The Failed Hotel Quarantine Program
Episode Stats
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Summary
Jamie Schmael and Michelle Rempel discuss the disastrous Hotel Quarantine Program implemented by the federal government in response to the outbreak of the Ebola virus in the early days of the pandemic in China in late 2011 and early 2012.
Transcript
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hello and welcome once again to the blueprints this is canada's conservative podcast i'm your
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host jamie schmael member of parliament for halliburton for the lakes brock with a great
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show lined up for you we are going to talk about the disastrous hotel quarantine program implemented
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by the federal government but first because it's such great content we're going to ask that you'd
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like comment subscribe share this program help us push back against the ever-moving liberal
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agenda of course if you can't watch it all right this second you can download it later on listen
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to it on platforms like cast box itunes google play spotify you name it it is out there and with
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new content every single tuesday at 1 30 p.m eastern time i welcome a good friend of the show welcome
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her back michelle rempel garner the member of parliament for calgary nose hill also the shadow
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minister for health thank you once again for coming on thanks for having me jamie it's always a pleasure
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so this hotel quarantine program this is something that we have called for at the beginning saying
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this is going to be problematic right from the start because the rules weren't really implemented
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very well anyway through travelers were getting by they weren't quarantining they were walking across
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the border oh my goodness then we had allegations of sexual assault happening of some of the travelers
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maybe you can just start from the beginning give us a quick summary of what has happened what
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you've dealt with and then we can go on to what the expert panel is reporting and what a history it's
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been i think it's important to start at the beginning which is the start of the pandemic
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uh in late 2019 early 2020 when we started hearing reports of the spread of covid coming out of china
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at that point in time jamie you'll remember sitting in the house of commons where we were asking the
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federal government we should be closing the borders we should be you know certainly undertaking greater
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screening measures uh to prevent the virus from entering canada and you'll remember that the
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liberal health minister and the prime minister at that time both flat out said that border measures
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don't work and implied that they were racist as opposed to looking at what the rest of the world was
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doing so we lost those precious few months at the front end of the pandemic the virus entered canada
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and then the liberals were slow ever since then to deal with border control measures that could have
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helped stop the spread of the variant now when they realized that it was politically unpopular to allow
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this virus into canada through weak border control measures like i mean the toothpaste was already out of
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the tube right they put in place the hotel quarantine program um jamie if you watched me at health
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committee i had federal officials in front of the committee and i asked them point blank what data
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did you use to show that the hotel quarantine program was more effective at stopping the spread
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of covid than at home quarantine combined with rapid testing crickets nothing they don't have data on
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this uh then as you rightly pointed out there were reports of sexual assault clearly the government
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didn't think about this from you know the perspective of women traveling alone uh then there since then
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there's been reports of the spread of covid at these quarantine hotels uh we have been calling for this
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ridiculous policy to be scrapped for a long period of time uh they have not done that uh we've continued
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these calls and you know i'll let you have the big news for listeners today but there there are experts
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now who are agreeing with what we've been saying all along well you saw this in committee here they're
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basically saying the public health agency of canada is saying between february 22nd and may 4th nearly
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88 000 international arrivals happened and many of those were not um many of those people coming in from
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international arrivals were not actually quarantining in the hotels they basically walked right through
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because the rules were not uniform and it's not being implemented properly it was just a buffet of
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errors all the way through absolutely i'll just be very blunt and tell you what i think happened here
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uh you know as canadian citizens we do have the right to mobility and there are people who have had to
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travel during the pandemic rather than i'm sure that they considered exit permits and other things
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because they're the liberal government and they look at things like that i would not be shocked if they
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did that but as opposed to you know getting this these border control measures done at the front end of the
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pandemic they let the virus in and then they put the quarantine hotel program in place to deter travel
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uh to deter particularly middle class canadians who don't have the means to pay this much amount of
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money upon a return arrival in canada uh to stop people from traveling and really what that did
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was it deterred people who had legitimate means to travel like uh end of life care for uh people abroad
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or dealing with funerals i'm sure you had constituents call your office in this situation i think we all did
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uh and that's just abysmal i mean this was a failed policy to cover a failed policy and it's time that
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they end it and again now we have experts saying yeah yeah it should be ended so let's just build on
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that so last week the federal government's covet 19 i'll get this right here testing and screening
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expert advisory panel called for the abolishment of that controversial hotel quarantine plan that as you
