Debates of May 5th, 2021

COVID-19 in Alberta

[Jennifer O'Connell, Liberal, Pickering—Uxbridge, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I know that was not a question, but I would say I agree. It is hard. Even in my position as parliamentary secretary to health, the focus is wanting to provide solutions in this time. I know it is idealistic to hope that we can put partisanship aside all the time, but my ask and my main point from that speech is to say that we need to come together with solutions moving forward. We will have lots of time to point blame and take partisan swipes, but the crisis in Alberta right now needs to be at the forefront, and finding the solution to protect Canadians.

[Damien Kurek, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Calgary Midnapore.

As I enter into the emergency debate related to the crisis that is taking place here in Alberta, I want to acknowledge that there are a number of friends of mine currently in the hospital. It appears that they are going to pull through, but it has been a challenging time for many Albertans and many, many Canadians. Certainly it drives home the seriousness of what we are discussing in this place. I also want to acknowledge the 24,000 or so Canadians who have passed away because of COVID and COVID-related complications. I was reading an article earlier today about the so-called “COVID long-haulers” and the challenges they have.

On the other side of that issue are the millions of Canadians who are facing significant impacts, as well as businesses. As I was getting groceries earlier today, a business owner came up to me asking if there was anything I could do to help him get support as his business fell through all the cracks, in terms of qualifying for support. It did not quite meet the income threshold on the months that were prescribed, but had zero income in certain other months. It speaks to the significant challenges that all Canadians have faced in the last year and a half.

When I learned that this debate would be taking place, I thought of a couple of main subjects that I want to touch on: one, the challenges that many Canadians are facing as this third wave has gripped Alberta and gripped our country, and to ensure that there is some context provided with some of the challenges that certainly my constituents are facing in Battle River—Crowfoot, and then to talk about some of the other challenges and the reason why we are here.

I found it very interesting listening to some of the Liberal members. The Prime Minister was asked a number of weeks ago whether there was anything he regretted. There have been a number of analogies used in this debate this evening, so I will use another one: When a sports team, be it someone's favourite hockey team or favourite football team, makes some mistakes, the people who take responsibility are the captain of the team and the coaches. They take responsibility for their mistakes and they commit to do better.

I heard for the first time a number of Liberal members admit their failures, because the captain of their team, the leader of this country, refuses to admit mistakes. Unfortunately, it is not surprising. I have been a long-time political observer and a member of Parliament for a year and a half. Seeing the Prime Minister's personality, it is unfortunately not surprising that he refuses to take responsibility for some of these clear failures.

Then we see the members opposite trying to pivot the blame. They say that Conservatives spread the misinformation. I have dozens of pages of clear examples, numerous examples of inconsistent messaging and changing direction. The fact is that even the member for Kingston and the Islands said very clearly that had we gotten more vaccines, we would not be having this debate. A number of the Liberal members opposite have said things like “Well, we only want to talk about vaccines.” Well, it seems like the Liberals only wanted to stop talking about vaccines when their failures on the procurement of those vaccines became widespread. Then, all of a sudden, Canadians were seeing the consequences of that, and we see that now. This truly is the Prime Minister's third wave.

I think back to the beginning of the pandemic, when I, among many other Conservatives, started asking questions about securing our borders. They were valid questions about what was happening with this virus, which we did not know very much about, and we started asking about measures being taken. I remember the public safety minister stood up and said that the government had put in enhanced border measures, yet I would talk to constituents who had just returned home who said that they did not see any border measures. I talked to some constituents who saw those border measures, and literally, and I wish this was a joke, the enhanced border measure was a check mark on the immigration form. As the old saying goes, “An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure”, and I think that is the reality we are facing, with tens of thousands of lives lost and other significant challenges that we face.

I say often that the government is all style and very little substance. Unfortunately, that has been the case throughout this pandemic, and I would suggest the last five and a half or so years as well, as has been highlighted through the many other failures and tragedies of what this Liberal government has done.

I was speaking to somebody who closely follows the National Research Council, and even some of the regulatory changes that the Liberals brought in right after they were elected actually put Canada further back in terms of being set up to succeed in the case of needing to see rapid investment in emerging health technologies, like vaccines. This was a number of years before the word “COVID-19” was even known to the world, and that really comes back to the issue of good governance.

