Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Delay, delay, delay. That's what I'm hearing from our Conservative colleagues across the way.
Just one meeting ago, we were hearing how urgent it was that we speak to the opioid crisis in Canada, with several hastily constructed motions in that regard. Suddenly, it appears that's no longer urgent; that's no longer an urgent issue.
In my mind, this is where we wanted to bring this committee: to look at the study that is already in the queue on women's health, a study of deep concern to all of us and to Canadians, and then to proceed to the opioid crisis study, which was moved by me some time ago. We have been waiting to proceed to that study so that we can make some new and informed recommendations for how much more we need to do to address the crisis that is killing 20 Canadians a day.
Here we are now, with a Conservative revisionist history, delay and smoke and mirrors, pushing for accountability on a non-issue.
I have two important points to make. I know that my colleague, Mr. Jowhari, has made those points, but I think they are worth reiterating. There is no lost money. The $150 million is money that was part of Canada's vaccine acquisition strategy in advance purchase agreements. There has already been full transparency with these contracts, with the Auditor General and with the public accounts committee. Parliamentarians from all parties have reviewed these contracts. The money spent, the $150 million, was part of a highly successful strategy to actually lead us to deliver vaccines and save thousands of Canadian lives, a strategy that led to Canada's vaccine rollout being one of the most successful on the planet.
What happened in the end is that we did not see a vaccine produced and ready to go from the company in question, Medicago. Yes, that's unfortunate, but $150 million, as my colleague said, was spent on research and development and infrastructure development in Canada. More importantly, at the time, of course nobody had the ability to know in advance which contracts were going to result in vaccines ultimately being delivered to people. Obviously, if we had the ability to predict the future, we would be in a much better place from all kinds of points of view. You make decisions at the time based on best estimates of success. Advance purchase agreements were made with vetted companies through vetted contracts.
In my previous role as the chief medical officer of health in the Yukon during the pandemic, seeing Canada come through with vaccines was literally a lifesaver for my citizens in the Yukon and also for Canadians around the country. It was welcome relief.
Accountability is fully there, to the point where the Auditor General has reported on and approved the process. I can quote the Auditor General's finding:
We found that, although a non-competitive approach was taken, Public Services and Procurement Canada exercised due diligence on the 7 vaccine companies by conducting assessments to examine the companies’ financial capability to meet requirements and by conducting integrity checks to mitigate the risk of unethical business practices. We found no issue with the delegation of authority because the Minister of Public Services and Procurement signed the 7 advance purchase agreements.
Mr. Chair, if we reflect back to the time not that long ago, just over a couple of years ago, when this very committee was meeting in February 2021, what were our Conservatives colleagues saying then? There was statement after statement urging the government to step up in vaccine acquisition. There were statements such as, “That is a question the government cannot answer. It has not received enough supply to deal with this question. This is why it is so imperative for the government to get us more vaccines.” There was statement after statement urging Canada to step up and acquire vaccines.
Again, as outlined by the Auditor General, this was Canada's role, and it was verified through the Auditor General's approval that this was one of the seven vaccine companies selected based on financial capability, integrity checks and the viability of the company. Once again, we are using committee time to address issues that are spurious and delaying the earnest work that we are all waiting to proceed with on behalf of Canadians.
Now, given that there is a need for information as to some of the details of the contract, which are not at the moment at the disposition of this committee, I would be willing to support, and I think my colleagues would be willing to support, some amendments to this motion.
I therefore propose an amendment. The wording of the amendment would be that we delete everything after the first “the committee”, which is in the third line, and replace it with the following: “hold four hours of meetings on the government's advance purchase agreement for vaccines with Medicago and invite officials from the Public Health Agency of Canada, Public Services and Procurement Canada, the Auditor General and Medicago.”
I think that would fulfill some of the unanswered questions that members have brought forward, and it would allow us to proceed with the most efficiency possible in order to get on to some of the urgent committee business that my colleagues have also expressed.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.