Debates of Feb. 9th, 2022

Health

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, while Canadians have made it through this pandemic, what this government has provided is responsible leadership that has put the health and safety of Canadians first and foremost. That is exactly what we did. That is exactly what we talked about in the last election campaign. That is exactly what we are going to continue to do in following the science.

The member opposite talks about Canadians' suffering. Supply chains are disrupted and Canadians are in their homes worried of walking their streets because the Conservatives continue to support blockades that are hurting businesses across the country.

Will the Conservative leader stand up and condemn those blockades?

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I asked the Prime Minister a simple question yesterday. The current member for Louis-Hébert and former chair of the Quebec Liberal caucus has revealed the Liberal government's underlying motivation in its approach to the pandemic. He said that on the eve of the last election campaign, a decision was made to go from a positive and unifying approach to one that would divide and stigmatize.

The member for Marc-Aurèle-Fortin agrees.

Did the Prime Minister himself make that decision to divide and stigmatize people for his own benefit?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, in the last election, we were there to unify Canadians around vaccine mandates. Canadians voted for a government that would put science first. They rejected the Conservative Party, which would not even confirm whether its own members were vaccinated.

Now we are going through another difficult situation, with blockades at our borders and in the city of Ottawa. The Conservative Party will not even condemn these blockades and the impact they are having on Canadians across the country, who are losing their jobs and struggling to put food on the table.

COVID‑19 Protests

[Yves-François Blanchet, Bloc, Beloeil—Chambly, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it all comes back to leadership in this crisis. Criticism in the media has been harsh and internal issues in the Liberal Party of Canada are compromising the government's ability to take action.

Will the Prime Minister acknowledge that he needs to communicate better, perhaps with a little more humility and a more conciliatory tone without changing the fundamental objective, and acknowledge that it is not just truckers who are increasingly concerned? Will he acknowledge that the siege urgently needs to be lifted before the weekend?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I absolutely acknowledge that.

Our government has acknowledged for more than a week now that this siege is unacceptable. It is having an impact on small businesses, manufacturers, and supply chains.

We must do everything we can together, at every level of government, to end these blockades at the border and in Ottawa.

It would be extremely helpful if the Conservative Party told its supporters to stop blocking our economy and go home.

[Yves-François Blanchet, Bloc, Beloeil—Chambly, QC]

Mr. Speaker, he is not a political commentator. He is the Prime Minister.

The international press is making fun of Canada. More protest groups like the one in Ottawa are popping up in other cities around the world. How is that for leadership? Congratulations. Canada is back.

Canada's image has been tarnished and unfortunately Quebec's as well. Quebec City managed the city and the government properly.

What will it take for the Prime Minister to get moving, jump in, do something, take action?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the provincial and municipal governments were able to manage the protests that occurred in Quebec City a few days ago very well. Nevertheless, we were there if more help was needed. They managed the situation well, as did other cities.

There are certain challenges in Ottawa, and we are here to support the local authorities, to work with the province and to ensure that law and order are restored.

However, it is important that the Conservative Party of Canada call for an end to the blockades and stop encouraging its supporters to continue blocking Canada and the economy.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, we have truckers who are stuck at the Coutts border crossing in Alberta. We have truckers stuck at the Ambassador Bridge crossing in Windsor. We have an occupation in Ottawa that has hit the citizens, residents and small businesses there with extreme difficulty, and we know that a significant portion of the funding for this convoy is from foreign U.S. dollars.

Will the Prime Minister do everything possible to stop this convoy and these protests by contacting U.S. officials, investigating where these funds are coming from and working with them to stop it?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we are working very hard with partners at different levels of government to make sure that the flow of funds through criminal activities is interdicted. We are going to continue to do that while, all at the same time, ensuring that there is a right of free and open legal protests. That is extremely important in this country.

I will highlight, however, the irony the member opposite brought up, which is indeed a harsh one: While this convoy originally was all about truckers protesting, now it is truckers being protested and being prevented from doing their jobs of putting food on our tables and supporting our manufacturers.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, truckers are currently blockading the border crossings in Coutts and Windsor. There is also a siege, an occupation, happening in Ottawa.

The entire country has been hit hard by the convoy protests, and it is clear that they are being financed in part by foreign money.

Will the Prime Minister speak to his U.S. counterparts to investigate and stop this money from coming in?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we have worked with our partners, including international partners, to track the funds that are being sent to organizations, businesses and criminal activities here in Canada, and that work will continue.

However, it is interesting to note that the blockades and convoy that were originally supposed to be by truckers are now preventing other truckers from doing their jobs. These truckers are unable to deliver purchases to Canadians or deliver merchandise and products to our manufacturers. Truckers are now the victims of these—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Order. The hon. member for Cumberland—Colchester.

