Cloverdale-Langley City Conservative MP Tamara Jansen said the Liberal government wasn’t paying attention to signs of an impending coronavirus crisis that were evident well before the official anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I have heard many on the government side reminiscing today about how we are now at the one-year anniversary of the pandemic,” Jansen remarked during a House of Commons debate on Tuesday, March 9.
“This serves to highlight the fact that they were not paying attention when this catastrophe actually started and why Canada has been consistently late from the very beginning,” Jansen went on to say.
It was clear that there was already trouble last year in January, not March, Jansen said, “when my local Chinese dance association cancelled its New Year’s celebration in Langley to protect our community. Yet, following that clear warning cry, our health officials told us not to worry, that there was no need for masks and no need for travel restrictions.”
Jansen also cited the COVID-19 outbreak aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship that trapped several Canadians, commenting that “while the Liberals were busy twiddling their thumbs, independent travel advisers were getting frantic calls from their customers who were being quarantined on the ship.”
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Jansen said she and her sister, a travel agent, “have been struggling together with the impact of COVID since January, not March.”
Jansen was speaking in support of a Conservative opposition day motion that called for measures to support workers in the hospitality, tourism, and charitable sectors.
It would provide repayable loans to airlines in exchange for consumer refunds, job guarantees, and restrictions on executive compensation, along with restoration of regional routes as well as strengthening support programs for small and medium businesses.
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“For restaurant owners and so many other small businesses, this motion for immediate sector-specific measures to help the hospitality industry can’t come soon enough,” Jansen declared.
“People are at the end of their rope, and it’s starting to fray.”
Women, and women entrepreneurs especially, have been the hardest hit from the very beginning, Jansen added.
“It was this government’s lack of urgency, their catalogue of mistargeted programs, and their failure to give the provinces any option but to lockdown, that led to the prolongation of this pandemic for Canadians.”
“This will all result in Canada being locked down for months longer than the rest of the world.”
Is there more to the story? Email: dan.ferguson@langleyadvancetimes.com
