2020-03-13 10:14 [p.2063]
Madam Speaker, I will not take long, but as this is a unanimous consent motion, I want to put on the record that the Green Party caucus consents. These are not normal times.
We are thinking of our friends in the House who are now at risk from the virus. We are thinking of our country. We are thinking of Ms. Grégoire Trudeau and we wish her a speedy recovery. This epidemic affects everyone, all of our loved ones, friends and constituents.
We cannot tell moment to moment what lies ahead with the spread of COVID-19. I want to express thanks to the Canadian public health authorities at every level and in my own province, particularly B.C. public health officer Bonnie Henry, who has been handling what was quite clearly spreading, and the British Columbia minister of health Adrian Dix and others who have taken strong precautionary action.
I have confidence in our health authorities. I have confidence in Canadians. We gather in groups, and goodness knows, as members of Parliament, we gather in groups and travel on airplanes. It is incumbent upon us to accept that we have to stop our work in this place. Hopefully it is only for five weeks, so we again can take on the business of the nation. I think it is fair to say that as much as we travel on airplanes, we do not want to find, when history looks at what happened with COVID-19 in Canada, that members of Parliament were vectors of disease. We need to take on board our responsibilities.
Therefore, I join with all colleagues in thanking our health authorities for their diligence and the Minister of Health. We are blessed to live in a country with responsible government that does not try to make up the science as it goes along.
The Green Party consents to the adjournment and looks forward to seeing everyone again in this place, and in good health.