The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - The Failed Hotel Quarantine Program

00:00:00.000 hello and welcome once again to the blueprints this is canada's conservative podcast i'm your

00:00:10.320 host jamie schmael member of parliament for halliburton for the lakes brock with a great

00:00:14.840 show lined up for you we are going to talk about the disastrous hotel quarantine program implemented

00:00:20.320 by the federal government but first because it's such great content we're going to ask that you'd

00:00:24.880 like comment subscribe share this program help us push back against the ever-moving liberal

00:00:29.940 agenda of course if you can't watch it all right this second you can download it later on listen

00:00:35.300 to it on platforms like cast box itunes google play spotify you name it it is out there and with

00:00:40.700 new content every single tuesday at 1 30 p.m eastern time i welcome a good friend of the show welcome

00:00:46.260 her back michelle rempel garner the member of parliament for calgary nose hill also the shadow

00:00:50.660 minister for health thank you once again for coming on thanks for having me jamie it's always a pleasure

00:00:55.680 so this hotel quarantine program this is something that we have called for at the beginning saying

00:01:00.880 this is going to be problematic right from the start because the rules weren't really implemented

00:01:06.640 very well anyway through travelers were getting by they weren't quarantining they were walking across

00:01:11.560 the border oh my goodness then we had allegations of sexual assault happening of some of the travelers

00:01:16.160 maybe you can just start from the beginning give us a quick summary of what has happened what

00:01:21.320 you've dealt with and then we can go on to what the expert panel is reporting and what a history it's

00:01:27.400 been i think it's important to start at the beginning which is the start of the pandemic

00:01:32.360 uh in late 2019 early 2020 when we started hearing reports of the spread of covid coming out of china

00:01:42.020 at that point in time jamie you'll remember sitting in the house of commons where we were asking the

00:01:48.120 federal government we should be closing the borders we should be you know certainly undertaking greater

00:01:53.440 screening measures uh to prevent the virus from entering canada and you'll remember that the

00:01:59.560 liberal health minister and the prime minister at that time both flat out said that border measures

00:02:03.840 don't work and implied that they were racist as opposed to looking at what the rest of the world was

00:02:11.240 doing so we lost those precious few months at the front end of the pandemic the virus entered canada

00:02:16.640 and then the liberals were slow ever since then to deal with border control measures that could have

00:02:23.240 helped stop the spread of the variant now when they realized that it was politically unpopular to allow

00:02:31.020 this virus into canada through weak border control measures like i mean the toothpaste was already out of

00:02:35.940 the tube right they put in place the hotel quarantine program um jamie if you watched me at health

00:02:43.980 committee i had federal officials in front of the committee and i asked them point blank what data

00:02:49.700 did you use to show that the hotel quarantine program was more effective at stopping the spread

00:02:57.580 of covid than at home quarantine combined with rapid testing crickets nothing they don't have data on

00:03:04.420 this uh then as you rightly pointed out there were reports of sexual assault clearly the government

00:03:10.840 didn't think about this from you know the perspective of women traveling alone uh then there since then 1.00

00:03:17.120 there's been reports of the spread of covid at these quarantine hotels uh we have been calling for this

00:03:24.220 ridiculous policy to be scrapped for a long period of time uh they have not done that uh we've continued

00:03:33.120 these calls and you know i'll let you have the big news for listeners today but there there are experts

00:03:39.300 now who are agreeing with what we've been saying all along well you saw this in committee here they're

00:03:46.320 basically saying the public health agency of canada is saying between february 22nd and may 4th nearly

00:03:53.280 88 000 international arrivals happened and many of those were not um many of those people coming in from

00:04:01.080 international arrivals were not actually quarantining in the hotels they basically walked right through

00:04:05.600 because the rules were not uniform and it's not being implemented properly it was just a buffet of

00:04:12.580 errors all the way through absolutely i'll just be very blunt and tell you what i think happened here

00:04:19.320 uh you know as canadian citizens we do have the right to mobility and there are people who have had to

