Madam Speaker, I am very concerned, as is our Green Party leader, Annamie Paul. I look forward to the day when the Speaker will chastise me for using her name out loud, which would mean that she finally has a seat in Parliament. However, Annamie Paul has been very clear that this is a senicide: we are seeing the equivalent of a genocide among seniors, as 70% of all the deaths in Canada from COVID so far have been in long-term care homes.
I am horrified, as I think we all are, to hear over the national news that in Ontario in long-term care homes, people with COVID-positive tests were kept in the same bedrooms as residents who did not have COVID. These are basic public health rules that we have known for decades, yet in the second wave of this pandemic we are seeing mismanagement in these homes under provincial jurisdiction.
I know it is a sensitive matter, but I am going to raise again the question my hon. colleague just asked the parliamentary secretary. I am asking this because I am not sure, but is it not time that we used the Emergencies Act, which allows a coordinated approach and emergency help, and at least apply it to long-term care homes specifically? We do not have to extend it to all aspects of the COVID response or vaccinations. We could apply it specifically to long-term care homes so that we would not have to beg Premier Doug Ford to send in the military. The federal government could do it.