After days of talks between the government and opposition parties about the contents of the bill and more broadly how the House of Commons functions during a crisis, an agreement was struck late Friday night to grant the minority Liberals and the opposition parties to make changes to the bill.
The House of Commons began its emergency Saturday sitting at 12:15 p.m. EST, where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivered his daily address, which until today has been occurring from his driveway.
During his address, Trudeau called COVID-19 the greatest challenge of a generation and drew parallels to past wartime efforts of parliamentarians, his grandfather included.
“But Mr. Speaker , this is not a war. That doesn't make this fight any less destructive, any less dangerous. But there is no front line marked with barbed wire, no soldiers to be deployed across the ocean, no enemy combatants to defeat. Instead, the front line is everywhere: in our homes, in our hospitals and care centers, in our grocery stores and pharmacies, at our truck stops and gas stations. And the people who work in these places are our modern-day heroes,” Trudeau said.
“As Canada confronts this crisis, we are all called to serve. To fight for and alongside each of our fellow citizens, to fight for someone's mother, someone's grandfather, someone's neighbor… Without reservation, without pause, we must fight for every inch of ground against this disease. We must be there for each other as we spare no effort to safeguard our collective future,” the prime minister said.
The leaders of the other parties then responded to Trudeau’s address, and the House has now entered what’s called a “committee of the whole,” where the bill will be debated and fast-tracked through all legislative stages.
During his response, Outgoing Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said that the spending measures being taken right now—which will receive additional scrutiny from the Auditor General of Canada—are projected to result in a more than $184-billion deficit in 2020-21 and so years of fiscal restraint will be needed going forward.
“Why did the government wait to so long to impose travel restrictions? Why were travellers not originally screened? Why do we have a critical shortage of medical supplies? … Why are other countries ahead of us when it comes to testing and tracing? These are some of the questions that Canadians have and they deserve answers,” Scheer said.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh used his address to draw attention to the segments of the population that have been impacted by the economic downturn that the public health measures in place have caused, but have fallen through the cracks.
“In the last month our world has changed dramatically,” he said, citing the more than one million jobs lost in March, and vowing to continue to push for further aid measures.
Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet said his thoughts were with all those across his province who are mourning the loss of a loved one, and the essential workers who are working long hours in uncertain conditions.
He said the legislation presented Saturday is an indication that sometimes more government intervention in Canadians’ lives can be a good thing.
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May spoke positively of the government’s openness to taking opposition MPs’ suggestions for improvements to their expansive plans to date and moreover the “social solidarity” she is seeing in the face of this crisis.
“I hope that can be a lasting lesson,” she said.
--with files from CTV News--