Q & A

We’ll now go to the phone for questions. One question, one follow-up. Operator?

Operator:

Thank you. Merci. For questions, star 1.

Reporter:

[Voice of Interpreter]:

Good morning, Prime Minister. First of all, about the military. You talked about extending their mission, but you didn’t say until when. Do you know how long that mission will be extended? well, it’s only in recent days, yesterday from Quebec, for example, we received a request for an a extension so we have to have discussions with the two provinces. But, of course, we will be there to help them.

Prime Minister Trudeau:

We just received the request for assistance in the past days, including only yesterday for Quebec. So, we’ll be following up with the premier’s offices. But, of course, we will continue to help.

Reporter:

[Voice of Interpreter]:

Are there other asylum workers working in long-term homes? now is your government prepared to process their applications quickly as many are asking? well, for a number of weeks now, the Minister of immigration has been work on that specific issue. We know that there are some extraordinary people doing heroic work in our long-term care facilities. and we must look at how we can help them and that’s precisely what we’re doing now.

operator?

Operator:

Thank you. Merci. Next question, MIA rabson, the Canadian press. Line open.

Reporter:

Good morning. I’m just curious, if you can explain to us what the difference is between the special COVID-19 committee being safe to sit in parliament if you don’t think it’s safe for the full house of commons to sit in reduced numbers?

Prime Minister Trudeau:

I think it has been important that we’ve had a parliament and democracy that has continued to function. Over the past number of weeks, we’ve had three days a week of sessions where the opposition can bring forward their questions, make their suggestions and demonstrate to all Canadians that our institutions continue to function. We know that continuing that approach four days a week will be important to continue to respond to this extraordinary challenge of our time. We are, however, continuing to work on the issue of voting. Before we move forward on voting, we want to try and make sure, as much as possible, that we are able to bring in remote voting. I know that the PRC committee of parliament is studying that carefully. It will be important to ensure that Canadians across the country have an ability to make their voices and their decisions heard in parliament, through that process. That continues to be something that we’re working on.

and a follow-up?

Reporter:

Yeah. I’m also curious, give than you had a known exposure to COVID-19 early on, when the serological testing becomes available, do you plan to get one?

Prime Minister Trudeau:

Yes, I do. I think serological testing is an important part of understanding exactly how COVID-19 has been present in the country, including in people who haven’t displayed any symptoms at all. and as soon as those tests become more largely available to Canadians, I will certainly ensure that I’m one of them.

[Voice of Interpreter]:

I think it is important to know to what extent COVID-19 has spread among our population, including among people who are unsymptomatic, including possibly myself. So, when those tests will be more widely available, I intend to become tested.

Thank you. Operator, next question.

Operator:

Thank you. Merci.

Reporter:

[Voice of Interpreter]:

Good morning, Mr. Trudeau. I’d like to come back to the asylum-seekers issue. I’d just like to know – do you agree with the principle of regularizing the status of certain individuals or expediting the processing of their application or even putting them in the immigrant process as Quebec seems to be requesting? well, for quite some time now, we’ve realised that people coming into this country make a strong contribution to our protection and our success as a country. Our government has always been open to immigration and has always appreciated the people who come into this country. When it comes to asylum seekers who came into the country through irregular means and are now working in our long-term care homes and are doing heroic work to protect Canadians, we’re currently looking at how we can recognize that work and expedite the process. and the Minister of immigration is working precisely on that.

Reporter:

[Voice of Interpreter]:

I know that there have been a change of position on the part of ms. Freeland. a week ago she was saying we are a country that abides by the rule of law. We have to use the regular processes. But now it seems like you’re prepared to do things somewhat differently. Well, we are in a situation that is quite exceptional and unprecedented. COVID-19 is demanding that we review certain ways of doing things and that includes our immigration system. Now that system is focused on abiding by the regular processes and treating everyone fairly and it’s important to follow those processes. But in an exceptional situation, we can, of course, consider exceptions.

Merci. Operator?

Operator:

Thank you. Merci.

