Health  Mr. Speaker, the hotels designated for mandatory quarantines for returning travellers are in a state of chaos. People are spending up to 28 hours on the phone to find a room where they can self-isolate, only to then find themselves crammed into lobbies with no physical distancing and no way to get a decent meal.

Health  Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister must take responsibility. His government failed every step of the way with the quarantines. He was unable to ban non-essential flights at Christmas or to impose hotel quarantines when they were needed, which was during the holidays. He was unable to set up a hotline or even to ensure that the people he is responsible for are safe and receiving services.

Public Safety  Mr. Speaker, there has been a lot of talk, and rightly so, about the failure of the mandatory quarantine hotline. It is also important to talk about the security gaps. When people arrive at the airport, they can drive away in their car without an escort. They can run errands, drop by their home and even say a quick hello to loved ones.

Health  Mr. Speaker, I would remind the member that the hotel quarantine system is a solution to a problem that was raised before Christmas. After two months of delay, the government did not plan for a list of essential travellers. It did not plan for a website to reserve rooms. It did not plan to set up a telephone line with sufficient lead time before the quarantines came into effect.

Health  Mr. Speaker, mandatory quarantines were supposed to make people think twice before travelling but, in the end, the best deterrent is the federal government’s incompetence, because it is incapable of setting up a quarantine hotline. It is the same story when people try to call the Canada Revenue Agency, or when they try to call Service Canada about problems with EI.

Health  Mr. Speaker, as we have been saying, the best way to avoid problems when coming home is not to travel in the first place. However, if the government is imposing a mandatory quarantine, it has to be able to provide services. Wait times for the government phone line are ridiculous.

Health  Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind the House that these measures were requested to prevent people from travelling during the Christmas holidays and bringing COVID-19 variants back to Quebec. It took two months to set up a comedy of errors for not only travellers, but hotels as well.

Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2020  Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his very relevant question. We cannot repeat it often enough: There is plenty of health care expertise in Quebec and the provinces. The federal government's job is easy: All it needs to do is to increase health transfer payments and pay us the amounts we are still waiting for.

Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2020  Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his question. As I said in my speech, a uniform approach rarely works, and we need programs adapted to regional realities. My region is a tourist region. As much as 2019 was a record year for the tourism industry, 2020 was probably the worst.

Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2020  Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his question and his kind words. As I said at the beginning of my speech, I think it is important to acknowledge the government whenever it does something right. However, there are a number of times when it got it wrong, and we need to acknowledge that, too.

Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2020  Madam Speaker, it is always a pleasure to speak in the House. As part of the discussion on the November 30 economic statement, I would like to provide some concrete examples of the impact the crisis is having on my riding, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, and the measures that need to be put in place to help the people and organizations back home.

Public Safety  Mr. Speaker, they are too cowardly to control handguns but too vain to let Quebec do it. If the Liberals do not want to help, they should at least try not to hinder. There is no way that Boisbriand, Sainte-Thérèse and Blainville can end up with three different firearms policies covering the same square kilometre.

Public Safety  Mr. Speaker, the government has no guts when it comes to gun control Not only is the government doing nothing to ban handguns, but it has also completely abdicated its responsibilities by asking the municipalities to act in its stead. There is no way that Quebec can end up with hundreds of different firearms policies because the federal government refuses to do its job.

Public Safety  Mr. Speaker, it is not a ban. It is a suggestion. People are still allowed to have assault rifles. The only thing that has changed is that now they are also allowed to sell those rifles to the government. Again, we are not talking about hunting rifles or harassing hunters, we are talking about military-style rifles like the ones that were used in mass shootings such as the one at Polytechnique.

Public Safety  Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has no courage whatsoever when it comes to assault weapons. As usual, he has completely abdicated his responsibilities by creating a voluntary buyback program, since that is what it really is: a voluntary program based on a voluntary ban on assault weapons.