Dear colleagues, today I rise to deliver a speech on Bill S-209, An Act respecting Pandemic Observance Day, which was introduced by Senator Mégie.

In her speech at second reading, Senator Mégie set out three reasons for this bill: the duty to remember, the duty to get through it, and the duty to be prepared for a future pandemic. The impact the pandemic had and continues to have on our lives, our health and our economy certainly justifies the need to remember. We must never forget how hard our health care system and our long-term care facilities were hit, nor must we forget the loss of life that shook our communities.

That said, I would like to focus on the third reason: the duty to be prepared for a future pandemic. Canada was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, and we were poorly prepared for a public health crisis of this magnitude. In the beginning, over 80% of the pandemic-related deaths were in long-term care facilities and retirement homes. Our health care systems were overwhelmed by growing demand and the labour shortages.

Our governments were taken by surprise. Their social safety nets were ill-equipped for a pandemic and nationwide lockdowns. We were asked to urgently pass bills to help Canadians despite Parliament itself lacking a plan to ensure continuity of the legislative process during a pandemic. We had to create all those plans on the fly. Had we been better prepared, we could have been spared much of the impact.

In business and industry, Canada was once again behind other nations. Once upon a time, Canada had cutting-edge vaccine development right here at home, but that capacity gradually declined and disappeared, in part because of profit-seeking and political considerations, according to Dr. Earl Brown, emeritus professor of biochemistry, microbiology and immunology at the University of Ottawa. As a result, Canada was dependent on other countries’ vaccine production.

Let’s remember that our initial rollout of vaccines at the key moment in the fight against COVID-19 was impacted by delays due to the prioritization of other countries and the inevitably slow ramp up of production around the world.

The government and Canadians have since recognized the importance of rebuilding vaccine production here in Canada, and we have since invested more than $1 billion to address this gap. Let’s see it as a good sign that the Moderna facility that will be located in Montreal will make Canada a leader in mRNA vaccine production.

Just over a decade has elapsed since the H1N1 Pandemic. It might not have been as impactful on all of Canadian society as COVID-19 has been, but the experience should have informed policy-makers, especially since scientists have been warning us of the increased risk of the emergence of new infectious diseases and pandemics.

The lack of emergency preparedness in Canada seems to be a recurring theme. Whether it’s for COVID-19, extreme weather events or climate change Canada always seems to be in a reactive position. Of course, it is impossible to be completely prepared for any crisis, but proactive planning and prevention and action based on science will minimize the impacts of these crises as they arise, and will be extremely beneficial for all Canadians.

In fact, according to the World Health Organization, the cost of fighting COVID-19, estimated to be in the tens of trillions of dollars, could end up being five hundred times more than the cost of investing in limiting the transmission of new diseases.

Honourable senators, it’s easy to say that we will never forget the devastation the pandemic has had on people’s lives; yet, we have had pandemics before, and we were still unprepared. When we forget, we become complacent, and we start failing in our duty to prepare Canadians for crises.

If the Pandemic Observance Day can help remind us of the necessity to be prepared and to adopt effective preventative measures, then maybe we can leave a good legacy to future generations in the hope that we have helped them minimize the impacts of the next world pandemic.

Thank you, meegwetch.