Mr. Speaker, I am going to quote from the Emergencies Act. It says:
a national emergency is an urgent and critical situation of a temporary nature that
(a) 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 then defines a public welfare emergency as:
an emergency that is caused by a real or imminent
(b) disease in human beings
and that results or may result in a danger to life or property, social disruption or a breakdown in the flow of essential goods, services or resources, so serious as to be a national emergency.
Finally, it authorizes the government that invokes it to authorize and make emergency payments and to establish hospitals.
Does the minister agree with me that this perfectly describes the situation in Ontario, which is clearly overwhelmed and needs the federal government to come in and help establish hospitals or make payments for paid sick days? If not, could she explain to Canadians why not?