Mr. Speaker, as I begin I will mention that I will be sharing my time with the member for Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert.
As we have heard tonight, the world faces a clear crisis with the Ebola virus. In fact, we are just hearing as of tonight that the United States has asked that a special meeting be convened by the Security Council this Thursday, which clearly shows that it is not just our Parliament but our friends and allies who are seized with this. I thank my colleague for asking for this debate. There will be a Security Council session this Thursday, and I think that is important.
As members know, we are also seized and will be discussing tomorrow night the issue of ISIS and Iraq. These two crises are worthy of our attention and our support. The case of Ebola, of course, is a very different scenario than dealing with what is happening in Iraq, but it requires a well-thought-out plan. It requires Canada to do everything it can as a responsible actor to help out, because this is a global phenomenon.
As we know, viruses travel across borders. We went through that not that long ago with SARS. Hopefully we have learned from that experience that if we have medicines that can help, we make them available and that we have an appropriate civil response. However, in this case, it is really about doing everything we can to help people particularly in West Africa.
We have already heard some of the numbers tonight, but I will underline them, because they are worth repeating. According to the World Health Organization, over 4,200 cases of Ebola have been recorded. We know the countries are Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Senegal, and Guinea. More than 2,200 people have died in a very short window. That is why this is so very important.
I have to give credit to those in civil society, in particular, Médecins Sans Frontières, who called this crisis to the world's attention. I guess I have to say that, sadly, not all of us were paying attention. However, I have to give credit to these people, because they put their lives on the line. They have done splendid work.
There is a prediction by the World Health Organization that we are talking about up to 20,000 people being infected over the next three months. The proliferation of this disease is massive and clearly needs all hands on deck to do everything we can to contain and stop it.
Further, if the virus does not mutate into an even more dangerous virus, which we hope it does not, because we know what would happen then, and if the international community can work together, we have a chance to contain it and make sure that fewer people will be infected. Clearly, more people will be infected because of the nature of this virus, but if we make sure that we do everything we can to isolate it and help those countries that need the help, then we have a good chance of containing it.
There is an important point that we have talked about in the House many times. We talked about this when we were dealing with the issue of the Central African Republic and the Sahel region. These are countries that cannot afford to respond in the way Canada and other countries can. This is why it is so very important, absolutely critical, that we do everything we can to help support the countries I mentioned. In particular, the countries are already stressed when it comes to providing basic health care, so when there is a crisis like this, we have to do everything we can.
Liberia particularly is severely challenged in controlling the spread of disease. Medical supplies are desperately low, and more and more health workers and doctors are themselves contracting the disease. I do not have to tell members that when we have the people on the front lines infected with the virus, clearly there is a capacity problem and an inability to respond appropriately.
According to the director of the World Health Organization, Margaret Chan, there is not a single hospital bed available in Liberia, not one, because they are all taken by infected individuals. Clearly, there is a capacity problem there that can be dealt with.
Facilities are at full capacity, and all of the resources are presently exhausted, both the human resources and the basic materials they use to respond to health care crises.
This cascades into something else. When the front-line workers and capacity are taken up, it is not just a health issue but a security crisis as well. This is reflected in terms of governance, and we have talked a bit about that tonight. As well, there is transportation. How do they get people who are infected to the appropriate health care facilities? If the health care facilities are not there, what do they do? That is why we have been talking about a DART and the other models we have, and there are others around the world we should be talking to our allies about. Hopefully the Security Council will focus on what each member state can do to help out in a coordinated fashion. It is not just a health care crisis; it is a crisis around security, ultimately.
The way the disease is spread is spontaneous. It challenges the kind of global infrastructure we have. When there are countries that can least afford to respond on the front lines, it is obvious that we must do everything we can to help out, such as reinforcing the infrastructure they have, building more capacity, and providing human resources and infrastructure, such as beds. In a way, it is similar to what we will be talking about tomorrow, which is the refugee crisis. When I was in northern Iraq, they asked that we build refugee camps. In this case, it is to build hospitals and provide the services. They have that similarity. It needs a global response, and Canada has to do its part. I think that is what we are hearing from the government tonight. I was glad to hear of the $2 million. Clearly we will have to evaluate things and see if we can provide more.
Global transportation networks are being turned into vectors for spreading diseases. That is why people are quite rightly concerned. The way people travel and move around now, diseases can spread very quickly to more countries and continents. As the disease spreads internationally and encounters new populations, it is increasingly critical to understand the mutations and to monitor what is happening.
As domestic security and transportation networks become less stable because those populations, countries, and continents are affected, governments face real difficulties meeting the broader needs of their people. When a certain region and area becomes paralyzed, everything comes to a halt. They are putting all of their resources into responding to the crisis. Widespread panic sets in, which undermines dealing with it in a calm way, which causes what we have already seen, which is social unrest. This is very sensitive, and we must be smart in how we respond.
In requesting increased international support, the Liberian president said that the epidemic “threatens civil order”.
Dr. Michael Osterholm of the University of Minnesota said, “the Ebola epidemic in West Africa has the potential to alter history as much as any plague has ever done”, so on this note, Canada must help.
I did not know this before doing the work on this tonight, but Malaysia produces most of the world's rubber gloves and has recently committed 20 million pairs for medical use. Canada should use its expertise to show leadership to help.
In closing, not only should we have a DART, we should also provide the other needs that have been asked for, and that is the experts we have, the medical professionals, and particularly experts in public health. If we are to help deal with this crisis, all hands have to be on deck, and clearly Canada has a role to play.
