Liberal MPs on the Commons health committee decided against opening a public inquiry into how the Canadian government handled the COVID-19 “pandemic,” instead opting for a closed-door study by Minister of Health advisers.
New Democrat lawmaker Don Davies remarked that confidence has been tested and it has been shaken, noting that the only way to restore public trust is to have the guts to conduct a thorough, wide-ranging, root-to-branch, transparent, and searching public inquiry of the response to the Covid-19 outbreak.
To prevent pandemics, Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith introduced Bill C-293. The law recommended the cabinet “create an advisory body” to examine the government’s pandemic management every two years.
Davies fought to have the law revised so that the Inquiries Act could be used to conduct a comprehensive judicial investigation.
He stated that this job required “an unbiased, independent, public and appropriately resourced inquiry” that might “have the capacity to demand documents” and need sworn testimony from federal agencies.
On the health committee, Liberal MPs voted 5 to 2 against the amendment, and Conservative MPs abstained, effectively killing the bill.
Stephen Ellis, a conservative lawmaker, has claimed that the Liberal administration has decided against conducting a pandemic inquiry. According to this legislation, the Liberal administration “would be pleased with a private member’s bill” rather than a public investigation.
Numerous allegations have surfaced in recent months detailing the Trudeau government’s mismanagement of the COVID-19 “pandemic.”
The cabinet was “not fully prepared,” as stated in the Auditor General’s 2021 report Pandemic Preparedness.
Additionally, an internal assessment titled “Lessons Learned From The Public Health Agency Of Canada’s Covid-19 Response” criticized managers for their “confusion,” “little public health knowledge,” and “no clear understanding” of how to assemble crucial data.
To underscore the incompetence, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has recently made efforts to recover the $3.2 billion in CERB payments made to Canadians who were ineligible to receive the benefit.