Reporter:

[Voice of Interpreter]:

Good morning. Thank you very much. Now on immigrants, Mr. Trudeau, how many irregular asylum seekers do you think are – have been coming in? and I understand you agree with the principle, but what are the problems that could surround securing their status? well, I think people recognize that heroes who are doing exceptional work in a very difficult situation should be recognized as such. and we have an a immigration system that is robust and rigorous and complex. Therefore, the Minister of immigration is currently looking very carefully at what this kind of approach would involve and we understand that people feel there is a need to thank those individuals, but we also want to make sure it’s done properly. Follow-up? yes. As a follow-up, Mr. Trudeau, MN another issue, the wage subsidy, the leader of the bloc quÉbÉcois has been suggesting that you are not being a moral leader on that issue. He doesn’t understand how you could be asking for the wage subsidy. and as the leader of your party, will you demand that your party not use that wage subsidy or will you go ahead with it? the wage subsidy was introduced to help all organisations, all businesses that have seen a decline in their revenue. In order to help the workers. The subsidy does not judge the type of work or the type of business organization that is involved. We simply look at how we can help people who rely on that job to keep their paycheque and to be able to support their family and buy their groceries. Now in political parties, there are people who work as translators, as accountants, as receptionists. These are people who do important work for themselves and for their families and we created the wage subsidy to help precisely thee kinds of people to help their – to keep their jobs rather than being laid off possibly because of a decline in the organization’s revenue. At the beginning of your speech, you refered to the soldiers working in the long-term cares that have made some troubling observations. is that only in Ontario or also in Quebec? and what are we talking about? distress? negligence? could you be more specific about those troubling observation and how did you feel about that when you heard this? well, I read the report yesterday coming from the canadian armed forces and I can tell you that it was extremely troubling. I got that – we sent that report to the government of Ontario over the weekend and we will be discussing that further and we will be there to help. But there is no doubt that we must do much better when it comes to supporting our seniors in these long-term care homes right across the country. That report talks specifically about the situation in Ontario, but we continue to be vigilant across the country.

Prime Minister Trudeau:

I – I read the report in full yesterday. We – I shared I with the provincial government of Ontario over the weekend. It is deeply disturbing. There are things in there that are extremely troubling. and we need to take action and I spoke with the premier this morning to assure him that, of course, the federal government would be there to support them as they deal with this situation. We need to do a better job of taking care of our elders in long-term care facilities, in Ontario and, indeed, right across the country. The premier will be sharing this report with Canadians in the coming hours and we’ll be speaking at more length on it and I will leave that for him.

Reporter:

[Voice of Interpreter]:

Now without going into details because you don’t want to [inaudible] the premier of Ontario, what bothered you the most in that report? and in terms of your own emotions, were you sad, disgusted, shocked? how did you respond? the answer was, yes, I was shocked, sad and disappoint, I was angry. I believe that we’re talking about a situation that clearly is reality associated with COVID-19, but has also existed for quite some time now. and we must, as a country, improve the situation in those care homes, but I will allow premier ford to comment on this, but as I said several times since the beginning of this pandemic, these are seniors suffering the most as a result of cor voids and we have to do better to support them and the federal government will be there to take part in any discussions that will take place now and in the future to improve that support for the people who built this country. I had obviously a range of emotions of anger, of sadness, of grief. It is extremely troubling and, as I’ve said from the very beginning of this, we need to do a better job of supporting our seniors in long-term care right across the country. Through this pandemic and beyond. This is a situation that has gone on for a long time. We need to take action as a country. The federal government will be there to support provinces in their jurisdictions on dealing with this as we move forward.

Reporter:

Tom parry with CBC. You read this report. Are you concerned that the problems that it reveals are not limited only to Ontario, and what specifically can the federal government do right now to deal with these issues?

Prime Minister Trudeau:

The federal government is there to help. We have steeped up with members of the Canadian armed forces in a number of long-term care facilities across the province and Ontario and Quebec. But the challenges faced by this system of long-term cares is larger than just the places that the canadian armed forces are showing up in. So, we need to have a conversation and we need to take action as a country on improving care. There are many extraordinary, excellent long-term care facilities across this country. There are some that obviously not doing as well. That we need to make sure that we’re improving the standards of care and the support for Canadians as they retire, as they reach that phase of their lives. The federal government, as I said from the beginning, how we move forward, learn from this crisis and what we learned through this crisis. and move forward.

[Voice of Interpreter]:

We are facing a situation. That clearly has existed since long before the pandemic in a number of long-term care homes where we’re seeing the support given. Our seniors is not up to scratch. and, of course, there are seniors residences and centres that are extraordinary. In terms of the way they care for our seniors and elders. However, there are other facilities that do not meet our standards. As a society and as a country, we have to work together to improve the care we provide to our seniors. The federal government will be there to support the provinces in that work.