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mentioned requires for travelers to stay three days in an approved hotel as they await the results of
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their test now has the health minister actually updated the the protocols to follow that and follow
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those recommendations or are we still doing the same old thing well the short answer is nope
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i just to re-emphasize what you just said for listeners today so this is a panel of experts
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medical experts who were appointed by the federal government to give advice on federal restrictions
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like the border and they i heard i've sort of heard through the grapevine that they've had this
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that they submitted this report in these recommendations weeks ago and that the government
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actually extended the hotel quarantine program while having this report in their head i don't
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have sort of formal proof of that but that's sort of the the gossip in the tourism industry as well
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as when you look at the timing of when the last date that that panel met and then when the report was
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actually put forward so it's just you know they're not the liberal government and padihaiju is not
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making decisions based on science there are like the the united kingdom the united states
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other countries around the world the european union they're all saying here's what you can do
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given your vaccine vaccine status and of course what this panel is recommending because there'll
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be people are saying like well what i don't have a vaccine yet what about me they've recommended four
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categories of restrictions related to vaccination status so unvaccinated one dose both doses and or
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recovered from covid and in any of those scenarios what they're saying is that the system that's in
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place right now is far too prescriptive um that we should be looking at ways to combine rapid testing
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with at-home quarantine uh to ensure that the spread of covid is managed and and that the borders are
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protected but at the same time understanding that at some point life has to get back to normal
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and we need a clear plan for this so those recommendations the the liberal government
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has to decide what they want to do with it but we should be making based decisions based on science
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not based on politics um or incompetence which is what has been the hallmark of the liberal government
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to date and you even asked these questions of the finance minister a few days ago you're you're
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asking her when these protocols will be updated to reflect the new reality the science that is coming out
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that is showing that other countries are easing restrictions on those that are fully vaccinated
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for one but we aren't seeing that same same thing happening in canada and not only that are we as as a
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country updating our regulations to deal with those that are fully vaccinated that have had it done
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in a country say the united states are we recognizing that type of vaccine um i guess vaccination status
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yeah the status i guess that's yeah no i've had i'm sure you've had people call your office too
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many people asking hey i got my vaccine in the u.s or i had one dose of vaccine in the u.s
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one dose of vaccine here in canada how can i get proof of vaccination i'd like to have that proof of
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vaccination and i've asked the federal government this many times like what system are you putting in
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place so that people who want to have that proof of vaccination that they can easily get that and the
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answer is i don't know and you know that's just unconscionable thinking about how much money the
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federal government has wasted on like things like the weed charity scandal right surely a developed
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country like canada g7 country should be able to provide for people who want it proof of vaccine
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status if they've received vaccines in other jurisdictions um there are many canadian snowbirds who are in
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this boat um and frankly there's many canadians who have been part of provincial programs like
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manitoba has has put in place with um state governments in the u.s for truck drivers and teachers
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same with uh alberta and montana uh it's just it's a gong show jamie every day i feel like i'm beating
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my head against a brick wall with these people they're working in a bubble they're not thinking about
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the actual realities of this situation and they think they think that they're on top of it but
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they're living in a fantasy weirdo world where actual problems are not getting solved so you know
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thank you to you and the rest of our caucus too and our leader for just like continually pushing
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them on these issues because we deserve answers for them right yeah especially when the government
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had three really main things to look after right vaccines borders and rapid tests and how do you
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think they did on all three of those and we can tell that because we look at where other countries
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are in their reopening plans absolutely it's like fail fail fail and look i think that i don't
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understand why wait i'll back up i know why the federal government isn't talking about metrics
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for reopening within their jurisdiction i know why they're not doing that and that's because we're
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so far behind getting the second dose of vaccine right now because there aren't sort of those perks
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associated with double vaccination status right i think that a lot of people are like okay well i'll
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wait it's no big deal but the minute that the federal government starts talking about uh being able
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to to travel without quarantine as this report recommends people are going to say well hello where's my
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second dose and i think that that that that lack of supply they've managed that so badly that's just
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one of the implications of the lack of supply as is this vaccine mix and match issue that we're hearing
