Government Operations Committee on June 9th, 2020

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

I appreciate that, of course, but the information that we've been asking for, Minister, and haven't been receiving from your department is already on the Internet there.

There was an order of 17 million masks, and there was a deposit of $100 million that was paid. I believe Mr. Matthews somehow said that there are some deposits being paid, but he did not clarify the number. I have numbers here: $100 million, 17 million masks—that's $4 U.S. each before delivery—that were ordered. We haven't received any of that. How come?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

I am not aware of the contract of which you are speaking. I'm going to ask my deputy minister, Bill Matthews, to jump in here.

[Bill Matthews]

Thanks. I'll be very quick on this one.

With regard to the N95 contracts, it is normal to make advanced payments partial—sometimes in full, but more partial now—but we have made no payments of $100 million for any advanced payment for N95s, so I'm not sure which contract—

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

You indicated, Mr. Matthews, that you have been paying deposits, or that you've been prepaying, for some of those contracts, but you did not say what the amount was. Will you be able to tell us the maximum amount that you paid for a deposit or that you prepaid to supply these masks, given the fact that we have received only 2% of what we have ordered in the last three months? How come?

[Bill Matthews]

There are two things there.

Roughly speaking, about 40% of our contracts have an advanced payment component on PPE, so I'll start there. It's not the dollar amount, but it's 40% of the contracts.

In terms of the orders and how they match up against deliveries, don't picture a giant order showing up one time only. These contracts are mostly structured, so it's a flow of goods over a number months. You will likely see about 30 million N95 NIOSH masks arriving from international destinations over the next four months. This is a staggered delivery scheme. Obviously, there has been some slippage, but that's quite normal.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Mr. Matthews, 121 million masks at $4 U.S. is half a billion U.S. dollars. The 40% deposit on that is $200 million U.S. that you paid already, so my $100 million is not out to lunch, is it?

[Bill Matthews]

No, that's not correct.

What I said was that roughly 40% of our contracts have an advanced payment component, not 40% of the advanced payments....

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Okay. You show another $21 million—

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Mr. Aboultaif, unfortunately we're out of time on that, but if you'd care to have a second round, I'm sure you could pose a question directly to Mr. Matthews at a later time.

We'll now go to Mr. Weiler for five minutes.

Go ahead, please.

[Patrick Weiler, Liberal, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you again, Minister, for coming to join our committee for the third time in a couple of months.

Minister, my province of beautiful British Columbia is now in phase two of our restart plan, under which many businesses have already been open for several weeks. We're hopefully going to be moving into phase three, under which a large number of other businesses are going to be opening up. Right now there is a significant need for PPE to support those businesses to safely reopen. There's going to continue to be that going forward.

You mentioned earlier that there was an announcement today about the establishment of a supply hub. How can interested small businesses use this tool to get access to critical PPE?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

I just want to indicate, in response to the last question, that the vast majority of the supplies we are ordering are coming in—gowns, surgical masks and face shields. It's important to keep that in context, because the Government of Canada's procurement effort has been largely very successful. Deliveries are going out to the provinces and territories every day, including 2.7 million N95 masks, which have been delivered to the provinces and territories.

Now, to your question about the supply hub, I will say that we have a range of resources on our web page for purchasers of PPE. Suppliers are also able to place information through us on that website. We've introduced, for example, links to the rapid response platform and the platforms of the Government of Manitoba and the Government of Ontario, which have information about individual items of PPE that businesses might need.

We are continuing to update that website, and I encourage you to take a look at it because it is an innovation. It connects businesses across the country with a one-stop shop of resources for the acquisition of PPE.

[Patrick Weiler, Liberal, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

Thank you for that.

Judging from some of the questions earlier, there's a huge degree of interest in the supply council. Just to clarify for the committee, what is the role of the supply council in relation to procurement?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

I didn't have a chance to provide detail on the role of the supply council earlier. From the beginning, we've been working with partners at all levels of government and with industry to secure life-saving medical equipment so that we can keep front-line health care workers safe. We as the federal government can do our part in the procurement effort.

As part of that process, we put in place the supply council. It brings together a diverse range of leaders to provide advice on establishing further diversified supply chains for key items so that we are prepared for any eventuality. This council builds on our collaborative approach to help us address current and future supply challenges and to ensure that Canadians are able to access PPE. The supply hub I just mentioned is one innovation that the supply council was able to provide advice on in terms of ensuring we have enough resources for diverse communities across this country.

The council is in place to provide advice on our work, but it has no role in procurement whatsoever.

[Patrick Weiler, Liberal, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

Thank you.

I'm going to switch gears quickly here.

Construction on Parliament Hill has been able to continue throughout the period of social isolation. Can you tell us how you worked with the construction industry to ensure that extra health and safety measures were put in place for government projects and how that has translated into private projects?

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

If you can respond in about 30 seconds, Minister, I would appreciate it greatly.

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

PSPC temporarily demobilized 85 projects in the precinct. This included projects taking place in occupied space, including fit-up and building improvement. However, construction activities continued on the Centre Block and the East Block, though to mitigate the transfer of COVID-19, they were limited to activities undertaken in unoccupied spaces. Both projects are able to facilitate social distancing and compartmentalization.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Thank you very much.

Now we'll go to our final, two-and-a-half-minute interventions, starting with Xavier Barsalou-Duval.

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Madam Minister, in a previous meeting, you or one of your officials mentioned that you had an exclusive transportation agreement with Air Canada and Cargojet to transport supplies from abroad.

I would like to know the total value of contracts between Air Canada and your department since March.

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

Thank you for your question.

Let me give you an answer on that later, since I do not have the details in front of me right now. Having said that, I want to make it clear that those flights were very important. There were over 50 of them.

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

I would be very grateful if you could send me the total value of the contracts. I am also certain that those flights were important.

However, I would like to know if, before awarding public contracts to Air Canada, you took the opportunity to discuss whether or not it intends to obey the law and refund travellers who have not been given refunds.

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

I thank you for your question, which is very important.

I feel that the question should be directed to the Minister of Transport. However, I would also like to say—

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

Perhaps, but your department awarded the contract.

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

Yes, but as far as upholding Canadian law is concerned, that is up to the Minister of Transport.

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

Okay, but do you not think it is a little strange to award contracts to a company that does not obey the law?

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Thank you very much. Unfortunately, we're out of time, Mr. Barsalou-Duval.

Our final intervention will go to Mr. Green, for two and a half minutes.

Go ahead, please.