moved:
That, given that,
(i) only 2.7% of Canadians are fully vaccinated against COVID-19,
(ii) the federal government did not deliver adequate vaccine supply in January and February 2021,
(iii) the government extended the recommended interval for the second vaccine dose to four months against the recommendations of vaccine manufacturers,
(iv) Canadians are facing increased restrictions and lockdowns in multiple provinces from British Columbia to Nova Scotia,
the House call on the government to ensure that every Canadian adult has access to a vaccine by the May long weekend.
Mr. Speaker, I will be dividing my time with the member for Calgary Nose Hill.
All Canadians know that we are in the grips of the third wave of COVID-19. Cases are rising, hospitalization rates are up, younger people are tragically filling ICUs. Provinces are implementing new lockdowns and are so overwhelmed that they are calling again for the help of our brave men and women in the Canadian Armed Forces, the Red Cross, and even other provinces like Newfoundland and Labrador to help with a third wave that could have been avoided.
Yet, despite all of this, during the most challenging wave of this pandemic, the Prime Minister a few weeks ago said that he had no regrets about his management leadership throughout the pandemic. That is astonishing: No regrets for the closure of the world-renowned early warning pandemic system that had been world-class before the government shut it down a few months before it could have helped more than ever in its existence; no regrets for relying on Communist China for a vaccine for Canadians, which of course fell apart, causing further delays and now is a part of the reason we are in such a severe third wave. The Prime Minister has no regrets for failing to deliver a national system of rapid screening and testing with standards, which was one of the first promises he made over a year ago when he shut down Parliament; and no regrets for his portfolio of vaccines. Of course, the government will not release any of the contracts to show us the portfolio. The Prime Minister has no regrets for having us further behind many other developed countries in terms of total vaccinations and access to vaccination.
Perhaps it is easy for the Prime Minister to have no regrets when he has a parliamentary career and perhaps a lifetime of having other people clean up his mess for him. It is a hallmark of the Prime Minister. For Canadians watching, he is now on his third investigation of personal ethical misconduct. He told the Ethics Commissioner during the first ethics investigation that he views his role as prime minister as being “ceremonial in nature”. In a crisis, we do not need ceremony. We need action. We need leadership and that is what has been absent from the government.
The Prime Minister has no regrets about the millions of Canadians affected by the third wave of COVID-19, his inability to procure a sufficient number of vaccines or his slow approach. That is arrogance.
While the Prime Minister is patting himself on the back, Canadians are losing hope because the the virus and dangerous variants are spreading.
For more than a year, we have been calling for greater border measures to protect against COVID-19. For a year, we have been calling for a national system of rapid screening, testing and national standards. We have been calling for a vaccine procurement and distribution plan with domestic capacity. However, here we are in the third wave of a pandemic waiting for the Prime Minister to deliver on commitments he made to Canadians in the first wave.
The Liberal government has categorically failed to keep COVID-19 variants, dangerous ones, out of Canada; failed to secure our border properly for over a year; failed to secure vaccines in January and February to have vaccination rates at a level that would have prevented community spread of dangerous variants, letting us down when it was most critical that he step up.
The Prime Minister did not succeed in stopping variants from entering Canada. Under the Liberals, our borders are out of control.
It has been a year and the Prime Minister has still not managed to protect the country.
Now doctors are seeing patients arrive in the ICU, who have had their first shot in some cases, and are well into the extended wait period for the second shot that the Prime Minister has approved to cover up his inability to deliver vaccines earlier, a four-month wait time between doses that is longer than any other country in the world and contrary to the advice of the developer and manufacturer of the vaccine. The Liberal government has forced an off-label usage of this vaccine only because there was insufficient supply. Its NACI board has acknowledged it would not be recommending a four-month delay if there was supply. This is leading to erosion of public confidence.
Front-line health care workers were left to fend for themselves. Meanwhile, public health directives were controlled or blocked. The Liberals let the virus spread. That made people more fearful and anxious. It also led to lockdowns and the tragic death of thousands of Canadians.
Canadians are beyond frustrated. Other countries are reopening. Our neighbours to the south are filling stadiums. Others are being spared from this serious risk of variants and this third wave.
Last spring, when it was clear that vaccines would be the key tool to turn the page in this crisis, the Prime Minister dropped the ball completely. While we have citizens in prison in China, disruption of trade, gross human rights violations, including genocide against Uighurs, the Prime Minister of Canada picked Communist China to partner for a vaccine to protect Canadians. I believe that in the future will be looked as one of the most negligent decisions by a Canadian prime minister in our history.
This situation is unacceptable, particularly for a G7 country like Canada. Things should not have happened this way. We are at this point because the Liberals were slow to respond every step of the way.
We are here because the response of the Liberal government throughout this pandemic has been confused and slow at every step. We are always scrambling to catch up and keep up. Because the federal government did not deliver adequate vaccine supply to the provinces in January and February, and because over the last few months we have been operating only at 50% or so of the delivery capacity the country has ready and we just do not have supply, that is why we have only 2.7% of Canadians fully vaccinated. That is why we are slower and having more lockdowns than other countries.
The government's own modelling said we would need 20% full vaccination and 75% first dose vaccination before it recommends a safe and effective reopening. The supplies we are receiving are so insufficient that it means more lockdowns, more small businesses in crisis and a slower reopening of our economy. We are going to miss summer because the government missed the mark in January and February, especially given the situation in the U.S., where we see how better management of that vaccine supply led to a faster reopening.
Canadians deserve better. They deserve better than a government that is always several steps behind, a government that is always refusing to explain its decisions, whether it is about partnering with CanSino or how many of its contracts are options or timelines to buy over many years, refusing to release contractual information, refusing to answer questions, and taking vaccine supply from the developing world through COVAX.
The only way the government made its objectives was from some charity from the United States, some extra supply, and by taking from the developing world. We are the only G7 country to do that, a recognition that the only G7 country that failed to deliver adequate vaccines was Canada. Canadians deserve better, and that is why we are bringing this debate to the House today.
Canadians deserve better, particularly in the midst of a pandemic. We need a sufficient supply of vaccines and a national testing approach to be able to reopen safely.
We need a national system of standards and screening for rapid tests so we can reopen safely and swiftly, because insufficient vaccine levels and variants mean we will need these tools.
I will review the tape for Canadians. A year ago, at one of the press conferences, the Prime Minister stood on his front step and said he would deliver rapid tests and tracing. All of these things he promised early he still has not delivered. We do not hear him talking about the app anymore, which was never fully adopted nationally. He has never rolled out a national system of screening and testing, and we now have a patchwork popping up. There is no consistency where we need it.
Last night, the President of the United States said the country had “an arsenal of vaccines” in storage to help others. Let us get them here. Let us get people vaccinated by May. Let us save our summer and let us have a safe, data-driven and effective reopening. Canadians deserve better.