Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague for her initiative in causing this debate tonight. I think it is very valuable and I thank her for her leadership on this.
The member mentioned the word “emergency” many times, and I have in front of me the Emergencies Act of Canada. It is the only flagship legislation that we have from 1988. It says that “...a national emergency is an urgent and critical situation of a temporary nature that... seriously endangers the lives, health or safety of Canadians and is of such proportions or nature as to exceed the capacity or authority of a province to deal with it”. It also says that a public welfare emergency is “...caused by a real or imminent...disease in human beings...that results or may result in a danger to life or property, social disruption or a breakdown in the flow of essential goods”.
Would my hon. colleague not agree that if this legislation is not enacted now, in a once-in-a-century global pandemic, that there is no time that it would be invoked? I specifically refer to Ontario. Would she agree with me that, clearly, the ability of Ontario to handle this pandemic—