House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2025, with 42% of the vote.
COVID-19 Vaccine January 26th, 2021
Madam Speaker, I understand the meaning of my colleague's question. At the same time, it should be noted that a report was drafted, and my former colleague, Tony Clement, gave us some advice on it. We can criticize every year, every criticism, but at some point we just want to get out of this. The advice we were given at the start was to screen passengers at the airport. That was the foundation. When we get meaningless answers, it is hard to stay calm.
COVID-19 Vaccine January 26th, 2021
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question.
As I mentioned in my speech, we can see a list of all the agreements the U.S. government has signed with the various companies. It is quite clear. We can really see everything that is planned and understand why 6% of the American population has already been vaccinated. Quebeckers can get vaccinated in Florida because the United States was able to get its act together.
On our side, we have only half the information. The Prime Minister comes out of his cottage to say things that are not clear. It is never clear. Consistency and transparency are the key words here.
COVID-19 Vaccine January 26th, 2021
Thank you, Madam Speaker.
The first mistake was the agreement with CanSino, which the Chinese Communist regime did not honour. Canada fell behind after that. We have talked about this since the start, but every time we reminded the government that we are several weeks behind our international partners, they laughed at us instead of saying it was true and trying to work together. The Liberal government refused to collaborate every step of the way.
My time is almost up, and the sound is bad, so I will wrap up my speech. As the Conservative Party critic, formerly for public safety and now for procurement, I want to work with the government to help Canadians get through this as quickly as possible.
We all want to defeat this damned COVID-19 pandemic, which is taking a toll on the Canadian economy and Canadians' health. The only way to do that is with transparency and consistency. That is all we are asking. I am pretty sure that all my opposition colleagues agree with me.
COVID-19 Vaccine January 26th, 2021
Madam Speaker, I was talking about consistency and transparency.
The problem with the vaccines is that there is a lack of transparency. I have heard my Liberal colleagues say that they cannot disclose what is in the agreements. How do they explain that the Americans have disclosed this information? I have here eight pages of information from the U.S. Department of Health. These documents contain the agreements signed with assorted companies since March 2020. For example, the documents indicate that Pfizer was paid $1.9 billion and that the first 100 million doses must be given to American citizens and distributed directly by Pfizer. I have eight pages of similar kinds of information. Why can the Americans disclose the amounts paid and the quantity of vaccines in the contracts but we remain in the dark here in Canada?
I heard my Bloc Québécois colleagues talking about this earlier. This is what bothers us the most. If the government wants to take a team Canada approach, it needs to be transparent. Were party critics invited to a briefing? Were they asked to collaborate and were they given information? No. No one did that. It is quite insulting to be attacked like this.
I have heard members talking about the situation in New Zealand. They are wondering why there is no vaccination campaign happening there. It is important to understand that New Zealand is a shining example of border control, which explains why there are nearly no cases of COVID-19 there. It is therefore less urgent to vaccinate people. The borders are very well controlled, there are very few cases of COVID-19 and even the economy is doing well. The same is true in Australia. These countries do not have the same problem that we do.
As I was saying, the government's lack of transparency is a major problem.
Since we are talking about vaccines, the number one problem is the agreement that was signed in May 2020 with the Chinese Communist regime and CanSino Biologics. There was another article about that again this morning. Canadian patents, Canadian intellectual property, our knowledge, everything was transferred to CanSino Biologics. What did that company do? It left the containers of manufacturing equipment on the dock in China and then said to forget about Canada. We gave that company all of our information and knowledge and it said that it was not going to do anything for us. That is what slowed the Canadian government down. While other countries were moving forward with Pfizer, Moderna and other companies, we were lagging behind because the government put its trust in the Chinese Communist regime.
Madam Speaker, are you signalling to me that I have one minute left?
COVID-19 Vaccine January 26th, 2021
As I was saying, Madam Speaker, since the start of the pandemic, we have been working to bring forward solutions and proposals in order to help, but instead the government dismissed them out of hand. Therefore, it is difficult for us to accept—
COVID-19 Vaccine January 26th, 2021
Madam Speaker, I want to mention that I will be sharing my time with the member for Foothills.
