trudeau

The first question Kate bongero, bloomberg. Line open.

Question:

Hello, Mr. Prime Minister. What is your government’s concrete plan to reopen the economy, a rolling, staggered, or all-in approach and can you say more about your discussions with the provinces about reopening the economy.

Answer:

I know everyone is interested when they will be able to go back to work and normal and leave this isolation at home and kids can go back to school, the reality is it is going to be weeks still. We recognize that it is going to be important to get our economy going and that we will have to do it in phases. We will have to remain vigilant until such a point as a vaccine against COVID-19 is found. We are having ongoing discussions with the provinces at this point. We recognize that different regions of the country are at different places along the evolution of their COVID-19 curve. We’re going to make sure we try to stay coordinated as best as possible, but those discussions are ongoing about how we’re going to reopen the economy. It’s just that it’s going to be a while still.

Question:

and you had just mentioned sectors –

Answer:

Sorry, I’m just going to answer in french. [voice of interpreter] of course people want to know when we’re going to be able to come back tonormalcy, when they’re going to go back to work or school. The reality is that we will have to be extremely vigilant. and in the current circumstances, that will happen for several more weeks. But at one point I do hope we will be able to relax some of the measures in place. We will do that in coordination with the provinces, and we also know that different regions across the country are looking at different impacts and are at different points in their evolutionary curve. We will remain vigilant until we have a vaccine available. These are conversations continuing, but it’s not going to happen right away. [end of translation].

Question:

You had mentioned sectors that had been especially hard hit by COVID-19 and we would hear news on them soon. When is the oil bailout coming?

Answer:

First of all, we recognize the most important thing from the very beginning was to get help out to canadiansright across the country, regardless of the sectors they’re in, regardless of their situation or their location. That’s why we put forward two extremely strong measures that help all workers across the country, the Canada emergency response benefit for people who’ve lost a paycheque and the emergency wage subsidy so that people can keep their jobs and be ready to come back to work when the economy comes back. As I’ve said a number of times, we will and we are looking at more specific sector-related relief and supports for those sectors that are hardest hit, whether it’s the tourism sector, the airline sector, alteration industry, or others. and we will have more to say on that shortly.

Thank you. Next question.

Operator:

Thank you. Merci. [voice of interpreter] TVA.

Question:

Good morning, Prime Minister. With respect to seniors’ homes, I understand that is provincial jurisdiction, but other than guidelines what can your government do to address what is happening in many of these home sand in long-term care facilities, such as the one in montreal, herron?

Answer:

Well, this is a terrible situation and we want to express our deepest sympathies to the families who have been affected, not only there, but right across the country by these deaths in thesefacilities. That’s why we are saying again that people must follow public health guidelines and stay home and keep a proper distance in order to slow the spread of COVID-19. As you say, seniors’ homes and long-term care facilities are within provincial jurisdiction. We have issues recommendations about this and we will continue to work with the provinces to ensure that we’re doing what we can to help them and to keep ourseniors safe. We know that they are the most vulnerable people when it comes to COVID-19. That’s why at all different levels of government and all Canadians must do whatever we can to protect them. [end of translation] we recognize the terrible and tragic stories that have come out of seniors’ residences and long-term care facilities acrossthe country and our hearts go out to families who have lost loved ones in some terrible ways. We know we need to do more, and that is why we are highlighting how weren’t it is, not just for ourselves but for our loved ones, for our healthcare workers, for our seniors, that we continue to follow directions, that we stay home asmuch as possible, that we keep 2metres apart wherever we can, and we continue to wash our hands regularly. We need to make sure our seniorswho are most vulnerable are protected. As mentioned, seniors residencesare provincially mandated, but the federal government has put forward guidelines for across the country on making sure that our seniors are protected.

Question:

[voice of interpreter] – problem in the facilities is a loss of staff. Do you believe nurses from the c. I.h. Could make a distribution?

Answer:

We know there are measures being taken by the provinces at this time to require that people only work in one facility and that will help to protect people in these facilities. But they’re also looking to hire other people to work in those homes and facilities to help ourseniors. We are working with the provinces to try and ensure that we can bring in the necessary people to help out. [end of translation] we recognize that some of the measures taken in place to protect our seniors in our long-term care facilities, such as asking people to only work inone centre instead of a few of them, will mean a need to hire more people to support our seniors and to work in those centres. We’re going to continue to work with provinces on ways to ensurethat people can be found to do this important work.

Thank you.

Operator:

"”le devoir.”