00:04:27.060 travel during the pandemic rather than i'm sure that they considered exit permits and other things

00:04:34.880 because they're the liberal government and they look at things like that i would not be shocked if they

00:04:38.240 did that but as opposed to you know getting this these border control measures done at the front end of the

00:04:45.980 pandemic they let the virus in and then they put the quarantine hotel program in place to deter travel

00:04:51.960 uh to deter particularly middle class canadians who don't have the means to pay this much amount of

00:04:58.800 money upon a return arrival in canada uh to stop people from traveling and really what that did

00:05:04.300 was it deterred people who had legitimate means to travel like uh end of life care for uh people abroad

00:05:13.340 or dealing with funerals i'm sure you had constituents call your office in this situation i think we all did

00:05:18.980 uh and that's just abysmal i mean this was a failed policy to cover a failed policy and it's time that

00:05:26.900 they end it and again now we have experts saying yeah yeah it should be ended so let's just build on

00:05:34.520 that so last week the federal government's covet 19 i'll get this right here testing and screening

00:05:39.280 expert advisory panel called for the abolishment of that controversial hotel quarantine plan that as you

00:05:46.120 mentioned requires for travelers to stay three days in an approved hotel as they await the results of

00:05:52.460 their test now has the health minister actually updated the the protocols to follow that and follow

00:06:00.280 those recommendations or are we still doing the same old thing well the short answer is nope

00:06:05.580 i just to re-emphasize what you just said for listeners today so this is a panel of experts

00:06:12.460 medical experts who were appointed by the federal government to give advice on federal restrictions

00:06:19.620 like the border and they i heard i've sort of heard through the grapevine that they've had this

00:06:27.400 that they submitted this report in these recommendations weeks ago and that the government

00:06:32.420 actually extended the hotel quarantine program while having this report in their head i don't

00:06:38.180 have sort of formal proof of that but that's sort of the the gossip in the tourism industry as well

00:06:43.860 as when you look at the timing of when the last date that that panel met and then when the report was

00:06:49.700 actually put forward so it's just you know they're not the liberal government and padihaiju is not

00:06:56.580 making decisions based on science there are like the the united kingdom the united states

00:07:03.940 other countries around the world the european union they're all saying here's what you can do

00:07:10.280 given your vaccine vaccine status and of course what this panel is recommending because there'll

00:07:16.120 be people are saying like well what i don't have a vaccine yet what about me they've recommended four

00:07:21.360 categories of restrictions related to vaccination status so unvaccinated one dose both doses and or

00:07:30.340 recovered from covid and in any of those scenarios what they're saying is that the system that's in

00:07:38.400 place right now is far too prescriptive um that we should be looking at ways to combine rapid testing

00:07:45.920 with at-home quarantine uh to ensure that the spread of covid is managed and and that the borders are

00:07:54.280 protected but at the same time understanding that at some point life has to get back to normal

00:07:59.160 and we need a clear plan for this so those recommendations the the liberal government

00:08:04.220 has to decide what they want to do with it but we should be making based decisions based on science

00:08:09.840 not based on politics um or incompetence which is what has been the hallmark of the liberal government

00:08:16.300 to date and you even asked these questions of the finance minister a few days ago you're you're

00:08:21.520 asking her when these protocols will be updated to reflect the new reality the science that is coming out

00:08:26.640 that is showing that other countries are easing restrictions on those that are fully vaccinated

00:08:32.180 for one but we aren't seeing that same same thing happening in canada and not only that are we as as a

00:08:39.580 country updating our regulations to deal with those that are fully vaccinated that have had it done

00:08:44.820 in a country say the united states are we recognizing that type of vaccine um i guess vaccination status

00:08:54.240 yeah the status i guess that's yeah no i've had i'm sure you've had people call your office too

00:08:58.720 many people asking hey i got my vaccine in the u.s or i had one dose of vaccine in the u.s

00:09:03.920 one dose of vaccine here in canada how can i get proof of vaccination i'd like to have that proof of