The Liberals will say, “Well, it is easy to be an armchair quarterback and speak from hindsight.” This is what the Liberals like to talk about to try to pivot away from their failures. However, we see time and again with the current government that truly it has been a failure of good governance. We see things like ministerial responsibility, which, in some cases, appears to have been abandoned. The Liberals simply use it as a way to cover up their scandals but then do not provide the oversight. I have filed hundreds of ATIPs since getting elected, and some of the things I see and do not see are astounding.

I have a couple of minutes left here to talk about some of the things that my constituents have brought up over the last number of months, such as the border issue that the government brought in. Conservatives were critical of the border hotels, especially when the minister himself said that there was no evidence that would work. There could have been other measures that were more effective.

On mental health, we have seen the government support a Conservative motion for a 988 number, yet it has done virtually nothing since. It has made some announcements in terms of dollars in its yearly budget, which was released a couple of weeks ago. Again, it is promising dollars but no action.

A great example is the Service Canada office that is located down the street from my constituency office, where I am currently giving this speech. A sign was put on the door saying that it was closed, and there was a website on it. Hundreds of people sought help from my office, because constituents could not be served by the government. Again, on good governance there was a lack of responsibility.

As I have mentioned, we see businesses falling through the cracks. We see mixed messaging on vaccines. This has been a big challenge. I have had phone calls this week, and people are asking what to believe and who to believe.

There is certainly much more I could say, but it has been good to participate in this debate. Hopefully I highlighted some of the issues that my constituents have brought forward to me over the last number of weeks and months, and in the last year.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence]

Madam Speaker, I worked in Alberta for a couple of summers when I was studying in university. Albertans are very good people and are very intelligent. They understand what is going on.

When he looks at the investments we have made, the member has to keep in mind that what our government did was done for all of the provinces and territories. We invested $19 billion for the safe restart program, and we distributed vaccines right across the country, fairly.

The member is pointing the finger and asking why we are in this situation, and I think some of the premiers have to look at themselves in the mirror, as do some members of Parliament. They should not be laying the blame on someone else. They should look at what is happening in their provinces and ask how we can help Albertans, because we are here to help Albertans and all Canadians.

[Damien Kurek, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Madam Speaker, I appreciate the member remarking on the intelligence of Albertans. I agree with him. There have been some tremendous advances that our province has pioneered. That may be why there are no Liberal members of Parliament from Alberta these days.

There is a lot of introspection being done. In fact, I listened to the premier talk last night. The government members say that the Government of Alberta has to take responsibility for not being able to deal with the vaccine situation. However, it has been made very clear that the issue was not about the ability to distribute vaccines and get needles into the arms of Albertans. The issue was that there was no supply.

Certainly we need to continue to have a lot of conversations about this, but when we look at the failures and what this third wave is about—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

I do have to allow for other questions.

Questions and comments, the hon. member for New Westminster—Burnaby.

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

Madam Speaker, the member referred to taking responsibility, like a sports team. He is absolutely correct to point out that Canada has been trailing much of the industrialized world because of the absence of proper vaccine distribution. However, he has avoided the question. Alberta actually has the highest infection rate in North America. Alberta, unlike any other province or state, has an absolutely deplorable and tragic record that is leading to real tragedy for many Alberta.

Will the provincial Conservative government take responsibility for the cutbacks in health care and its lack of showing any sort of responsibility. Remember, its members were travelling all over the place during the Christmas season. Will the provincial Conservative government take responsibility for its many errors that have led to this tragedy?

[Damien Kurek, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Madam Speaker, I am not an MLA; I am a member of Parliament. However, I have a strong relationship with the five UCP MLAs whom I share a jurisdiction with. I have heard time and time again about how frustrated they have been with the lack of leadership at the federal level. Just to correct the record, because I know my friends in the UCP would ask me to do this, there were no funding cuts to health care. That is misinformation, to clarify the record.

At the heart of the issue is the fact that the third wave came at a time when we needed to be three, four, five or six weeks ahead of schedule on vaccines. We have smart people across the country leading the way. In fact, there is a vaccine manufacturer in Calgary. However, it just announced that it may have to leave Canada to be successful.

Canadians are innovative, resilient and able to rise to the challenge. I have certainly seen that within my home constituency, my home region. Given the opportunity, we could have done better. However, the problem is that we have seen failure on the part of our national government to lead us through this.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

I want to remind members that when they are asking questions and responding, they should do it within one minute. We should be able to get in two one-minute questions and a half-a-minute question. There is a list of MPs who want to participate and they will not be able to do that if members are eating into the time. When I am showing the speed-up signal, finish asking the question or answering the question.

