Debates of April 15th, 2021

Health

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

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, The Globe and Mail reported that the government dropped specific COVID-19 screening for travellers from Brazil, even while the P1 variant spreads throughout British Columbia. It also reported that the health minister's office declined to explain why the extra screening was scrubbed. Her spokesperson directed The Globe and Mail to the federal Public Health Agency, which did not provide comment.

Why has the government dropped specific COVID-19 screening for travellers from Brazil?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, Canada has among the strongest measures in the world at the border. Every traveller, no matter where they come from, is subject to testing on arrival. Then the traveller must wait in a government-approved hotel until the return of their test. Every traveller must further quarantine until the return of their 10-day test and until their 14-day quarantine is over. All positive tests are sequenced by our hard-working National Microbiology Laboratory folks. Of course, we will stop at nothing to protect Canadians.

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

Mr. Speaker, is the minister saying that the reason there is no specific COVID-19 screening for travellers from Brazil is because she feels that the other measures the government has in place are adequate, and that there is no additional public health benefit to having the additional screening measures in place?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, I will repeat: We have among the strongest measures in the world at our border. In fact, everything that we have added has created a situation where we are protecting Canadians from the importation of COVID. We are able to track and sequence any positive cases.

I will take this moment to congratulate the National Microbiology Laboratory during this national week of celebration of laboratory workers. I will also say that every traveller must quarantine for 14 days, regardless of which country they arrive from. We will continue to monitor our borders to protect against importation and to support the provinces and territories in their fight against COVID-19.

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

Mr. Speaker, if the minister is saying that the measures put in place prior to the additional screening being put in place were sufficient, would she say that the government put in place additional screening that had no additional public health outcome and, if so, why?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, I know that the member opposite has not been a fan of the mandatory measures that we have put into place at the border. In fact, she has spoken out against them on her social media channels. However, I will tell her that they serve an important purpose. They protect Canadians from the importation of the virus.

Every step of the way, we have responded to science. We have been led by our incredible scientists and researchers, and we will continue to do that to support the provinces and territories and indeed to protect Canadians' health.

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

Mr. Speaker, the shipment of 1.2 million doses from Moderna that was scheduled to arrive next week has been delayed until early May.

The Prime Minister said yesterday that there could be delays of a few days, but now we are talking about weeks. Quebec has gone back into lockdown, and Ontario has had to shut down vaccination clinics because of supply issues.

Will the Prime Minister admit that his procurement strategy has failed?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Minister of Public Services and Procurement]

Mr. Speaker, thank you for the question. We will continue to manage our supply chains for COVID-19 vaccines, while accelerating deliveries of approved vaccines.

Some 12.7 million doses have been delivered to Canada so far.

Also, millions of vaccines are on the way. We have accelerated 22 million doses from later to earlier quarters. We will continue to work together as a country to make sure that vaccines get out to the provinces and territories.

We are working day and night to get the job done.

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

Mr. Speaker, the minister is giving all kinds of figures, but the results speak for themselves, and they are appalling. We are an international laughingstock.

There is another decision that I am having a hard time understanding. Why did the government decide to drop the specific screening measures for travellers arriving from Brazil? What was the reason? I have no idea, because the government is being very secretive about it.

Once again, we see the Prime Minister shirking his responsibilities when it comes to the fight against this virus, and leaving the provinces to fend for themselves.

Is there anyone on the other side of the House who can explain the Prime Minister's decision?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, as I have said many times in the House, we will stop at nothing to protect Canadians' health. We have multiple, layered measures of protection at the border, as the member opposite knows, including a 14-day mandatory quarantine, mandatory pre-departure testing, mandatory arrival testing and mandatory testing at day 10, and we will continue to protect Canadians from the importation of this virus for as long as it takes.

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

Mr. Speaker, last year at the beginning of the pandemic, we made it clear that the border was the first line of defence. They did not listen. Then we said Health Canada should station officers at the airports. They did not listen.

Now we are being told that we have the best control measures in the world. How can variants from around the world have entered Canada if we already had measures in place, very robust measures according to the government?

Will the government start screening travellers from Brazil again or not?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, every traveller, regardless of their country of origin, is required to undergo some of the strictest measures in the world. Let me repeat that all travellers must subject themselves to a pre-departure test and submit that test prior to boarding the plane to Canada. They must also subject themselves to a post-arrival test and wait in a government-approved hotel until such time as their tests come back negative. The travellers must then continue to quarantine for up to 14 days and must submit a day 10 test. Any positive test is also sequenced so we understand just how this virus is shifting and changing.

Employment Insurance

[Louise Chabot, Bloc, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the budget is being tabled on Monday. If there is one segment of the population that does not have the luxury of being patient with Ottawa, it is people with serious illnesses.

