Mr. Speaker, I rise to thank you for your previous decision with respect to Keystone XL. Thousands of Canadian families appreciate your willingness to show the importance of this project.
Our country, as I said in my previous remarks, is facing a crisis of historic proportions. Nearly 20,000 Canadians have died of COVID-19 in the last 10 months.
What is more, 10% of Canadians have lost their jobs and thousands of businesses have closed.
If this were not difficult enough, Canadians are facing a range of pandemic side effects: Some two-fifths of Canadian workers are worried about their colleagues' mental health; thousands of cancer operations have been delayed; and in British Columbia, weak enforcement is leading to 60% more deaths from the opioid epidemic than from COVID-19.
The government has no clear plan, and that is having serious repercussions.
There is one key to protecting Canadians, and that is ensuring a smooth and reliable vaccine rollout. The ability of our country to rebuild our economy and get Canadians back to work in every sector and every region depends on a smooth vaccine rollout.
The Conservatives want the government to succeed, because our nation depends on it. Unfortunately, despite the Prime Minister's assurances, the Pfizer vaccine delivery is now in jeopardy. Premiers report they have run out or will soon run out of vaccines. What will happen if thousands of hospitals and health care administrators administer a first dose but procurement problems delay the second?
There are so many questions outstanding, despite the government's claims to have a plan. We wish we could just trust the Prime Minister, but the situation demands Parliament's urgent attention.
We cannot allow our hospitals to reach a breaking point.
It is imperative that we work together to improve the government's approach to vaccines. The health and safety of all Canadians is at stake. Without our health and safety, we cannot secure our future, rebuild our economy and get Canadians back to work.
We need to round the corner in the COVID-19 crisis to get life back to normal. We only do that with vaccines. In a week when we are seeing new strains and the highest rates of infection ever, we are having zero vaccines delivered. This is a national crisis. It is a national failure. It deserves the urgent attention of Parliament through another emergency debate.