Resuming debate, the hon. member for Calgary Midnapore.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Madam Speaker, I am always happy to be in the House to speak on behalf of my constituents, as I am a very proud member of Parliament from Alberta who was born and raised in Calgary Midnapore.

It certainly has been a very difficult 15 months, which goes without saying. It is the reason that we are here this evening. The pain that I have seen around me has been absolutely extraordinary. I have watched businesses, families and individuals attempt to cope with the realities of the pandemic and what it has meant for everybody, and have seen the sacrifices people have made across Canada, and particularly in Alberta.

I have seen businesses shut their doors, some after many years. That is incredibly regretful. It is the reason I decided to put forth the Calgary Midnapore Economic Recovery Task Force in an effort for us to try to come up with solutions as a community.

I have seen parents struggle with children being out of school as a result of the necessity to make changes to our educational system. Of course this is happening again. Tomorrow will be my son's last day in school until after the long weekend. Today, when I was at the car dealership picking up my car after servicing, I overheard a set of parents talking about it. They do not know how they are going to deal with it this time.

Of course, there is also the terrible toll that mental health problems have taken on Canadians and Albertans during this time. I am very happy that as part of our plan to secure the future, our leader has chosen to make mental health one of the key pieces of the platform.

Like many other Canadians and like many other Albertans, I have a question on my mind: How did we get to this place? That is what this debate is really about.

I think back to January and February 2020 when we were in the House and still had many new members finding their feet. We had a strong team that tried to call on the government to take stronger action. I recall the member for Edmonton Riverbend screaming at the top of his lungs in an effort to get the Minister of Health to take action regarding our borders. Of course, we all know about the the Prime Minister's terrible judgment in sending an extensive amount of personal protective equipment overseas to China, only to leave health care workers here without it. Those on the front lines were still defenceless weeks later. It was a very bad start to this situation.

Of course, we called for the government to use the tools that were available, but it refused to use them. Our team, across the board, including our current shadow minister for health, the member for Calgary Nose Hill, was relentless in asking the government to use the tools available, specifically therapeutics and rapid tests. However, this fell upon the deaf ears of the government. Again, I ask the question: How did we get to this place?

As shadow minister for transport, I can say that the industry did everything it possibly could in an effort to maintain operations and resume and maintain normalcy for Canadians so they could continue about their lives and their business. We have all been away from our family members and our loved ones for so long and have not had the opportunities to visit places and see people.

It was actually the industry that led the way on rapid testing. There was the project at YVR set up by WestJet. WestJet is an Alberta company that has suffered terribly as a result of the mismanagement of the pandemic by the federal government.

We have the McMaster project, which led to incredible data finds, and could have been used in a constructive manner going forward, but it was not. Most importantly, and what I am most proud of, was the YYC pilot project, which was set up here with much success and would have allowed for a shorter quarantine time across the nation.

Instead, we saw the government ignore the industry of those individuals who put themselves forward on the part of the data collection. Instead, we ended up with a terrible knee-jerk reaction from the government several times over, where both Canadians and industry had to respond with the 72-hour PCR test brought in at the worst time possible for travellers over the holidays, leaving industry without any time to respond at all.

I must take a moment and compliment what good corporate players and societal players the airline sector has been over and over by repatriating Canadians, and I have done a lot of that in my time as a consular officer previously for the Government of Canada; bringing in personal protective equipment; and really bringing in precious cargo. They are really doing their part, but again their requests and the work they put in were ignored by the government, leading to the 72-hour PCR test.

Like anything, when we do not take action earlier on, the problem compounds. It just creates a larger and larger problem. This happens with anything in life. Certainly, we have even seen it within the government with debt, for example. The next step in that, regarding the transport file, was the resulting hotel quarantine. Again, this was something very severe and draconian that could have been avoided, had the government taken the proper steps earlier on in the pandemic, but it did not. Again, I, like so many other Canadians, find myself asking how we got to this place.

Finally, the point that has been brought up by my colleagues previously, and which I will mention again, is that of vaccines. Everyone has always said the ticket out of this pandemic is the vaccines, but the government absolutely failed at its procurement strategy from day one. The result is that we have been left months behind other nations. We see they are beginning to live life again and beginning to return to normal not only within the travel sector, but in life as we used to know it.

There have been numerous delays as a result of the government's terrible execution of procurement, overpayment for vaccines and us ending up last in line. It has not been transparent in regard to the schedules of these vaccines, leaving Canadians to wonder, as recently as this week, when they will get a second dose and not knowing when life will resume again as normal. There really is just no plan at all forward and no light at the end of the tunnel.