00:09:09.620 vaccination and i've asked the federal government this many times like what system are you putting in

00:09:15.360 place so that people who want to have that proof of vaccination that they can easily get that and the

00:09:21.000 answer is i don't know and you know that's just unconscionable thinking about how much money the

00:09:26.800 federal government has wasted on like things like the weed charity scandal right surely a developed 0.50

00:09:33.200 country like canada g7 country should be able to provide for people who want it proof of vaccine

00:09:39.900 status if they've received vaccines in other jurisdictions um there are many canadian snowbirds who are in

00:09:46.860 this boat um and frankly there's many canadians who have been part of provincial programs like

00:09:52.100 manitoba has has put in place with um state governments in the u.s for truck drivers and teachers

00:09:59.300 same with uh alberta and montana uh it's just it's a gong show jamie every day i feel like i'm beating

00:10:07.700 my head against a brick wall with these people they're working in a bubble they're not thinking about

00:10:12.700 the actual realities of this situation and they think they think that they're on top of it but

00:10:18.080 they're living in a fantasy weirdo world where actual problems are not getting solved so you know

00:10:25.060 thank you to you and the rest of our caucus too and our leader for just like continually pushing

00:10:30.080 them on these issues because we deserve answers for them right yeah especially when the government

00:10:35.720 had three really main things to look after right vaccines borders and rapid tests and how do you

00:10:41.940 think they did on all three of those and we can tell that because we look at where other countries

00:10:46.900 are in their reopening plans absolutely it's like fail fail fail and look i think that i don't

00:10:55.560 understand why wait i'll back up i know why the federal government isn't talking about metrics

00:11:01.260 for reopening within their jurisdiction i know why they're not doing that and that's because we're

00:11:06.000 so far behind getting the second dose of vaccine right now because there aren't sort of those perks

00:11:12.540 associated with double vaccination status right i think that a lot of people are like okay well i'll

00:11:18.300 wait it's no big deal but the minute that the federal government starts talking about uh being able

00:11:23.940 to to travel without quarantine as this report recommends people are going to say well hello where's my

00:11:31.760 second dose and i think that that that that lack of supply they've managed that so badly that's just

00:11:37.260 one of the implications of the lack of supply as is this vaccine mix and match issue that we're hearing

00:11:42.760 about today as is so many other things and you know the provincial governments can't deliver supply

00:11:48.620 they don't have from the federal government so yes they've completely you know messed up on this but

00:11:54.720 they need to be giving canadians some hope they need to be giving people on the travel and tourism

00:11:58.820 industries and so frankly frontline workers in the medical system too that show that we have a system

00:12:04.740 at the border uh that allows for travel while safely preventing the spread of covet 19 that also

00:12:12.080 reflects all categories of vaccination status and is based on science you just brought up something

00:12:17.980 really important here and i know we have to let you go but the the the vaccine time period which was

00:12:23.820 done at testing i think pfizer is 21 days moderna 28 days if memory serves is the timeline between the

00:12:29.980 first and second shot verified during the testing phase of the of the manufacturers now you just

00:12:37.220 mentioned it i i think most people are realizing it that the increased interval between the first and

00:12:42.800 second dose that that was because the government of canada had not secured enough vaccines to properly

00:12:50.500 vaccinate their population within the prescripted time frame absolutely the only reason we have the 1.00

00:12:58.320 dosing delay in canada is because we don't have enough supply and that's on the record from the

00:13:04.380 national advisory committee on immunization at the health committee it's i asked point blank would you

00:13:11.180 be giving this advice if we had adequate supply and the response that we got back was of course not

00:13:16.280 so if you know trudeau had not put all of canada's prospects in this contract with this chinese 0.98

00:13:26.960 company that massively failed us and had been negotiating with the leading vaccine candidates

00:13:33.620 like pfizer moderna astrazeneca johnson and johnson at the start of the pandemic and have been looking at

00:13:39.680 ramping up our own domestic manufacturing capacity we would not have been in this boat and i have to say

