Finance Committee on June 1st, 2021

[Anna Dekker, Acting Senior Counsel, Judicial Affairs Section, Public Law and Legislative Services Sector, Department of Justice]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I can add just a little bit more. As the provinces and territories, and the courts themselves, are managing their own affairs, there's not always a completely common element.

As Mr. Hoffman said, we do work with them to provide...and ask them for whatever information they are able to provide, understanding that they don't necessarily have a standardized approach across all of Canada. It would be cases that are coming in, trends and new cases broken into categories and trends in the patterns of workflow. Sometimes we can look at things like the number of days that something is taking, whether there are self-represented litigants, which sometimes has the effect of extending a process, or whether various complicated matters have arisen.

Those are the sorts of details we try to look at with the participating jurisdiction.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Thank you. That's very thorough.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

I have a question from Mrs. Jansen.

[Tamara Jansen, Conservative, Cloverdale—Langley City, BC]

Are there any comparatives between the different provinces and their needs? Is everybody equal or do some get to go slower than others, or faster? How does that work? Is there a requirement for everybody to be able to achieve similar results with the same number of judges?

[Anna Dekker]

We try to approach it on an individual basis, so there is no fixed formula for determining a court's judicial complement. That is because the jurisdictions' courts themselves are responsible for the administration of justice. For example, the rules of court and civil matters are not identical across the board. Each request is considered separately on its merits and without comparing one jurisdiction to the other.

That said, we do keep in mind, for example, that in criminal matters we know that the Supreme Court has spoken to what presumptive timelines should apply, so those do help us and guide what should be expected.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

We'll not get into presumptive timelines. That would be a long discussion. However, they're very slow, if you ask me...but you're not asking me.

(Clauses 255 to 260 inclusive agreed to on division)

Ms. Dekker and Mr. Hoffmann, thank you both.

[Toby Hoffmann]

Thank you.

(On clauses 261 and 262)

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

We'll turn, then to part 4, division 28, which would amend the National Research Council Act. That's on page 282 of the bill.

Mr. Scott, I believe we should be able to see these two clauses together, clauses 261 and 262. Go ahead, please.

[Stephen Scott, Director General, Strategy and Performance, National Research Council of Canada]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and good evening.

Clause 261 is a proposed amendment to provide the National Research Council with the ability to incorporate and stand up arm's-length entities such as not-for-profit organizations. Under this amendment, the NRC would be able to establish special-purpose collaboration models that increase and deepen linkages between NRC researchers and academics and the private sector.

The NRC's new biologics manufacturing centre facility, which will be operated through a public-private partnership over the longer term, is an example of where a new collaboration model could be used.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Are there any questions?

Mr. Fast.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

I understood this biomanufacturing facility was going to be producing COVID-19 vaccines. Is that correct?

[Stephen Scott]

Yes, it is. That's the subject of the next clause as well.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Okay. We're doing them together, so I'm asking the question.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Yes, Mr. Scott, we're doing them together, so go ahead.

[Stephen Scott]

Clause 262 is a proposed amendment to enable the National Research Council to manufacture and produce medical products such as vaccines on a larger scale to respond to pandemics and other public health needs.

Currently, the NRC is authorized to produce medical products on a smaller scale for things like clinical trials and experiments. This new authority would provide the NRC with the ability to manufacture vaccines at a larger scale once the new biologics manufacturing centre at the Royalmount campus in Montreal receives regulatory approval by Health Canada.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Do we know what vaccines Royalmount would be manufacturing? We know they're going to be COVID-related vaccines, but do we know which ones? Is it going to be a partnership with Pfizer or with AstraZeneca? How does that look?

[Stephen Scott]

Currently, as announced earlier this year, the National Research Council is negotiating a manufacturing agreement with the U.S. biopharmaceutical company Novavax, to produce their vaccine candidate at the facility.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Mr. Falk.

[Ted Falk, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Are there currently any other private-public partnerships being considered that this would facilitate?

[Stephen Scott]

From the NRC perspective, we're conducting the analysis on the options right now to assess what type of public-private partnership this would best fit underneath. We are looking at various examples and best practices, such as the U.K. Vaccines Manufacturing and Innovation Centre.

There are some examples we're looking at and we're conducting an analysis now in terms of which model could best be used for the NRC's facility going forward.

[Ted Falk, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

I guess I'm looking a little further than even just vaccine production facilities.

What other types of industries are you considering in a private-public partnership that this amendment, at least the first part of it, would apply to?

[Stephen Scott]

I understand. Thank you for the question.

There are no current plans to use the amendment for other cases. The intent of the amendment is very much focused on enabling the operationalization of the biomanufacturing centre.

Once it's operational, the member is correct that it would be a part of the tool kit for future use by the National Research Council, but there are no current plans to use it in another fashion.

[Ted Falk, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

If it were to be used further, it would still require ministerial approval at the very least, but it wouldn't necessarily require Parliamentary approval.

[Stephen Scott]

Thank you for the question.

In the legislation, it is prescribed that every use of the authority to stand up a new entity requires Governor in Council approval. The government of the day would need to approve the stand up of a corporation once a proposal is put forward.

[Ted Falk, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

Thank you.