Again, I ask myself how we got to this place. Canadians are asking how we got to this place. The reason we are having this debate here tonight regarding Alberta is how we got to this place, and the answer is obvious. It is the Prime Minister who brought us to this place. It is the Prime Minister and his incompetent cabinet and government that brought us to this place.

I will finish with the very member, the member for Edmonton Strathcona, who proposed the debate this evening. She has been complicit in holding them in this place.

[Richard Cannings, NDP, South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

Madam Speaker, the member repeated time and time again “how we got to this place”. We are here tonight, because we are speaking about the tragic situation in Alberta, the very painful place that Alberta is in. I live in British Columbia, and we have the same access to vaccines that Alberta has. We have the same situation about borders and airlines coming in. The one difference is the haphazard management of the Kenney government in opening and closing businesses and the health orders have been entirely inadequate.

Will she only admit that is the difference and that is how we got to this place?

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Madam Speaker, I find the question from my colleague from the province next door so very disappointing. Posing the very question itself is not recognizing the origin of the problem, which is the federal government. I find the spirit of his question to be very disappointing. This is not a time for comparison of who is doing better, who is doing worse. This is a time for us to come together as Canadians. That is what this discussion should be about tonight, not who is doing better, who is doing worse. This is a time when we should be coming together as Canadians for solutions, and that question did not indicate that.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and to the Minister of Middle Class Prosperity and Associate Minister of Finance]

Madam Speaker, for reasons others have articulated previously this evening, I vehemently disagree with the member on the success of Canada's vaccine procurement. However, if I accept her position that the federal government's procurement strategy has been insufficient, I cannot find a charitable interpretation of her argument that would suggest that public health measures today in Alberta would not be required to stem the spread of COVID-19.

What public health measures does the hon. member think should be implemented in order to protect the public's health until sufficient vaccines are present to innoculate the population?

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Madam Speaker, I know the parliamentary secretary had a brief residence in Alberta. I had the pleasure of sitting on the status of women committee with him.

The way out of this is the vaccine. It could not be more crystal clear than that, so the focus should be on receiving the vaccines, distributing the vaccines and getting them into the arms of Canadians. Everything that is going on now, this week, all of the sacrifices that Albertans have been making and will continue to make even more severely in the coming three weeks are the residue of this government's inaction.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Madam Speaker, my concern is that we need everything brought to bear on this threat to our society and the whole planet. We need to keep people locked down because the variants may even be able to outrace the vaccinations.

Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States, said that even with the vaccinations in the U.S., she has “a recurring fear of impending doom”. Those are her words. She is worried that with the vaccinations, the U.S. public will have a false sense of security and will ignore the health warnings and the need to continue to be very careful.

I am afraid the Conservatives may lead people to think—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

The hon. member for Calgary Midnapore, a brief answer, please.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Madam Speaker, the real fear for Canadians is that we will never get out of this, because they hear the words and see the attitudes of members such as the hon. member for Saanich—Gulf Islands.

[James Maloney, Liberal, Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON]

Madam Speaker, I am sharing my time tonight, although I will be honest that I do not know who I am sharing it with.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Canadians have come together, made sacrifices and done their part to help limit the spread of the virus. Public health experts have provided Canadians with important information and advice on COVID-19.

At the same time, the Government of Canada has taken steps to help Canadians stay home, put food on the table, keep their jobs and help businesses stay afloat. Canada's COVID-19 economic response plan has helped protect millions of jobs, provide emergency support to families and keep businesses afloat throughout the pandemic. Healthy people are at the centre of a strong economy. That is why the health and safety of all Canadians remains our top priority.

The situation remains challenging in some parts of the country. As COVID-19 activity continues in Canada, we are tracking a range of epidemiological indicators to monitor where the disease is most active, where it is spreading and how it is impacting the health of Canadians, and public health's laboratory and health care capacity.

Alberta is in the middle of a third wave right now. The situation regarding COVID-19 in Alberta is of utmost importance to the federal government, and although I am an Ontario member of Parliament, I understand the predicament, because we are experiencing the same thing here at home. I would like to note the current situation to give some context to this debate.

As members know, Alberta currently has the highest active case rate in either Canada or the U.S. The current active COVID-19 case total stands at 23,623, which is the highest ever. The daily COVID-19 case counts have topped the 1,000 mark for almost a month. Alberta's test positivity rate is now 13.2%, its highest ever, which means one in eight Albertans tested positive for COVID-19.