Question:

Good morning, Mr. Trudeau. I would like to come back to your stay at your secondary residence at the lake. For many weeks the authorities have been saying not to go to cottages and there are even border controls in place betweenottawa and gatineau. So why in the case of your family was it okay for you to dothat?

Answer:

I announced last week that after three weeks of working here and My family being at Harrington lake that I would spend Easter with them, and that’s what I did. We continue to follow all the authorities’ recommendations. [end of translation] as I mentioned last week in My presentation, after three weeks of My family living up at Harrington and me working here, I went to join them for Easter. We continued to follow all the instructions from public health authorities.

Question:

[voice of interpreter] but were you told it was okay? because this is the question that people are asking themselves on social media. Why was it okay for you? why was it okay for you to go and see your family at the cottage?

Answer:

Well, My family has been living there for three weeks. That’s where My wife and My children are at this time. As I announced last week, I went to spend Easter with them. [end of translation].

Operator:

Next question Alex bottomgom Toronto star” line isopen.

Question:

Good morning, Prime Minister. You mentioned in your introduction that people travelling to Canada will need credible quarantine plan. Can you expand on what the government’s definition of what a credible quarantine plan will be and if that will be at airports as well as land borders?

Answer:

The order going in place is a strengthening of the quarantine order, to give the authorities the ability upon evaluation of the person entering Canada, their plan to self-quarantine. If it is inadequate they will berequired to quarantine in a hotel. Examples of things that could beinadequate, for example, if their plan is to go stay at a place where there are many elderly members with COVID-19 orif they don’t have a set destination if they’ve been out of the country for many years, we now have the authority to require them to self-isolate fortwo weeks in a quarantine location like a hotel.

On follow up.

Question:

I noticed in the daily updates from public healththere’s been incomplete information sort of stubbornly over a period of time with case report forms on only 62% of our cases, hospitalization data for less than half. Why is this such an incomplete picture and are you concerned that having an incomplete picture will affect or make it more difficult to allocate resources across the country?

Answer:

I want to once again thank the provinces for being tremendously active on improving the quality of the data they send us in Ottawa. There were significant gaps in the beginning, but I can highlight that almost all provinces have done a much better job in sharing their data with Canadians in their provinces, but also with the federal government that is allowing us to have a much more complete picture. We continue to improve on data collection and collation every single day, but that is something, as you highlight, is a really important way to ensure that we’re doing the right things at the right point to keep Canadians safe.

Question:

Prime Minister, I’mwith global national. I wanted to ask you Alberta’s energy Minister said she’s expecting a federal relief package for the oil and gas sector between $20 and $30 billion and she’s expecting it later this week. Can you confirm those details and say whether the federal government will be taking equity stakes in firms?

Answer:

When we have something to announce on those supports, we will make an announcement.

Question:

As a follow up, some workers in the oil patch worry that key Canadian companies will be vulnerable to foreign takeovers or relocate to other jurisdictions. Should your government forbid takeovers or re locations during this period of time?

Answer:

We are very concerned about a state of a number of industries in this country, including the oil and gas industry. That’s why we have worked on making sure we’re giving the right supports for the industry and particularly for workers across the country. Our focus has always been on ensuring that good Canadian jobsremain. We know that Canadians and families are suffering and that’s why we need to support them. [voice of interpreter] we know how important it is to protect our industries so that we can bring the economy back and forth once the pandemic is over. We of course need to support the workers in the industries affected by COVID-19. [end of translation].

Question:

You said that you’re going to have more news about essential workers and the CERB in the coming week, but employees in long-term care facilities are already leaving their jobs. You brought parliament back and passed the wage subsidy, but there was nothing specific included for this industry. What is the federal government going to do to keep these facilities staffed so the guidelines can be followed?

Answer:

We’re in conversation right now with the provinces on moving forward with a model of increasing support for long-termcare workers and other workers in essential industries, like quÉbec has done, to ensure that people are motivated and encouraged financially as well as because it’s something that they believe in deeply to continue caring for our most vulnerable. [voice of interpreter] we recognize that quÉbec, for example, has taken concrete steps to encourage and compensate those people who workin essential jobs, such as in our seniors’ homes, because theyare so important at this point in time. We are in discussion with the provinces to ensure that that can happen across the country. [end of translation].

Question:

Some security experts are saying Canada’s intelligence network was not prepared for the pandemic and instead of being able to rely on our own Canadian intelligence, we were dependant on our American allies as well as the five eyes network. When specifically and exactly did Canadian intelligence tell you about the possibility of a pandemic and when did you hear that information from our allies?

