Parliament must press for a vote on a proper inquiry of cabinet’s pandemic management, New Democrat MP Don Davies (Vancouver Kingsway) said yesterday. “Liberals would love to do a whitewash,” he said..“The government cannot investigate itself,” Davies said in an interview. The MP has sought an investigation under the Inquiries Act..“The bottom line is we don’t want a whitewash,” said Davies. “The Liberals would love to do a whitewash. I am not only fearful of that, I’m anticipating it.”.According to Blacklock's Reporter, Davies’ remarks followed comments Wednesday by Senator Marc Gold (Que.), Government Representative in the Senate, who told Question Period cabinet was finalizing its own terms of review. Gold yesterday would not commit to a judicial inquiry..“Your government has said no to a credible and independent inquiry into pandemic spending and management,” said Senator Pamela Wallin (Sask.), adding: “Will you reconsider this absurd approach of passing judgment on yourself and have an independent inquiry?”.“The government is considering how to best address the important question of learning the lessons from the pandemic,” replied Gold. He gave no deadline for any decision..The pandemic resulted in 48,044 deaths. Cabinet increased the federal debt ceiling under the Borrowing Authority Act by $663 billion, a record. No federal executive was reprimanded or fired for mismanagement that included failure to stock medical supplies..“They brushed this off and dodged accountability in real time from the start of the pandemic with a pledge it would all come later,” said Davies. “Now that we’re in Year Three and it’s later, they are stonewalling.”.“It all starts with a fact-finding process,” said Davies. “It’s a starting point. Commissions of inquiry can subpoena witnesses, cross-examine them under oath, order the production of documents. Instead of papering over the government’s inadequacies, leave no stone unturned in finding out what happened.”.A private Liberal bill introduced June 17 in the Commons, Bill C-293 An Act Respecting Pandemic Prevention, would have the health minister “establish an advisory committee” to conduct a two-year review. Opposition MPs called the bill ridiculous..“That is like having the fox guard the henhouse because they all have a very vested interest in the outcome,” Conservative MP Ted Falk (Provencher, Man.) said November 15 in Second Reading debate on the bill..“Canadians will never get the answers they deserve if the ministers who perpetuated or promoted many of the failures, abuses and violations of Charter rights that we have seen over the past two years are the same ones tasked with reviewing their own government’s response.”.“Who got rich while Canadians suffered?” Falk asked the Commons. No cabinet member replied..“What we need at this time is a public inquiry,” said Bloc Québécois MP Jean-Denis Garon (Mirabel, Que.). “Instead of looking ten kilometres ahead, perhaps the Liberals should choose to look inward a bit,” he added.
