House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2015, with 43% of the vote.
Health November 3rd, 2009
Mr. Speaker, once again, 6 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine have already been sent to the provinces and territories. That is now the reality.
The hon. member has a question to ask about the contract. It was signed in 2001. Maybe he should ask members of that government.
Taxation November 3rd, 2009
Mr. Speaker, the fact that the hon. member fails to understand consistently is that if we overtax, we lose jobs, we lose opportunity, we lose economic development. We have realized that. That is why we are proud to be a low tax jurisdiction while still making sure that the services Canadians demand from the federal government are taking place. We have two people to thank for this, the Prime Minister and our Minister of Finance.
Health November 3rd, 2009
Mr. Speaker, we are actually focused on the results on the ground. The results on the ground are that there have been six million doses thus far that have been allocated to the provinces and territories, that have been delivered to the provinces and territories thus far. That is enough for all of the priority groups in and of itself. It is more per capita than any other nation that is distributing the vaccine. The vaccine is being distributed as quickly as it is being produced.
There will be a time and a place for his discussion. It is not now. Our responsibility is to help our public health officials deal with this situation and that is what we are doing.
Health November 3rd, 2009
In fact, Mr. Speaker, we operate with the best advice in the country from public health officials from across the country and from the Public Health Agency of Canada.
That is why we in a very important way and in a controlled way made sure the vaccine was safe for Canadians, made sure it was tested, made sure it was allocated according to a plan. That is what we have done. We have worked with the provinces and territories and the best public health officials in the country to make sure it was the right thing to do.
If the hon. member has a problem with that, she should say so, but if she does, she is politicizing the issues.
Health November 3rd, 2009
Mr. Speaker, we do have a pandemic response. As the Minister of Health, I was pleased to revise the pandemic response program that was done by previous governments to make sure that it was the most modern, most up to date and most consistent with the World Health Organization as well as our continental pandemic planning.
That is what has been done by this government in anticipation of any pandemic. We are proud of that record, but right now we are focused on working with public health officials and provincial and territorial authorities to do the right thing for Canadians, and that is exactly what we are doing.
Health November 3rd, 2009
Mr. Speaker, the reality is that 6 million doses of vaccine have been sent to the provinces and territories. Now, there are enough doses for all the priority groups. We have more doses of the vaccine per capita in Canada than in any other country in the world.
We are working with our provincial and territorial counterparts. We are working with the public health officials. I hope that the hon. member is not trying to politicize the issue, because that would surely be beneath him.
Health November 3rd, 2009
Mr. Speaker, in fact I can use the hon. member's home province as an example. Some 2.2 million doses have been distributed already in the province of Ontario. In fact, that is the case per capita with the rest of the provinces as well.
The fact of the matter is that the vaccine is being produced. It is being distributed. As I said, over six million doses have been distributed to date. This is simply week one of the most massive immunization campaign in the history of this country. It is a campaign in which we are working with health officials across the country.
Health November 3rd, 2009
Mr. Speaker, let me dwell in the realm of facts. The fact of the matter is that six million doses of H1N1 vaccine have already been delivered to the provinces and territories. That is enough for all the priority groups that have been identified by public health officials.
We currently have more H1N1 vaccine per capita than any other country in the world. The vaccine is being distributed as quickly as it is being produced, and there will be sufficient H1N1 vaccine available in Canada for everyone who needs or wants to be immunized.
Those are the facts on the ground. In fact, we are working with provincial and territorial officials.
Industry October 29th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, I can say to the House that there was a meeting in May with representatives from that sector. We have an action plan to improve this situation. There is a lot of cooperation with this sector right now to address this and other issues.
We support this sector. It is a very important sector for Canada. Thanks to this government and to the policies of the Department of Finance and the Prime Minister, things are going well in this sector and other industrial sectors in Canada.
Health October 29th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, I have a simple proposition to the hon. member and to the rest of his caucus: work with us, work with public health officials who give their best advice to us day in and day out, work with the doctors, work with the nurses, work with the medical profession.
We are all in this together. Work with us.