Yesterday, Alberta reported 1,743 new cases, including a very large percentage of variant cases. This is a situation that is very serious, to put it mildly. We are greatly concerned to see that Alberta currently has the highest per capita case rate anywhere in Canada. In Alberta, elevated infection rates continue to impact COVID-19 severity indicators, particularly in areas with sustained high levels of disease activity.

We are monitoring the spread of new variants in the province, as well as the strain put on public health resources with nearly 700 people in hospital with COVID-19 and more than 150 of those in intensive care.

Premier Kenney announced new COVID-19 restrictions yesterday. These included transition to restaurant takeout service only, closure of personal care businesses and a shift to online learning for all students from May 7 to May 25.

However, there is hope. Mass vaccination is proceeding and accelerating. I am heartened to note that Alberta has administered more than 1.6 million doses of vaccine provided by the federal government, exceeding the 30% first dose coverage. Since May 4, teachers, child care workers and support staff in Alberta are eligible to book COVID-19 vaccine appointments. Alberta is also targeting vaccines in hot spot areas. This includes oil sand work camps in Fort McMurray and Wood Buffalo region, as well as oil sand workers in Calgary.

Earlier today, Premier Kenney announced that starting on May 6, every Albertan 30 years of age and older can be vaccinated. By May 10, every Albertan 12 and older will be eligible for vaccination.

Unfortunately, as our public health authorities consistently remind us, vaccines are not a replacement for strong public health measures, at least not in the short term. The key to reducing the number of cases is to reduce the number of transmissions. To do this, we must have clear enforced measures to discourage social contact and mobility.

We know the majority of Albertans support listening to advice of public health experts and support taking the steps necessary to protect their friends, family and neighbours. The federal government is providing assistance to Alberta for testing and contact tracing and surge support in first nation communities.

There have been 47 vaccination clinics established in the 47 first nation communities in Alberta and 56% of adults from first nations have had at least one shot and 25% have had a second dose.

In addition to vaccines, our government has supported the people of Alberta by expanding access to rapid testing. More than three million rapid tests have been shipped by the federal government to the province of Alberta. The province has deployed more than two million of these tests and recently eased requirements so it is easier for businesses of all sizes to implement workplace testing programs.

The federal government has also shipped rapid testing supplies directly to a number of large employers in Alberta free of charge, including Telus, TransMountain, Sunterra Farms, Rio Tinto, J.D. Irving and Loblaws. We also have 41 Statistics Canada contact tracers working with Alberta health authorities to try to trace and stem the spread of COVID-19.

We support the efforts of the people of Alberta to fight this virus. The federal government stands ready to support Alberta's citizens and Alberta's health care workers in any way we can. The Government of Canada stands ready to provide additional support to Alberta should it be requested by the province.

We continue to manage the impacts of the pandemic while preparing for future waves. This includes steps to ensure Canadians can access future treatment and vaccines. To help prevent future waves of the virus, we will continue to ensure we have personal protective equipment, a strong health care system and the right measures to limit the spread of the virus.

We must also look for early warning signs so we can quickly respond to future waves. Our country's recovery from the pandemic will take time. Canadians must continue to be careful and listen to the advice of our public health experts. The pandemic has offered an opportunity to think about what really matters in our communities, engage in meaningful conversations about taking care of those around us and reflect on the kind of future we want to build. Together we will build a fair and more resilient Canada that works for everyone.

I have been listening to many of the speeches tonight. I have not listened to all of them, but I think I have heard it all. Unfortunately, we work now in a sound bite world, which is unfortunate, because sometimes I think the only time we can have a truly meaningful debate is if we turn the cameras off.

We are talking tonight about Alberta and about helping our fellow Canadians who live in Alberta. I have friends in Alberta. If we want to have a meaningful discussion, for the rest of the night we have to stop pointing fingers and laying blame. People can point fingers at us and repeat things we said earlier that contradict what we may be doing today and may happen tomorrow. I am sure members could point some things out that I said tonight. I could spend time going through the opposition's speeches and everything they have said over the past months and find all kinds of inconsistencies. It might be entertaining but it is of absolutely no use whatsoever. It is an evolving situation and we need to work together to try to make this better.

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

Madam Speaker, I am glad the member spoke about living in an era of sound bites. A lot of what the Liberal members have been doing so far is blaming the people of Alberta for the situation we find ourselves in, but we would not be in this situation had we received vaccine supplies back in January and February. I am one of those who has been vaccinated. The vaccine supply is almost at 90% used in the province of Alberta.