00:13:44.620 for people listening the conservative party of canada and the effective opposition that we brought

00:13:50.120 to their bungling of this process i think has is a big reason why we have vaccines in canada today at

00:13:58.100 all we lit the fire and we didn't let up because it was the right thing to do and i think history will

00:14:04.540 remember you know what an effective opposition did for our country during this period of time and i think

00:14:10.500 a lot of our colleagues uh have to be given credit for that yeah i don't think i think that's very

00:14:16.800 important to you very so many important points that the opposition did put their foot on the gas and put

00:14:21.880 that pressure on the federal government and then when i remember back over christmas things started to

00:14:27.120 slow down the media stopped paying attention the house wasn't sitting and so the government was

00:14:32.260 kind of left to their their their own devices here and that's when they really failed they put all

00:14:37.460 their eggs in the cancino basket nobody's worth it they just messed up so many times over and over

00:14:43.780 again and then we finally had to put our foot back on the gas yeah and i just just to drive that point

00:14:49.440 home i had pfizer canada in front of our committee they were officially testifying and they admitted

00:14:56.680 on the record that the original contract that the liberals negotiated with them for doses didn't have

00:15:02.080 any doses arriving in canada until the end of february and that the government had to go back at the end

00:15:08.400 of november to renegotiate doses even those remember those few doses that they brought in for the photo op in

00:15:14.940 december but we didn't have vaccines in january and february to any great extent uh the united states

00:15:21.320 israel european union the united kingdom they did and i mean i was on my instagram feed last night

00:15:28.080 i was watching grimes's feed and like there's this massive outdoor concert where people are living

00:15:34.500 their best life in in arizona and it's i'm like oh that's what getting back to normal looked like

00:15:40.520 but in a more you know serious context think about the lives that could have been saved in this third

00:15:47.260 wave if trudeau had been able had focused taking this seriously and gotten us vaccines in january and

00:15:53.300 february um or rapid tests or anything or therapeutics quicker it was just they there has to be an inquiry

00:16:03.540 on this um and we have to make sure that this never happens again uh our leader has already um committed

00:16:11.400 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

00:16:19.000 how you top that but we do have to let you go i always give the guests the last word michelle the

00:16:24.580 floor is yours i we have to get out of this uh i know that a lot of canadians are feeling very

00:16:32.560 frustrated and they should feel frustrated right now uh with many provinces now putting forward plans

00:16:40.460 with benchmarks for reopening every canadian regardless of political stripe has to demand

00:16:46.340 the same from the federal government for restrictions that are within the federal government's purview

00:16:52.240 uh there's science there's better tools and better sustainable solutions and we need hope

00:16:58.220 uh the federal government can't just be content to continue to say uh well we we don't have an end

00:17:04.100 in sight we we can't tell you when life's going to get back to normal so uh this is what we're

00:17:09.180 championing uh so you're championing jamie and i want to thank you for all the work you do

00:17:13.660 and you know the louder canadians get the the easier it is for we are it is for us to magnify

00:17:20.800 and amplify their voices so this is going to be a big push for us over the next few weeks

00:17:25.240 michelle rempel garner the member of parliament for calgary nose hill also the shadow minister for health

00:17:30.780 we thank you so much for joining us today your content has been amazing and because it has been

00:17:36.740 amazing she's always welcome back but we ask you to like comment subscribe share this program help us

00:17:43.360 pushback against the ever-moving liberal agenda maybe there is someone within your social media

00:17:47.680 network that might be open to hearing the conservative message this is the way to help

00:17:52.540 do that and ensure that erin o'toole is the next prime minister of canada new content every single

00:17:57.680 tuesday 1 30 p.m eastern time again if you can't watch it listen to it all right this moment download

00:18:03.520 it later on listen to it on platforms like cast box itunes google play spotify you name it it is out

00:18:09.180 there thank you so much for joining us remember low taxes less government more freedom that is the

00:18:15.280 blueprint

The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - June 03, 2021

The Failed Hotel Quarantine Program

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