Health

[Stephen Ellis, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Mr. Speaker, last year an all-party parliamentary committee urged the Prime Minister to promise he would not call an election. In fact, at that time, the Prime Minister himself said he had no interest in calling an election during the pandemic. Canadians were misled. Instead of prioritizing the health and safety of Canadians, he forced an election.

This begs the question: Why did the Prime Minister jeopardize the health of Canadians to save his own job?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, in that election, Canada had an extremely important conversation about how to move forward through this pandemic. Partially because of the clear answers—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I will have to interrupt the right hon. Prime Minister. The hon. member for Cumberland—Colchester asked a question and I am sure he cannot hear the answer with all the shouting going on around him. I ask everyone to tone it down so the hon. member for Cumberland—Colchester can hear the answer.

The right hon. Prime Minister.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in the last election, Canadians were presented with a very clear choice of moving forward with strong vaccination policies that would ensure Canadians were safe, or the Conservative proposal to not really step up on vaccinations, not even ensure that all Conservative members were vaccinated as MPs and not give the kind of leadership on science they wanted.

Canadians made a very clear choice to vote for parties that supported vaccine mandates, and that is exactly what has gotten us through the pandemic to this point, with lower death rates than other countries around the world have had, despite all the tragedies we have faced.

[Stephen Ellis, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Mr. Speaker, sadly, what we ended up with is seeds of division having been sowed and Canadians suffering. We have suffered financially, socially, morally, mentally and physically, and according to the misery index, we are a very miserable nation.

For almost two years now, Canadians have borne the yoke of loss, uncertainty and lack of hope. The backs of Canadians are about to break. Canadians are miserable because of the Prime Minister. We want to know on what date the mandates will end.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, once again we see the Conservatives are willing to twist the facts to their own partisan ends. The reality is that vaccine mandates, and the fact that Canadians stepped up to get vaccinated to almost 90%, ensured that this pandemic did not hit as hard here in Canada as elsewhere around the world.

We stayed focused on following the science and promoting public health rules, and Canadians stepped up in their communities, stepped up for their frontline health workers and stepped up for each other. Canada has never been as strong and together as we are now.

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

Mr. Speaker, in November, the Prime Minister said that the top priority was keeping Canadians safe and following the science.

Today, we know that his decisions were not based on science. Not one, but two of his MPs have stated that the Prime Minister's response to the pandemic was politicized and divisive.

Over a dozen developed countries have already begun to lift public health restrictions, but the Prime Minister is trying to control Canadians. Can the Prime Minister tell this House when he will lift the federal COVID-19 restrictions?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, ever since the beginning of the pandemic, Canadians have all wanted to know when it would be over and when we could go back to the way things were before.

Every step of the way, we have had to adjust measures, develop proposals and introduce programs to help Canadians in a timely manner. The drop in omicron cases means that we will be able to make some changes. Things have already begun to change across the country, but we are going to follow the science, the evidence, as we have done from the start, to keep Canadians safe.

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

Mr. Speaker, what is clear, what we found out yesterday, is that, under the guise of fighting the pandemic, the Prime Minister voluntarily played with Canadians' mental health.

He manipulated people to get votes in the last election. He kept parliamentary activities to a minimum to prevent us from scrutinizing his cabinet's decisions. He stigmatized all Canadians whose opinions differed from his. His strategy was to divide Canadians.

Will the Prime Minister finally admit that he used the pandemic to win the election and save his job?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we have put Canadians' health and safety front and centre every step of the way.

That is exactly what we did by following the science, but here is the truth: The Conservative Party is still playing partisan games by supporting the blockades and their supporters, who are blocking our supply chains and the City of Ottawa.

They are refusing to condemn these illegal demonstrations. They support them. They bring the demonstrators coffee. When will they start showing responsible leadership?

[Jamie Schmale, Conservative, Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON]

Mr. Speaker, two Liberal MPs have said that the Prime Minister purposely politicized the pandemic for crass, political gain in order to save his own job. The Prime Minister deliberately divided Canadians. We have federal mandates still in effect that are stifling industries like travel and tourism, while countries around the world, with the same information, are finding ways to live with this virus.

On what date this month will all federal mandates be lifted?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, policy in this country is set by a government that listens to science, that follows data and that does not listen to people blockading our streets and blockading our borders. That is not the way to make public policy in this country. It is not the way to bring Canadians together.

We are going to stay focused on keeping people alive, safe, healthy and indeed prosperous. The fact that the Conservative Party continues to refuse to condemn the blockades that are hurting our supply chains, driving up prices and limiting our manufactures from being able to bring their parts across the country is a shame on them.