Currently, people with diseases like cancer have the added burden of being in a precarious financial position, because they have been shut out of employment insurance. The 15 weeks of sickness benefits are not enough. They need 50 weeks.

On Monday, will these people be able to count on the federal government?

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Minister of Employment]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians want a flexible employment insurance system that is tailored to their needs, and they deserve it. That is why we have spent the past five weeks modernizing the system and making improvements to benefit Canadians. EI sickness benefits are an important support measure for Canadians who have to leave work because of an injury or illness.

Right now, far too many claimants are exhausting their EI benefits before they are able to return to work. That is why we are committed to extending the benefit period.

[Louise Chabot, Bloc, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I hope it will be extended to 50 weeks.

Unfortunately, EI does not meet the needs of those with serious illnesses. The 15 weeks of special sickness benefits are not adequate for illnesses such as cancer, which sometimes involve longer recovery times and relapses. Sickness benefits have been capped since 1971, but 88% of Canadians are in favour of increasing them.

After 50 years, will the government finally change EI to meet the needs of the sick and provide 50 weeks of benefits in the interest of fairness?

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Minister of Employment]

Mr. Speaker, we are committed to modernizing the EI system. We are committed to extending the sickness benefit period.

This afternoon, I will definitely be speaking to the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, which is studying the modernization of the EI system.

I am very happy to be talking to the committee about this issue this weekend.

[Louise Chabot, Bloc, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I want to honour the memory of Émilie Sansfaçon, who died of cancer, fighting to the very end for women like her to have access to an essential 50 weeks of coverage. She had met with the Prime Minister, who promised to do something.

The House has also called for an increase to 50 weeks, led by the Bloc. This is not a demand, it is a heartfelt plea. We are appealing to the government's humanity and we want to know when it will increase sickness benefits to 50 weeks.

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Minister of Employment]

Mr. Speaker, we offer our condolences to the family of Émilie Sansfaçon. I was there at her meeting with the Prime Minister and I often think of Émilie as I work on modernizing the employment insurance system.

As I said, we are fully committed to extending the EI sickness benefit period. We are committed to making this happen.

Infrastructure

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK]

Mr. Speaker, remember when the Prime Minister gave Loblaws $12 million for fridges? How about the $50 million he gave to Mastercard? Oops, he did it again. On Tuesday, the government cut a cheque for $655 million to a company owned by Fortis Inc. for the Lake Erie corridor project. This is a company worth billions.

The Liberals are now giving tax dollars to a for-profit company to sell electricity to the United States. Could the minister tell us why?

[Andy Fillmore, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities]

Mr. Speaker, thanks to this project, Canada has an opportunity to export clean power, helping to reduce emissions, maximizing clean power use and making electricity more affordable for Canadians. The Canadian Infrastructure Bank's investments in the Lake Erie Connector will give Ontario direct access to North American's largest electricity market, 13 states, and the District of Columbia. It will reduce overall GHG emissions by giving those jurisdictions access to Ontario's clean energy.

The Lake Erie Connector also gives the province of Ontario the ability to import more clean energy to meet periods of exceptionally high demand rather than firing up an additional gas plant within the province. This is part of our infrastructure plan to create jobs across the country, tackle climate change—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The hon. member for Regina—Qu'Appelle.

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK]

Mr. Speaker, if the project is so good, why can this multi-billion dollar company not pay for it itself? It can. In fact, it was already going to. Fortis Inc. was already committed to the Lake Erie Connector project.

The Infrastructure Bank was supposed to leverage private sector money to get new public infrastructure built. Instead, it is using tax dollars to build projects for billionaire private companies, which were already going to build the projects in the first place.

Simple question: Who will own the Lake Erie Connector project once it is completed?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, as this relates to climate change, certainly Canadians have been waiting for a very long time to see a serious climate plan from the Conservative Party of Canada.

This morning after reading through the Conservative Party's 15-page pamphlet, Canadians are still waiting. No mention of science, no numbers about how much these policies will cost consumers, no incentives to help Canadians afford an electric vehicle or retrofit their home. It is, interestingly enough, a carbon tax that cuts less pollution, that costs more and that takes away the climate action incentive rebates for families and replaces them with some kind of petro-points where the more we burn, the more we earn. This is not a plan. This is a pamphlet that will do less, cost more, from a party that I am sorry to—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The hon. member for Regina—Qu'Appelle.

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the member can try to change the channel from his own corporate welfare scandal, but the fact remains that the Lake Erie Connector is a project owned by a subsidiary of Fortis Inc., which according to its own website, had revenues of $8.9 billion in 2020. Fortis is a massive energy company that makes huge profits. Last year, it paid out over $800 million in dividends to its shareholders. Why did the government not just tell Fortis that if it needed $600 million, it could pay for it itself?

Every day we hear from small business owners who are losing their entire life's work. Why does the government think that it is the billionaires who need a bailout?