Mr. Speaker, it was incredible to see programs set up in a remarkably short amount of time and implemented so quickly. We went from March 11, 2020, when the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic, to having money in the bank accounts of 5.4 million Canadians in about five weeks. That is absolutely remarkable by any measure. That was not just the government, but Parliament, because Parliament was there for Canadians then to make sure that this stuff passed and went very expeditiously and very quickly.
I will say, though, that I do find the following interesting. If we were to look back, hindsight being 20/20, it would be my bet that every member of the House would say that CERB was a really good idea. Let us not forget that at the time, the member for Carleton said, “No, we don't believe in these big government programs. We are Conservatives. We don't believe that.” He said that back then.
It takes foresight to make good plans and this government had the foresight to put the plans in place. That is why we are able to give the supports that we did.