Opposition members of Parliament say they fear that new pandemic preparedness legislation would allow the government to sidestep a thorough review of how it handled COVID-19.
"If you look at the experience with SARS, there was there was a report, there were recommendations and some were even acted on -- but not all," said Erskine-Smith, who appeared before the committee by videoconference on Thursday.The bill calls for the Public Health Agency of Canada to table its pandemic preparedness plans with Parliament to improve transparency.But opposition parties are pushing back on that, calling instead for a full independent inquiry.
Opposition parties have been calling for an independent inquiry into how the government handled COVID-19 for months. Conservative MP Matt Jeneroux said he fears the government would use the bill as a shield, though he said he doesn't think that was Erskine-Smith's intention.But to avoid politicizing the bill, he said he is fine with MPs removing it and focusing instead on holding future governments to account.
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