Government Operations Committee on July 23rd, 2020

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Was Global Affairs the client on this?

[Bill Matthews]

Global Affairs was our main client to put the standing offer in place, but the intent was that, if other departments wanted to order from it, they could, but they would have to understand, again, what their security requirements were.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Mr. Chair, I'd like to introduce a “matter at hand” motion in regard to this. I'll do it now and use up my five minutes, so as not to take away time from the others.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Thank you, Mr. McCauley. I've taken a look at it. It is admissible, but I would ask that you read the entire motion into the record for the benefit of our colleagues.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

I move:

That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), officials from the Communications Security Establishment and the Department of Public Services and Procurement provide the committee with a briefing on the Nuctech security equipment contract; that the relevant departments provide all documents, memorandums, and briefing materials related to the Nuctech security equipment contract, and that the meeting be held no later than Monday, August 31, 2020.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Colleagues, we have heard the details of the motion. I will assemble a speaking list. If you wish to speak to the motion, please indicate by raising your virtual hand. I'll ask Paul to assist me in this so that we can get through this. Are there any members who wish to speak to the motion presented by Mr. McCauley?

Mr. Drouin.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Yes, I have a question for Mr. McCauley. I know he's given the date before the end of the month. I know we will probably be discussing meetings for WE. I'm wondering about timelines. If it does come to a priority, will he prefer to have our committee look at the WE Charity situation, or is he going to prefer this, because we will have passed a motion to look at the contract? I'm trying to get a sense from him.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

It's just one meeting. I'm sure the chair and the clerk can figure out timing in order to prioritize it.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

We'll go to Madame Vignola, and then Mr. MacKinnon.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Given the situation internationally, I think it's a good idea to study the issue. To Mr. Drouin's point, I would suggest the committee spend a single meeting on both the WE Charity issue and Mr. McCauley's proposed study.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Mr. MacKinnon.

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Gatineau, QC]

I would ask the member who put forward the motion to invite Global Affairs Canada officials to appear before the committee or to ask another committee to hear from them.

Public Services and Procurement Canada handles the purchase of goods and services requested by other departments. It's involved in the procurement process, but it's not the end client. Why not ask the actual client to come before the committee to explain its actions or have the committee responsible for foreign affairs hear from those officials?

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Mr. McCauley, do you have any final comments?

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Yes, I think it's related to us. We've studied the NSE in the past. It's one meeting, but I also want access to the contractual and bid information.

We can certainly invite Global Affairs as well, but I think PSPC has a role, not just as “we'll take any contract and get it out” but to ask questions about the validity of the bids, not finding Canadian companies to bid on it and other issues as well. I'd be happy to have Global Affairs attend as well and explain.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

I see no other hands being raised.

Paul, please conduct the recorded vote.

(Motion agreed to: yeas 10; nays 0)

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Thank you, Paul.

That motion is carried, and we will be getting back to colleagues with the timing in short order. We'll perhaps discuss that further during committee business.

We'll now continue with our examination. We will go to a five-minute round with Mr. Kusmierczyk.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

We understand that the Public Health Agency received $1.8 billion for PPE in their supplementary estimates, and that another $4.5 billion is allocated to provide PPE to support provinces and territories through the safe restart agreement. How much of this money has been committed and how does it break down across government, health sector and the recently announced essential services contingency reserve?

[Bill Matthews]

The funding does break down across the three buckets, as the member suggested. Grosso modo, we have committed $5.9 billion in contracts. The vast majority of that—it would not be a surprise to people, I think, to understand—is for front-line health workers through the Public Health Agency of Canada. That's about $5.5 billion.

We do have a second bucket that we don't spend much time talking about here, but we do have procurement to support other government departments in their PPE needs. This would be our correctional services workers, border guards, etc. There's about $235 million there, give or take what's been committed.

To date, we have committed $229 million, let's call it $230 million, in contracts to stock the essential services contingency reserve. That comes from a combination of funds that PHAC would have received in its estimates as well as funding announced in the safe restart agreement.

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

That's great. Thank you very much.

Is there a projection or an expectation of who would be drawing or what types of sectors or industries would be drawing upon the essential reserve, or is it simply an open category and we don't have any expectations at this point?

[Bill Matthews]

There are a couple of key points there.

One is that the applicant would have to belong to one of the 12 essential services, which I've listed before. That's the first test. It has to be an acute need. Part of the assessment is proving that they've gone through and exhausted all other means, and it really is a necessary intervention, that they have no other alternative or there will be an impact on Canadians. Those are the broad strokes, but the first and most important test is those 12.

Do we have an expectation of who will use it? No, we don't. Within those 12, this is new. Our hope is that the private sector is able to supply PPE but as the economy starts to open, this is really about having a backstop in place.

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

Okay. That's understood.

On May 3, the Minister of PSPC announced the creation of the supply council. I know they've met on a number of occasions. I wanted to get your sense of what their contribution to this challenge has been and the solutions being brought forward. Have they been effective?

[Bill Matthews]

With your permission, I'll turn to my colleague Michael Vandergrift as he has been the key interlocutor with the supply council.

[Michael Vandergrift, Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Public Works and Government Services]

Thank you, Bill.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The supply council has met on three occasions since its creation. It's played a really important role in understanding what's going on with various sectors in terms of their access to personal protective equipment and other supplies. Of particular note is the work the supply council did to inform the supply hub that Mr. Matthews referred to in his opening comments. We tried to put together in one place information and resources for both suppliers and buyers of PPE, including linking up to marketplaces that have been formed by the provinces and in the private sphere to try to link those who have PPE for sale and those who need PPE.

The supply council played a really important role in trying to pull together and give advice on pulling together the various sources of data on PPE that can be useful to various sectors. This also includes information on occupational health and safety guidelines, consumer advice on PPE, health and safety information, etc.

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

That's great.

The last discussion of record was posted June 22. Is there an anticipated future meeting of the supply council or have they completed their mission?

[Michael Vandergrift]

No, there are anticipated future meetings of the supply council, likely later this summer.