COVID-19 Pandemic Committee on June 4th, 2020

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

Mr. Chair, I understand the question being posed to me. However, let me assure the member opposite and this House that we are negotiating a range of exits from this contract with the supplier, and we do not want to jeopardize those negotiations by revealing this information at this time. When the time is—

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I want to turn to another topic. Since the signing of an agreement with Thornhill over two months ago, how many ventilators has the company provided to the government?

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Mississauga—Malton, ON]

Mr. Chair, as the member knows full well, we are in an arrangement for 40,000 ventilators that are produced here in Canada. Thornhill is one of those vendors. They have started to produce those ventilators, and we received a substantial number from them.

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

Can Minister Bains please clarify what a “substantial” number of ventilators means when we have received only 203 of the 40,000 ventilators that they say they have ordered?

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Mississauga—Malton, ON]

Mr. Chair, as you know full well, the number one priority is to protect Canadians and their well-being and to make sure that we have the appropriate number of ventilators to support our provinces and territories. I can say with a great deal of confidence at this moment that we continue to work with the provinces to meet their needs.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Ms. Block, ask a very short question, please.

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

The last time that we saw a schedule outlining what had been ordered and what was received, it was reported that we had received three ventilators from Thornhill. Can you please tell us what a “substantial” number of ventilators from this company is?

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Mississauga—Malton, ON]

Mr. Chair, as I've indicated, our government's priority is to make sure we have sufficient personal protective equipment, including the number of ventilators that provinces and territories and our front-line health care workers need, and we continue to address those needs.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Very good. Before going to the next line of questions, I would like to remind the honourable members to place their questions through the chair and not directly to the person to whom the question is directed.

We will now proceed to Mr. Kitchen.

[Robert Gordon Kitchen, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, PPE for our front-line health care workers has been in extremely short supply. This is despite the fact that the Government of Canada maintains the national emergency strategic stockpile, or NESS, intended to support the provinces and territories when there is an emergent need for medical supplies.

We know now that NESS has not been properly maintained under this government and that millions of masks, gowns and gloves have been thrown in the trash without being restocked. When the minister initially told Canadians that wearing a mask would do nothing to protect against COVID-19, was she also aware at that time of the lack of PPE stock in NESS?

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Chair, I want to assure Canadians that we are working together with provinces and territories to make sure that Canadians are kept safe from COVID-19, and this includes working with them to supplement their own stockpiles of PPE and medical equipment. So far, we have been able to fulfill all of the requests from provinces and territories, and NESS is still meeting its 24-hour delivery date.

As we said, we will continue to support Canadians during this difficult time.

[Robert Gordon Kitchen, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Well, the science was extremely clear on the effectiveness of masks in January, and it has not changed since.

Mr. Chair, last week at the health committee, the Red Cross stated that Canada has received 42 tonnes of PPE and other supplies from both Taiwan and China. The Minister of Health recently stated that there is an 80-20 split for supply shipments, with 80% going to the provinces and territories and 20% going to the NESS. Can the minister tell this House exactly how much of the 42 tonnes of supplies has gone to the NESS?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

As the Minister of Procurement, I can say that we are responding to requests from the provinces and territories and we are delivering PPE to front-line health care workers under the 80-20 arrangement, which is working very well for our provincial and territorial colleagues, and we are responding to emergencies in addition to doing that distribution.

[Robert Gordon Kitchen, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

What is the breakdown of the items received from Taiwan and China through the Red Cross? How many masks, gowns, gloves, etc. have been received?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

Mr. Chair, the items that we are receiving externally and via our procurements are all put into the NESS and then delivered out to the provinces and territories on the basis of the 80-20—

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

We will go to Mr. Kitchen.

[Robert Gordon Kitchen, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

The minister has had months to work on addressing the issues. Surely they could tell us that information. I can tell the minister that as of May 26, overall, Canada has received roughly 9.6 million face shields, 39 million gloves, three million gowns, 11. 9 million N95 masks, 101 million surgical masks and 203 ventilators. It's simple math to figure out what 20% of that is.

Can the minister tell us where in Canada these 20% of supplies are being stored?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

Mr. Chair, the 20% of items that are not being distributed out to the provinces are stored in the warehouses of the Public Health Agency of Canada when they arrive in Canada.

[Robert Gordon Kitchen, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

What is the location of those warehouses?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

Mr. Chair, the Public Health Agency of Canada's warehouses are in multiple locations, including one in—

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

We go back to Mr. Kitchen.

[Robert Gordon Kitchen, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

As we are concerned about a second wave, has PHAC begun to replenish the stockpile in all NESS locations?

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Chair, it is our top priority, of course, to always ensure that there is an adequate supply for people in Canada during this important crisis.

[Robert Gordon Kitchen, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Since we sent expired supplies to China, what are the expiry dates of the supplies that we received in return from China?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

Mr. Chair, may I suggest to the member opposite that as he himself has recounted, we are procuring millions and millions of PPE supplies. Expiry dates on these supplies vary by product and by order, Mr. Chair.