Today's debate has to do with vaccines and how hard it is to get vaccines, but I want to take this opportunity to say the following.
This evening, I heard many of my Liberal colleagues talk about a lack of co-operation on the part of the opposition parties, particularly the Conservative Party. I would like to remind everyone that, exactly one year ago today, when the virus first appeared, it was the Conservative Party that called for an emergency meeting of the Standing Committee on Health to talk about the virus. As the shadow minister for public safety, I personally attended the committee meeting to ask questions about what was happening with our borders. At that time, on January 30, 2020, I was told that the government was beginning to look into that. From the start, we have taken a collaborative approach.
What we found worrisome was that the government, the minister of health at the time and the Prime Minister were somewhat in denial. They said that this was not dangerous, that there was no need to worry and that Canadians did not need protection or masks. They said that the virus was not transmissible. From the start, the government was in denial, which worried us.
Then we realized that the easiest and fastest way to stop the virus in Canada was to control our borders, so that is what we called for. I said that the border was our first line of defence. The government did nothing. It said it was watching this closely and that border service officers were providing information to international arrivals. We said that much tougher measures were needed. Sometimes we were told that Canada is a big country and the territory is huge. I am trying to understand, but the fact is that there are three major international airports: Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. If we direct our flights to those airports, we are talking about three locations. Even though the country is 10 million square kilometres, we can still control three airports. That is no worse than a smaller country with the same number of airports.
What bothers us is the government's very weak and listless response. If we had worked together as team Canada, if the government had agreed that what the Conservatives were saying made sense and we could have agreed on how to respond, then we could have easily worked together.
It is easy to say that the opposition parties do not want to co-operate, but we are taking concrete action to try to work together. It is not working. At some point, we have to come to an agreement.
Over the past year, the key word, as far as I am concerned, has been “consistency”, and this applies at every level, whether we are talking about the border, vaccines or even economic programs like the CERB. When it comes to matters involving the government, “consistency” will be the key word for me in 2020 and early 2021.
We are doing what we can to help. Even when discussing the economic agenda, we brought forward solutions whenever we saw a problem. Just because we are an opposition party does not make us stupid. We are still experienced people. We already had lives before becoming MPs. We brought forward amendments, and they were rejected out of hand. Worse than that, they publicly said that the Conservatives do not want to help Canadians...
COVID-19 Vaccine January 26th, 2021
Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask my colleague whether she has heard anything recently about what happened to the investment that was made in Montreal's Institut national de la recherche scientifique last August. The former minister of innovation, science and industry proudly made a wonderful announcement about how we could produce 250,000 vaccines a month in Canada. Has the member heard anything about that?
Health January 26th, 2021
Mr. Speaker, from the beginning, we have not been able to believe what this government is telling us. The information we get is always different.
My question is for the Prime Minister. Has he, himself, picked up the phone to call the President of the European Commission to get answers, yes or no?
Health January 26th, 2021
Mr. Speaker, this morning, we learned in the media that the European Union has threatened to block exports of coronavirus vaccines to countries outside the EU, including Canada, after AstraZeneca announced a significant reduction in the doses promised to member countries.
Can the Prime Minister confirm that he picked up the phone this morning to call the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to make sure that planned vaccine deliveries to Canada will not be delayed?
François Dupéré January 26th, 2021
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honour the life of Corporal François Dupéré, a veteran of the Royal 22nd Regiment who is a model of courage. After miraculously surviving a suicide bombing in Afghanistan, Corporal Dupéré showed exemplary resilience by continuing to live his life with the same vim and vigour.
He paid a heavy price for his decision to step up and face our enemies in Afghanistan. He lost one eye, one lung and the use of one hand. He showed great resilience after returning home to Canada, and continued to enjoy life despite the many scars he carried with him.
Our brothers in arms described him as a man larger than life. He was involved in providing support to other military families. He was a man of honour and courage, and an exemplary father, according to his friends. That is why I can say that Corporal Dupéré is a brother to us all.
I rise virtually in the House of Commons to salute Corporal Dupéré. May he rest in peace.