline is fast approaching. There have been slowdowns because of COVID, but because of that, we are doubling up on our efforts to try to ensure that all Canadians have access to safe drinking water, particularly in our first nations communities.

Health

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

Mr. Speaker, this government only has two speeds: turbo and park. It used turbo speed with Bill C-4 to offer a uniform approach that will unfortunately leave many businesses and Canadians behind. When it comes to health transfers, however, it is in park. Quebeckers do not want the government in park, they want it in turbo mode. We support stable, predictable transfers with no strings attached.

When is the government going to start taking action?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we have been taking action for several months. We immediately paid out half a billion dollars in health transfers when the public health crisis broke out in March. We then paid the provinces $19 billion to support a safe recovery, plus another $2 billion to send children back to school safely.

We are still working with the provincial premiers. We have pledged to sit down with them to discuss health transfers, because we recognize that our system has some flaws that have been exposed by this crisis.

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

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to health transfers, the government is giving us the same line we have been hearing about the Canada emergency business account, support for people with disabilities, and other measures. They say that they are going to take action, but when? What is the Prime Minister waiting for? When will he act with the provinces in a spirit of co-operation instead of confrontation?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, perhaps my hon. colleague did not speak to small businesses, but I can tell him that the Canada emergency business account has given out over $30 billion across the country and that 758,000 small businesses have received help to cover their expenses during the pandemic.

We will continue to be there with the wage subsidy and with a new version of the CERB, which will be paid through the EI system. We will continue to be there to support small businesses, workers and families during this pandemic and in the coming months.

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

Mr. Speaker, right now nobody in Canada, not a single person, has access to rapid testing. That is a failure of the government. Today the Prime Minister did not answer the question from the Leader of the Opposition, which is what everyone is asking: When are we going to have access to this? When is it going to be deployed? When is it going to be in a long-term care facility or a school?

For the mom who this morning had her child present a runny nose and sore throat, and who does not know what to do because she cannot stand in line for a test, when is that test going to be available to Canadians?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member for Calgary Nose Hill should perhaps check with her Ontario colleagues. They apparently got access to some private, secret, rapid test that Health Canada had not approved just months ago. Maybe she could find out why they did that particular test, and what it was useful for.

What I can say, and what I did say to the Leader of the Opposition, was that in the coming weeks, the Abbott ID NOW rapid test will be deployed to help Canadians across the country with rapid testing, because we signed a deal with them for 7.9 million tests just yesterday.

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

Mr. Speaker, the reality is that the Prime Minister of Canada is responsible for making testing for COVID-19 an elitist principle in Canada. That is the reality right now.

In Canada, somebody who wants to visit their father with Alzheimer's in a long-term care facility has to stand in line for eight hours and then isolate for days to get their test results before they can take that compassionate step. It is because of the Prime Minister's failures.

Why will the Prime Minister not answer the question? He cannot answer the question. He has not done his job. When will these tests be in the hands of Canadians to use?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, for the third time, the Abbott ID NOW test will be out in the coming weeks, across the country. Health Canada has delivered on approvals rapidly, because that is what Canadians expect.

Every step of the way, we have put science first. We have respected our scientists. We have listened to them, and we have made sure that we are protecting Canadians.

On the issue of helping the vulnerable, quite frankly the Conservatives, who keep telling everyone that we should have helped businesses first and not the most vulnerable Canadians, are not anyone to give lessons on this.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I understand the hon. members are concerned about social distancing, but shouting across is not the way to do that. If members want to talk to someone, please go to within six feet and talk to them at a level that would be respectable within the House.

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

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, we learned that the government put 7.9 million tests on order with Abbott. The Prime Minister told journalists that he could not expedite the process and that politicians could not get involved to speed up the assessment. That is funny, because 24 hours later, we got an answer and the test has been approved.

Now I want to know when. We are not talking here about scientists who have a decision to make. We are talking about logistics. When will the provinces and families be able to get these tests?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, we signed an agreement with Abbott for 7.9 million tests pending Health Canada's approval. Yesterday, we got that approval, after weeks of work by Health Canada. We know that the tests will begin to be deployed in October, in the coming weeks.

This is something that will help Canadians. From the beginning, we have been there to help Canadians from a financial and a health perspective. We will continue to do that in partnership with the provinces and territories.

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

Mr. Speaker, now we are getting somewhere. Five questions in, the Prime Minister finally mentioned October. October starts tomorrow. Could he be more specific? Will someone from the government be able to share a detailed action plan tomorrow or this afternoon?

People are waiting. They have stood in line for the other test, and it takes ages to get their results. Kids are not going to school, and that is a problem.

Can the government give us a detailed plan? Can it tell us if these tests will be deployed in a week, in three days, in two days? Can we get a specific answer, yes or no?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I think it is important to take a step back. From the beginning, we have been working to help the provinces and territories with testing, contact tracing and PPE. We will keep doing that. We have worked with the provinces to provide equipment and training to technicians. We are continuing to work with the provinces.

Things are going very well in many parts of the country, but other parts are facing bigger challenges. We are and will continue to be here to help.

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

Mr. Speaker, I see that our esteemed colleagues from the government and the official opposition have serious concerns about speed. I would remind hon. members that when the Conservative leader needed a rapid test he was sent to Quebec by the House of Commons. If not for that he might not be here today.

When the Prime Minister talks to us about respecting the jurisdictions of Quebec and the provinces, I get the impression that he neither wrote nor read the Speech from the Throne. Would he not agree that the best way to help Quebec, the provinces and seniors is to make a health transfer immediately without conditions or interference, to the provinces and Quebec?