Reporter:

We were talking about the flights that have arrived but what about bottlenecks? what is preventing us from getting more of this equipment?

Prime Minister Trudeau:

There are global challenges around provisions of P.P.E. We have demonstrated with 40 flights and hundreds of thousands of items, many in the millions, that we have received and distributed across the country. That we are providing for Canadians as we – as we need to. At the same time, we recognize that as the economy re-opens, as programmes a second wave might hit us, we need to be ready and that is why we continue to draw on even more P.P.E., we continue to go through stringent and rigorous quality control because we have seen a rise in counterfeit products and products that don’t meet a rigorous canadian challenge standards. We have ensured that every item that has been distributed in Canada has met our standards. But it’s why we’ve also moved towards increasing and creating domestic production for P.P.E. and Canadians stepping up to help Canadians is what this country is all about and we’ll continue to do the work necessary to ensure that right across the country we have the P.P.E. Necessary to move forward safely. Ok.

[Voice of Interpreter]:

From the very beginning, we have been working to ensure that personal protective equipment is distributed right across this country. That it is of high quality and we continue to receive items from countries around the world. At the same time, we are creating local domestic production here because we know that, as the economy re-opens, we will need even more P.P.E. and we have to be ready for a second wave. and we will be ready because that’s what we’re doing towards – working towards as a country.

Reporter:

Was it the findings related to the conditions that people are living in in long-term care homes or did it rise, in your view, to the level of abuse? in either case, what would you say to people in Ontario whose family members are in these homes right now, when they’re hearing you talk about this. What should they do?

Prime Minister Trudeau:

As I said, the report that we received, we passed along immediately to Ontario. We are working with them on the next steps. But I will leave it to premier ford to share that report and discuss the next steps in a couple of hours when he moves forward for his press conference.

Reporter:

As you know tomorrow, we’re expecting a decision on Meg wanzhou’s extradition and this will upset people on one side or the other, the Chinese or Americans. What level of interaction there’s been between your government and your counterparts on the Chinese side and the American side, preparing for one of those two possible outcomes. Are you concerned, and have you spoken to them about the possibility of retaliation if it gounlt their way?

Prime Minister Trudeau:

We have continued to engage diplomatically with our partners, both the Americans and Chinese, on the issue of Meg Lanzhou and, indeed, of the two Michael’s who have been arbitrarily detained in china. But one of the good thing action having a truly independent justice system is that we don’t need to apologize or explain for the decisions taken by our independent justice system. We have confidence in that system, in its independence and we, of course, will continue to abide and defend our system.

[Voice of Interpreter]:

Of course, there is constant diplomacy between Canada and the United States and china on various issues, including the Canadians detained in china. But one of the advantages of a fully independent judicial system is that we don’t have to explain or make excuses for our system. We have confidence in the judgment that comes out of that system and the approach taken by people in our independent judicial system. and that is a major advantage we have in Canada.

Reporter:

Prime Minister, just to follow up on extending the military’s mission in long-term care facilities and the horrible conditions the report showed that they have found. Public safety Minister bill blair received the letter back on may 14. Outlining these allegations of abuse and neglect. Do you know why the Minister and his office would have sat on this letter for 10 days before acting?

Prime Minister Trudeau:

When we received this report, we shared it with Ontario. I found out the existence of this report on Friday afternoon. On the weekend, we shared it with Ontario. I read the report yesterday. and it is being made public today. These are things that we needed to move quickly on. These are things that we needed to – we need to take action on and, as I said, the federal government will be there to support Ontario and other province as they move forward.

and just to switch gears a bit, one of your Vancouver M.P.s has a we chat group she uses to communicate with Canadians. She has publicly tid on this group and invited people to join so it’s like a facebook page, if you will. and she’s allowed the group to be used to appeal to Canadians to donate to a lawsuit against a global news journalist for a story that they don’t like. The M.P. I’m talk about is your digital Minister for government, ms. Joyce morey. Her mandate letter calls for her to work with the media in, quote a professional manner. I’m wondering why you’re allowing this Minister and her staff to use the web presence to fund raise on a lawsuit against a journalist.

Prime Minister Trudeau:

This is the first I hear of this situation. and we’ll be following up.

[Voice of Interpreter]:

This is the first time I’ve heard about this situation and we will be following up. Merci.

[Voice of Interpreter]:

Thank you, all.