Standing Order 30 on H1N1 Crisis
Ms Blakeman:
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. As always with Standing Order 30 there are two categories of tests: one is that the genuine emergency that exists must be proven and, secondly, that there is no other opportunity for a debate to have taken place on the particular issue.
In this case I will argue the second category first, that there has been no other opportunity for us to have any substantial debate; therefore, following the words of the Government House Leader, it would be appropriate to do that this afternoon.
It is within the administrative competence of the government. There’s no government bill on the Order Paper. There’s nothing on notice on the Order Paper, nor has the Government House Leader indicated to me in our pre-session meeting that there would likely be a bill coming forward specific to the H1N1 implementation. There’s no private member’s bill, public bill, or private bill. Of course, there’s no budget, and again there’s no indication that there would be a supplementary supply budget that would open up for debate on this. There are no government motions.
Oral Question Period allows us a very, very brief time: 35 seconds to ask the question, 35 to answer. A number of mentions, including Beauchesne 408(1)(e) and (f) and 408(2) and 410(7), all speak to brevity, which is not a debate on the issue.
The second category, the genuine emergency. We’re seeing a number of issues take place. This caucus heard this morning from a resident at the Royal Alexandra, a few blocks from here, admitting that those residents are admitting people suffering fromH1N1 to that hospital and to the emergency ward while the residents themselves have not been inoculated and are not being allowed to be inoculated. That increases their risk as health care providers substantially and, of course, affects their families. As well, it increases the risk that the virus will be passed on by those very same health care providers.
The government has inoculated a little over 10 per cent of the population, but it has not completed or even started in some locations. Again I reference health care providers and a number of those from particularly vulnerable groups. I will focus on cancer patients, as raised by my colleague earlier today, who have very strict and limited windows, given their cancer treatment, of when they would be able to sustain a vaccination. They are not physically able to stand in lineups, but there have been no provisions made for them that we’re aware of. So that’s a third group of very vulnerable people who have not been able to be helped. I would argue that they would qualify under the genuine emergency considerations that are before us today.
So I would ask the Speaker to please rule in favour of the Standing Order 30 application. Thank you.
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