Answer:

We had meetings of the incident response group as of late January to talk about the COVID-19 potential threat. We were well coordinated with our five eyes allies and other intelligence services around the world and being aware of this potential challenge on the horizon. We’re dealing with it as of the end of January. [voice of interpreter] we had meetings with intelligence and security officials in January and we discussed our concerns at that time about the coronavirus. This is something that we continue to following starting then in concert with our allies in the five eyes groups and other allies around the world.

Question:

Christian noel, radio-Canada. You spoke earlier of a gradual and phased-in return of the economy. What would that look like in Canada for people? and also at the border with the United States.

Answer:

Now, I understand people want to know when we’re going to be able to return to our normal economic activities that are currently at a standstill, but I must emphasize the fact that we must remain in this phase for some time to come. We are not on the other side of the curve at this point. We’re not through this first wave of COVID-19. Therefore, we have to stay the course until science and experts tell us that we can start to relax some of those measures. Now, there will be some industries or some economic sectors where people will be able to return to work more safely, and that’s the kind of thing we’ll be talking about with the provinces in the comingweeks. Now, in terms of the United States, we are still in discussion with the Americans Ina coordinated approach, but certainly the travel restrictions will remain in place for many weeks. [end of translation] we resides that people are eager to know when we’ll get into the next phase and be able to loosen some of the restrictions on work and school. We will be looking at that very carefully with the provinces in different ways across the country to make sure where we start work up again in the weeks where we’re allowed to do that, because right now we are Tim very much in this phase and willneedll very much in this phase and will need to remain in this phase. But as we open up we will be strategic what what we do in a gradual way. In regards to the American border, we recognize that travel restrictions are going to remain extremely important in terms of containing the spread of COVID-19 in Canada and we’re going to continue to work with the Americans and people around the world to ensure we continue with these restrictions.

Question:

[voice of interpreter] with respect to the long-term care facilities, you say you’re in conversations with the provincesto see what you can do to help. Now, what’s the problem? is it money? is it staff? army intervention? are those things being discussed? what can the government do in concrete terms to help them, notjust guidelines?

Answer:

There are varied discussions happening with the provinces with respect to these seniors’ homes because the various regions have different circumstances. There are some provinces that are very interested in the quÉbec model, which means extra pay for people working in these seniors’ homes and long-term care facilities. Some are interested in that and perhaps the federal government could participate by giving themmoney to hire people. There are other proposals from other provinces that we’re also looking at. We know that it’s very importantto be there for our seniors. As far as I know, there has not been any official request to bring in the army. [end of translation] we’ve been looking at different ways of ensuring that our long-term carefacilities and our seniors’ residences have the support thatthey actually need, have the workforce that they need to takecare of our seniors. There are a number of provinces looking at the model put forwardby quÉbec that involves a salarytop-up for people working in these essential jobs. We are willing to participate inthat – in sending money to the provinces to help in those and we’re having discussions with the provinces about what that is. There are different conversations and needs across the country and we’re working with different provinces on their different priorities.

Question:

Prime Minister, tomperry with CTV news. Prime Minister Jason Kenny says federal bureaucracy is using politics to prevent drugs from being approved. Health Canada is the regulator of these drugs in Canada. What could be the consequence be of not approving these?

Answer:

I understand people can get anxious and impatient about things, but as a government we are going to remain grounded in science, we are going to remain grounded in our experts who are doing an excellent job in ensuring Canadians are kept safe and healthy. [voice of interpreter] I know that in an unprecedented situation like this people may be anxious and impatient, but we are going to remain focused on scientific recommendations and the advice of our experts in terms of what we should be doing to help Canadians and keep them healthy and safe. [end of translation].

Question:

Jason Kenny also spoke about Dr. Theresa tam. He said she’s qualified to be Canada’s chief public health officer, but he also said in January she was repeating talking points out of the people’s republic of china of there being no evidence of human-to-human transmission. What’s your response to that anddo you think comments like this undermine the credibility of canadian health officials?

Answer:

I think Canadians have demonstrated they have a tremendous level of trust and confidence in our public health officials and medical system. We are going to continue to work with top medical health officials like Dr. Theresa tam to make sure we are doing everything we can do and have done every step of the way to keep Canadians safe. [voice of interpreter] Canadians are right to have confidence in our public health authorities and our medical experts because they are there to help us and protect us. We will continue to work with all our public health experts to ensure the health and safety of all Canadians, including of course the wonderful Dr. Tam. [end of translation].