Statement made on 04 November 2009 by Senator James Cowan
Hon. James S. Cowan (Leader of the Opposition):
Honourable senators, my question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate. Yesterday, the Auditor General tabled her report. The Ottawa Citizen's front page headline today summed up her assessment as, "Disaster agency itself a disaster." The Auditor General found that this government has never formally approved a federal emergency response plan to coordinate emergency response activities across government. The article quotes Ms. Fraser as saying that this government ". . . has not exercised the leadership necessary to co-ordinate emergency management activities." Canadians are seeing the result of this failure as supplies of H1N1 vaccine are running out and vaccination clinics are closing their doors.
Yesterday, in response to my questions about the government's inadequate response to the H1N1 pandemic, the leader told the chamber that: "The government has and had a plan with the provinces and the territories."
Will the leader table this plan so that we and all Canadians can judge the adequacy of this government's preparedness to meet this pandemic?
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