Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise to speak to this bill that was introduced by a Liberal member.

It must be said that there has been a lot of water under the bridge since the bill was introduced in 2022, when it was clear that we needed to correct past mistakes and take the time to look at what had been done, what was done well and what was done poorly.

The Bloc Québécois's position was clear from the start. We called for a public, independent inquiry into the COVID‑19 pandemic in order to learn from our mistakes. Our position has not changed. That is why we have been opposed to this bill right from the start. I will reiterate why.

First, the bill seeks to create the pandemic prevention and preparedness act, which is essentially made up of three parts.

First, the bill establishes an advisory committee to review the response to the COVID‑19 pandemic, which is obviously very commendable. However, here again, we believe that an independent public inquiry would be a much better way of looking into this. What is more, an amendment was introduced that was negotiated among the parties. However, in the end, the government members and the members of the Conservative Party voted against the motion. That shows a lack of transparency on the part of the government and a certain amount of hypocrisy on the part of the Conservative Party, since the Conservatives had also been calling for an independent public inquiry.

The second part of this bill has to do with establishing a prevention plan. The third has to do with the appointment of a federal coordinator.

We have similar concerns regarding both of those parts. We are worried that the federal government will overstep its jurisdictions. As is the case with most private members' bills that are introduced here, we must ensure that the federal government focuses on its own prerogatives.

Obviously, the federal government had a very large role to play in the pandemic, but there were also roles that Quebec and the provinces had to play as well, because health comes under their jurisdiction.

There are also things that already exist, tools and guides available to the federal government, such as the document entitled “Canadian Pandemic Influenza Preparedness: Planning Guidance for the Health Sector”. This guide was published in 2004 and is supposed to be updated as various pandemics arise. It was approved by the federal, provincial and territorial deputy ministers. This seems to be an important existing tool. There are reams of reports, plans and recommendations by the various federal departments that can equip the government to respond to this type of situation.

In the circumstances, however, I would reiterate that the best thing as far as we are concerned—and as far as much of the population was concerned when they called for this near the end of the pandemic when we were starting to get back on our feet—would be to hold an independent public inquiry.

Why? It is very simple. As certain members have recalled here this morning, it was pretty devastating. It is perhaps the first major event in modern times that we can recall. The pandemic left over 6.5 million dead around the world, including more than 45,000 in Canada. There were numerous failures on the part of the federal government, particularly in terms of quarantines, border management, the national emergency strategic stockpile and the Global Public Health Information Network. Certain other measures could also be called into question, such as vaccine passports for the entire federally regulated transportation system, vaccine mandates for federal employees and the denial of access to EI.

These questions are a bit more delicate. One can be for or against, but I think they should be examined in a non-partisan manner, hence the value of an independent inquiry.

Lastly, throughout the pandemic, agreements were signed with pharmaceutical companies to enhance Canada's vaccine production capacity. This also should be reviewed. We should know how this was done and which contracts were awarded to which companies so that we will be better prepared in the future.

According to the Constitution Act,1867, matters of quarantine are under federal jurisdiction. The federal government is responsible for quarantine issues. Everything else health related is under provincial jurisdiction, except, for example, health care for Indigenous Canadians, military hospitals and the approval of medications. In the case of COVID-19, the federal government was responsible for the quarantine system, and it failed dismally. I will get back to this later.

I mentioned the Global Public Health Intelligence Network. Most of us are familiar with it now. That may not have been the case prior to the pandemic. The network is an online early warning system that monitors media sources worldwide in nine languages in order to identify potential public health threats around the world. It identifies chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats to public health. In 2018, under the Liberals, the mandate of the global intelligence network was modified. In July 2020, thanks to an article in the Globe and Mail, we learned that the alerts had been stopped around 400 days before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was therefore this government that decided to stop the alerts that could have helped us prepare, but unfortunately did not.

The same applies to Canada's national emergency strategic stockpile, created in the 1950s during the Cold War. Its purpose is to store pharmaceutical products, supplies used by social services and during pandemics, medical equipment and supplies and so on. Since the Liberals came to power in 2015, they have neglected our emergency stockpile. Some personal protective equipment, such as N95 masks, were not only destroyed, but also not replaced. That had a considerable impact when the pandemic hit. They could have been more proactive. There is therefore a certain responsibility that lies with the federal government, a certain failure to take the necessary measures.

The same applies, as well, to border management and quarantine measures. As I said earlier, there was a point during the pandemic when the City of Montreal itself had to send staff members to the Montreal airport to ensure quarantine rules were being respected. During this time, the government was waiting and pondering the concept of borders, wondering whether that was acceptable in a postnational state, rather than protecting Canadians. The people and government of Quebec said that borders needed to be closed to non-essential travel, since that would have an impact on our constituents' health and safety. The federal government took its time.

The Auditor General produced a few reports with recommendations and harshly criticized the federal government for the way it handled quarantines. In her 2021 report, she said that the federal government was unable to tell whether 37% of people had complied with their quarantine orders or not. Fully 30% of test results were missing at the border. The federal government had no automated system to track whether people who had to quarantine in a hotel had done so or not. Priority follow-up was not provided for 59% of people who needed it, despite the referrals of such travellers to law enforcement. In addition, 14% of people who tested positive for COVID‑19 were not contacted by the Public Health Agency of Canada. The government really messed up in that respect.

There were clearly official languages concerns. Virtually every time a notification was sent out, it was in English, not French. People found it difficult to access services in French. The same thing happened with ArriveCAN. We have talked about it ad nauseam. It is clearly worth studying the whole issue of the use and creation of ArriveCAN, much like the issue of temporary workers and vaccine production capacity. In short, all this needs to be reviewed in an independent public inquiry. That is what we have been calling for all along.

Of course, this is unlikely to be the last time we will be faced with a pandemic, unfortunately. I think it is fair to say that it is likely to happen again in the next few years. The world and its ecosystem are changing, and I think the federal government has a duty to protect the safety of Canadians and our health. That is where the need for an independent public inquiry comes in.

Kristina Michaud

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