Health  I understand how frustrated Canadians are. I count myself among them. However, we need to stay focused on keeping Canadians safe and that includes some restrictions. I will point out that most of those public health restrictions are provincial in nature.

Health committee  Thank you. As a follow-up to that question, if you could put your finger on or isolate one major gap or one major failing that unfortunately cost Canadian lives, where would that gap be? I know it's far more complex than just one issue, but what is a major one that we could address?

Health  Madam Speaker, ever since the beginning of the pandemic, Canadians have all wanted to know when this will be over and when we can go back to the way things were before. I count myself among them. Every step of the way, we have had to adjust measures. We have developed new proposals and introduced novel programs to help keep Canadians safe and to ensure that Canadians know what is going on in a timely manner.

Health  Madam Speaker, our top priority from the very beginning of this pandemic has always been keeping Canadians healthy and safe while upholding the privacy standards that Canadians expect. Over the course of the pandemic, the Public Health Agency of Canada has used de-identifed and aggregated data to perform and inform our government's response to COVID-19, and to transparently provide Canadians with information on the pandemic.

Health  Madam Speaker, ever since the beginning of the pandemic, all Canadians have wanted to know when it will be over and when we can go back to the way things were. I count myself among them. I am eager to get back to normal as well. The reality is that we will continue to do what is right for Canadians and keep people safe throughout the pandemic.

Health  Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his question. Canadians have worked hard to stop the spread of COVID‑19, but we cannot stop now. We all have an important role to play in stopping the spread of COVID‑19. We need to work together to get through this crisis.

Health  Madam Speaker, I agree with the member that the blockades are causing harm in our communities, so I would ask him to ask all of his colleagues on the other side to ensure we are all encouraging people to go home. As we have seen recently, the member for Carleton says he is proud of the trucker convoy.

Health  We also know Canadians want to finish this fight against COVID-19, and I would ask the member to encourage his community to continue to get vaccinated. I know there is a very high uptake in his community—

Economic and Fiscal Update Implementation Act, 2021  Mr. Speaker, I followed my colleague's speech with interest. I have some questions for him. I heard him repeatedly say that we should spend less and do more. I also heard him say we should spend more, and in other cases do less. It was a meandering speech, one that did not really settle on any solutions except to urge the government to do more.

Health committee  Canada is one of the only countries in the world to never have fallen into the bottom half of any metric, according to numerous publications. As we know, among the newest tools in the tool box to fight COVID-19 are antivirals, and this week was a good week for an announcement regarding antivirals that will reduce the strain on our medical system and our health care system, and particularly ICUs.

Health committee  Thank you. I don't want to belabour this at all. I just think it's important to note that while we are in favour of a children's health study, seemingly, and in favour of voting on this as soon as possible, it doesn't remove the possibility that we have other studies to discuss, and then, collectively, we have to rank those as priorities and determine which one goes first.

Health  Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for the question. The COVID‑19 pandemic continues to highlight the challenges that all Canadians face with respect to care, including shortfalls in infection prevention and control equipment. We have been there to support the provinces and territories from the beginning of the COVID‑19 pandemic, and we will continue to work with the provinces and territories to fight COVID‑19 together.

Sport  Nothing brings our country together quite like the Olympics, and I think we could all use something to cheer for right now. Physical activity and recreation are essential for our communities and for our collective mental and physical health. That is why I am so proud that this week we announced our new initiative, called “community sport for all”.

Health committee  We've also signed an agreement with Pfizer to procure an initial quantity of a million treatment courses of the oral antiviral from that company. We are waiting for authorization from Health Canada, which is forthcoming. Vaccination continues to be the absolute most central tool we have in fighting COVID-19, and it will provide Canadians with additional treatments as we're going forward—in addition to but not instead of vaccines, I would like to say.

Health committee  I would like to say that, in the spirit of where we are currently in Canada and around the world, in the state of a global health emergency, what an extraordinary obligation we all have to work together to improve the situation in Canada and get the answers that Canadians deserve, ultimately, in a spirit of collaboration.