Government Operations Committee on June 9th, 2020

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

I understand that.

Recently, your department unveiled that it is spending $105 million of taxpayer money on two new Challenger jets for the Government of Canada.

Does this price tag include the life-cycle costs of the two jets?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

The costing of these jets that are required to ensure that the men and women in uniform have the equipment they need is an all-in costing. The cost of each aircraft is $29.2 million in U.S. dollars, and included in that amount is going to be an all-in type of amount.

We have the ability to hand this over to Bill Matthews, who has the precise items and can break it down if you want.

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

Minister, I want to clarify that I'm asking a question about the two new Challenger jets for the Government of Canada.

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

That's right, and I'm answering with regard to the Challenger costing. The total contract value is $75 million in U.S. dollars, and the total costing includes an all-in relating to parts and maintenance.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Thank you very much.

We'll now go to Mr. Kusmierczyk for five minutes, please.

[Irek Kusmierczyk, Liberal, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you very much, Minister—this is your third appearance in front of this committee—for always making yourself available and answering our questions in a forthright manner. I really appreciate your doing that for us.

I want to turn the attention back to the COVID crisis here and the situation that we're dealing with. In terms of the procurement of PPE, how has the procurement of PPE and medical supplies changed over the span of the pandemic? How has our strategy changed in terms of procurement?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

I appreciate the question, especially because I did not get to deliver my opening remarks.

We actually have evolved in our procurement during the pandemic and have reached a consistent pace of deliveries. There continue to be challenges, as I have mentioned. The demand for PPE is extremely high, globally and domestically, so we are constantly evolving and adapting our approach. We have an A-to-Z procurement process established. We have approximately one flight a day arriving in Canada, and we're delivering supplies in the short term and the long term.

We've also offered assistance to individual health care centres and to provinces and territories that need it, so there's a very collaborative approach that is occurring in procurement. We've succeeded in securing contracts with a wide range of suppliers. We're receiving deliveries on an almost daily basis now.

As we move to the next phase of the response, we are launching RFPs to solicit the goods that we need over the required timelines. We're continuing to source through our Buyandsell.gc.ca call-out to suppliers, based on the needs as they continue to evolve.

With regard to procurement, the purchasing of PPE continues—and is very important to front-line health care workers, obviously—but we are reaching a more stable, consistent pace of deliveries.

[Irek Kusmierczyk, Liberal, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

Thank you very much for that response, Minister.

You mentioned RFPs. What are some other ways we're letting companies know what supplies are still needed and where the emphasis is right now?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

The impetus that we have made for getting in touch with suppliers has been manifold. One of the most important things that we just launched today was our supply hub. On that supply hub, which is a web page on the Government of Canada's website, we are able to provide information to buyers and sellers of PPE. If you're a buyer of PPE, you will see links to other platforms, provincially and privately run platforms, that give you information about PPE that you can procure. It also provides purchasers with a list of questions that they can ask so that they're more informed in their purchasing decisions. That's probably the most important, or at least the most recent, innovation that we are using to reach out to those looking to procure and to supply PPE, but there are others.

Again, the transparency that we are utilizing on our web page, indicating our procurement orders as well as our deliveries and some high-level contracts domestically.... Those are all listed on our web page and are updated every single week. Again, we are focused on transparency while keeping in mind the need to keep our supply chains safe and secure, so that we can get materials and supplies to front-line health care workers as soon as possible to keep them and Canadians safe. That's our priority.

[Irek Kusmierczyk, Liberal, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

Thank you very much, Minister, for that response. Obviously, safe and secure supply chains are definitely a priority of this government.

Knowing that a large or significant portion of the PPE is still coming from abroad—from countries like China, for example—what are we doing to bring products up to Canadian standards when they enter our country?

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Minister, unfortunately, since we're out of time, I would ask that you provide that answer to Mr. Kusmierczyk in writing, as quickly as possible, through our clerk. I'd appreciate that.

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

Most definitely.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Thank you so much.

Mr. Aboultaif, you have five minutes.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Thank you, Minister.

How many N95 masks have we ordered—originally—and how many have we received?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

This information, of course, is updated regularly on our website. As the website indicates, we have about 121 million N95s ordered, and we have approximately 12 million N95s delivered.

I would like to ask my deputy minister if he could jump in here, as I believe he has a clarification.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

I have the information—

[Bill Matthews]

Mr. Chair, if I could clarify.... I did misspeak earlier when I said that the 12 million masks did not include the ones that were rejected. They do include the ones that were rejected.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

They do include it. That's why—

[Bill Matthews]

I just want to clarify that for the record. I apologize for misspeaking.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Therefore, 121,861,800 masks were ordered and 12,221,990 were received. Out of that, 9.8 million KN95s were defective. Out of the 10% of the original, we have only received less than 2% of the total order.

What's the cost of each mask?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

As you know, the cost is variable for N95 masks. As I mentioned, we are operating in an incredibly high period of demand, and it has caused the price of masks to fluctuate significantly.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

What's the average, Minister? Can you give me an average?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

I'm going to get the average for you momentarily.

I would have to work that out, but we are—

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Okay. There's information telling me it was $4 U.S. or $5.35 Canadian FOB. That's not including logistics and moves. Is that number reasonable?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

Can I just mention...? The price has fluctuated over the course of the last three months and, in fact, has come down somewhat. Each contract has a differing price for N95 masks. It would be inaccurate for me to indicate a precise price.