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about today as is so many other things and you know the provincial governments can't deliver supply
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they don't have from the federal government so yes they've completely you know messed up on this but
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they need to be giving canadians some hope they need to be giving people on the travel and tourism
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industries and so frankly frontline workers in the medical system too that show that we have a system
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at the border uh that allows for travel while safely preventing the spread of covet 19 that also
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reflects all categories of vaccination status and is based on science you just brought up something
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really important here and i know we have to let you go but the the the vaccine time period which was
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done at testing i think pfizer is 21 days moderna 28 days if memory serves is the timeline between the
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first and second shot verified during the testing phase of the of the manufacturers now you just
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mentioned it i i think most people are realizing it that the increased interval between the first and
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second dose that that was because the government of canada had not secured enough vaccines to properly
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vaccinate their population within the prescripted time frame absolutely the only reason we have the
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dosing delay in canada is because we don't have enough supply and that's on the record from the
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national advisory committee on immunization at the health committee it's i asked point blank would you
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be giving this advice if we had adequate supply and the response that we got back was of course not
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so if you know trudeau had not put all of canada's prospects in this contract with this chinese
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company that massively failed us and had been negotiating with the leading vaccine candidates
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like pfizer moderna astrazeneca johnson and johnson at the start of the pandemic and have been looking at
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ramping up our own domestic manufacturing capacity we would not have been in this boat and i have to say
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for people listening the conservative party of canada and the effective opposition that we brought
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to their bungling of this process i think has is a big reason why we have vaccines in canada today at
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all we lit the fire and we didn't let up because it was the right thing to do and i think history will
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remember you know what an effective opposition did for our country during this period of time and i think
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a lot of our colleagues uh have to be given credit for that yeah i don't think i think that's very
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important to you very so many important points that the opposition did put their foot on the gas and put
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that pressure on the federal government and then when i remember back over christmas things started to
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slow down the media stopped paying attention the house wasn't sitting and so the government was
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kind of left to their their their own devices here and that's when they really failed they put all
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their eggs in the cancino basket nobody's worth it they just messed up so many times over and over
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again and then we finally had to put our foot back on the gas yeah and i just just to drive that point
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home i had pfizer canada in front of our committee they were officially testifying and they admitted
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on the record that the original contract that the liberals negotiated with them for doses didn't have
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any doses arriving in canada until the end of february and that the government had to go back at the end
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of november to renegotiate doses even those remember those few doses that they brought in for the photo op in
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december but we didn't have vaccines in january and february to any great extent uh the united states
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israel european union the united kingdom they did and i mean i was on my instagram feed last night
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i was watching grimes's feed and like there's this massive outdoor concert where people are living
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their best life in in arizona and it's i'm like oh that's what getting back to normal looked like
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but in a more you know serious context think about the lives that could have been saved in this third
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wave if trudeau had been able had focused taking this seriously and gotten us vaccines in january and
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february um or rapid tests or anything or therapeutics quicker it was just they there has to be an inquiry
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on this um and we have to make sure that this never happens again uh our leader has already um committed
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to that but we have we have to do that uh this is it's just insane that we're here again i don't know
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how you top that but we do have to let you go i always give the guests the last word michelle the
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floor is yours i we have to get out of this uh i know that a lot of canadians are feeling very
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frustrated and they should feel frustrated right now uh with many provinces now putting forward plans
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with benchmarks for reopening every canadian regardless of political stripe has to demand
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the same from the federal government for restrictions that are within the federal government's purview
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uh there's science there's better tools and better sustainable solutions and we need hope
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uh the federal government can't just be content to continue to say uh well we we don't have an end
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in sight we we can't tell you when life's going to get back to normal so uh this is what we're
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championing uh so you're championing jamie and i want to thank you for all the work you do
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and you know the louder canadians get the the easier it is for we are it is for us to magnify
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and amplify their voices so this is going to be a big push for us over the next few weeks
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michelle rempel garner the member of parliament for calgary nose hill also the shadow minister for health
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we thank you so much for joining us today your content has been amazing and because it has been
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amazing she's always welcome back but we ask you to like comment subscribe share this program help us
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