Richard Martel

[Health, February 1st, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, the government keeps singing the same tune. It keeps telling us everything is fine. The fact is that Moderna announced on Friday that it would be delivering fewer doses than planned. The European Union is going to restrict exports. Canada's vaccination deployment rate compared to other countries is declining rapidly. Seniors are waiting. Front-line workers are waiting. Vulnerable people are waiting. They are the ones paying the price.

When will the government supply the provinces with the doses they need to stay on track?

[Health, February 1st, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, Canada has now lost over 20,000 lives to COVID-19, but it is still in reaction mode. The border plan has been weak from the start. The provinces have no information about vaccination, and there has been no progress. Quebec is ready to vaccinate 250,000 people a week. Last week, we got zero doses, and we are getting very few this week.

How will Canada catch up and vaccinate the majority of Canadians by September?

[Health, January 29th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, 60 million doses, two doses per Canadian, is what is needed to meet the target set by the government. That means two million doses a week. We know that we are not receiving any doses this week and very few next week.

How does the Prime Minister plan to catch up on this unacceptable delay?

[Health, January 29th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, there is no point in telling us over and over again that Canada bought the most doses, when the government cannot get its hands on them.

We need 60 million doses in order to vaccinate all Canadians by the end of September. We are now ranked 20th for vaccine doses administered, and we are falling further and further behind every week. The contracts were poorly negotiated, and this is endangering people's lives.

What will it take for the government to wake up?

[Health, January 29th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, today we learned that the European Union is going to require vaccine manufacturers to obtain authorization before exporting those vaccines. That is very bad news for Canada, which is already behind schedule. Quebec is ready to administer 250,000 doses per week.

How many Quebeckers will be deprived of the vaccine because of this decision?

[Health, January 27th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister keeps saying that we have a vaccine portfolio. What good is a portfolio if we cannot get the vaccines? There is no consistency and no transparency, which is causing chaos. The truth is that he did a bad job negotiating the contracts. The provinces have to make decisions with what little information they have.

Will the Prime Minister be transparent and make the contracts public?

[Health, January 27th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, the provinces had to speed up vaccinations under pressure from the federal government, which had promised that vaccines would arrive in Canada regularly every week. This week, however, Pfizer is not sending us any vaccines. Next week, we will get a very small amount. Quebec is ready and able to administer 250,000 doses per week. Canadians and Quebeckers are tired of being taken for fools.

Where are the vaccines that were promised?

[COVID-19 Emergency Response, January 26th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, this is typical of this government. It asks us to push bills through quickly without letting us do our jobs. We often have to re-examine bills, when we could have just studied them properly to begin with.

It is a new year. Will the government resolve to do things properly and allow debate on this bill so that vacationers do not get $1,000?

[COVID-19 Emergency Response, January 26th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Liberals unsuccessfully sought the unanimous consent of the House to pass a bill that would fix the mistakes in their rushed legislation that gave $1,000 to non-essential travellers for their quarantine. The House obviously decided it was best to study and debate the bill properly.

I would like to know why the government has not yet introduced the bill.

[Health, December 9th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, in his latest economic update, the Prime Minister threw the provinces a bone and announced $1 billion for long-term care homes. That $1 billion has a whole bunch of unacceptable strings attached. It is outright federal interference. The provinces are capable of administering their money themselves.

Has the Prime Minister lost faith in the provinces? Will he commit to stable, predictable, unconditional funding?