I want to ask the member whether he agrees with the statement made by the member for Kingston and the Islands earlier when he said that if we had more vaccines we would not be in this situation. I agree with that statement. Many, many Albertans would have been vaccinated and we never would have had this third wave. Does the member agree we would not be in this situation if we had received more vaccines in January and February?

[James Maloney, Liberal, Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON]

Madam Speaker, let me answer this way. If we had vaccines last July, we would all be vaccinated by now, but we did not. We knew in January, we knew in February and we knew in March exactly when the vaccines were coming and how many were coming. That puts the responsibility on all of us, whether we live in Alberta, Ontario, New Brunswick or British Columbia, to prepare accordingly. If we compare the regions from Atlantic Canada to British Columbia to Alberta, we see different outcomes because they responded differently.

The member's question is not realistic. That is the answer.

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB]

Madam Speaker, first, I want to express my solidarity with the people of Alberta who are facing this COVID crisis right now. I want to acknowledge that many are doing what they can to save lives in their communities.

I will share the words of Jenn Prosser, founder of the Lethbridge COVID-19 Community Support Circle, who has a question for the government. She says, “The austerity budgets of Alberta's government have hit households hard. Before the pandemic, many families and individuals had lost work and found the provincial supports very difficult to access. While CERB and CRB are critical stopgaps, many folks did not qualify even if they lost work due to COVID. Why won't the federal government support a guaranteed, livable income to ensure that everyone has the financial supports they need in times like these?”

[James Maloney, Liberal, Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON]

Madam Speaker, the member's question is a very important one.

I am not going to do what I just said we should not be doing and start pointing fingers and laying blame. There is no point in looking backward, we only need to look forward. It has been very clear from what this government has done throughout this pandemic to ensure that everybody in Canada is not left without and everybody has enough money to live on to get himself or herself through this pandemic. Going forward, all sorts of discussions need to take place, and that is certainly one of them.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Madam Speaker, I know my colleague from the Liberal Party does not want to go back, but he said that there were no ways that we could have prevented what had happened. However, the Auditor General's report was very clear on how poorly the Liberals mishandled the early going of the pandemic. One of the things the government did was dismantle the GPHIN system, our early warning system that would have allowed us to be better prepared to handle a pandemic.

My question for my colleague is this. Does he not agree that it was a mistake to dismantle the early warning pandemic system earlier on in this pandemic?

[James Maloney, Liberal, Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON]

Madam Speaker, it is an important question, but retrospective analysis is going to happen when this is over, and that will be one of the issues that will be considered, like so many others. However, if we look in the immediate past, January, February, March, we know where we were and where we were going to be.

It is important that we finish this debate tonight, having a constructive discussion about how we can help the people of Alberta, which I genuinely want to do. I said earlier that I have a lot of friends in Alberta, just like I have a lot of friends in other parts of the country, and that is what we are here to talk about. Therefore, let us do it.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Madam Speaker, right now, there is a serious crisis going on in Alberta. I think about the people who I have met in Alberta, hard-working people building a life for themselves and their families. I think of the people I have met in Calgary and spending time in the city and in some of the suburbs, and going to Calgary Skyview. I met the Sikh community in the Dashmesh gurdwara. I think about spending time at my first Calgary stampede and in Edmonton. I used to visit pretty regularly. I have been to the Rocky Mountains. Throughout Alberta, there are good people who are working hard, trying to earn a good living to support their families. Right now, they need our help.

Both Liberal and Conservative MPs are talking about blame. Right now, while people are in an emergency, it is pretty disconnected of them to be speaking about blame. Right now, we need to be talking about the help for the people of Alberta.

We saw that the federal government when pushed was able to provide some support to the province of Ontario, sending in additional federal resources, sending in the military and providing health care workers.

Right now, people need help. We are seeing the highest case counts, the highest positivity rates and the worst situation in all of Canada, in fact, in all of North America. When the house is burning, help needs to be sent immediately. That is what this emergency debate should be about. How do we provide that help? What supports can we give right now to support people?

Speaking to people on the ground in Alberta, hospitals are being overrun and ICU units are filling up. We are getting to a position where people do not know how they are going to respond to the number of people getting sick.

What are we going to do about it? We need to get vaccines to the people who desperately need it. We know with the people who are getting sick everywhere in Canada, and particularly right now in Alberta, the highest rates of transmission are—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

I am sorry to have to interrupt. There seems to be a problem with the interpretation.

The problem with the interpretation seems to have been fixed.

The hon. member for Burnaby South.