Government Operations Committee on April 24th, 2020

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

No, but I think the directive was that you were to have this stuff distributed before it was expired, which is a big part of the problem.

Through you, Mr. Chair, you'll—

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

But we don't distribute. We don't distribute.

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Through you, Mr. Chair, you'll note that at the appropriate time I do have a motion, and we'll get to that information later on. I want to make sure that we have a chance to talk about our government as an employer, because I think we have a very important role, and I'll note that some really progressive steps have been taken to consider things that we are calling courage pay or danger pay, as it were. There has been an increase in pay for some grocery store workers, and there's talk about hazard pay for health care workers.

Honourable Minister, you've probably received from SEIU Local 2, from the secretary treasurer, Tom Galivan, recognition that we employ close to 1,000 cleaners in Ottawa alone and that as a federal body, we have properties all across the country. Has there been consideration for our front-line janitors and cleaners relating to providing immediate raises and keeping cleaners employed during this time, as well as ensuring that they're all working safely with the required training and PPE? How are we as employers taking care of our own staff and employees?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

I appreciate the question and especially the motivation for the question, which is one that I share with you in terms of empathy for those people who are on the front lines. I definitely have that concern in mind, too, but in terms of the precise answer to your question, that is an issue that rests with Treasury Board. I have been engaged in conversations, but it's not within my purview to set those things in place.

In particular, I will say that, as a member of Parliament and not as a minister, I have had conversations with unions in my riding that have the concerns you raised.

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

I do want to make one distinction. I'm not asking for empathy for the janitors. I'm asking for justice for the janitors, which is a little bit different.

There have been some conversations, at least according to the briefing notes that we have here, around procurement as it relates to different companies that have played key roles, and they've been identified on this call. There's one that I can recall, AMD Medicom. According to a media report, the federal government will fund the facility's start-up costs. We're hearing a lot about masks and shields, but we know that public health is going in the direction of swabs and testing.

There is a company right here in Hamilton called Designated Medical, which has the ability to get in and potentially create 20,000 swabs a day within a week's time. Is your department looking at ways for direct investments in these start-ups so we can get companies like Designated Medical to come online and start with the mass testing? I think the generally acknowledged principle is that in order to get through this, we're going to have to start doing some mass testing.

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

Is the question relating to the way in which that corporation or any corporation comes into producing and contracting with the federal government or is it relating to a particular other issue that—

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

The emphasis has been on swabs and masks.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Francis Drouin]

Unfortunately, we're out of time.

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

I thought it was a straightforward question. I'll come back to it.

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

It is straightforward. I would love to answer it if the chair would let me have that time.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Francis Drouin]

I now have to let the official chair take over. I believe Mr. Lukiwski is ready to chair this meeting.

Welcome. Believe me, I didn't want to do a coup d'état. I just had to take over for a while.

Tom, welcome.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Thank you very much, Francis.

Can everyone hear me all right? I see nods.

Unfortunately, my laptop broke down. That's the cause of the technical difficulties and as a consequence, I have no headset or microphone and I'm also somewhat limited. I'm using a mobile device and we have a few issues with that as well. However, we'll muddle on through.

Our next speaker, I believe, for five minutes, will be Mrs. Block.

Kelly, you're up.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you very much, Minister Anand and departmental officials, for joining us today. I really appreciate the opportunity to ask you some questions.

I also want to say at the front end that I appreciate the briefings we've been receiving from the parliamentary secretary, albeit we were well into this crisis once they started, but they've been very useful and helpful for those of us who serve on this committee.

Minister Anand, there have been a number of stories reporting that Canada is building a supply chain in China. These stories have highlighted the connections that the current government has in that country, so I'm wondering if you could answer the following questions.

Who is on the ground, so to speak, or which department is in China overseeing the supply chain and ensuring the supplies get off the ground in China?

Given that there is yet another story about one million substandard masks arriving here, who is ensuring quality control over this Canadian made-in-China supply chain?

[The Clerk]

Minister Anand, I believe your microphone is muted.

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

I'm going to take that question in two parts: the first relating to on-the-ground operations in China, and the second relating to quality control.

The very first point that we have to remember, and we cannot stress this enough, is that it's a highly competitive global environment and international logistics are challenging. We are working very closely with our embassy in China, as well as with on-the-ground logistics experts in the private sector to get supplies into the hands of health care workers on the front lines of the crisis.

This means that from the point of contracting to the point of arrival in Canada, we have a multi-stage process in place. Our Ambassador Barton in China and I are in almost daily contact about the situation in China, and in addition to private firms in China, assists us with getting the goods to the warehouse and then through the bureaucratic channels and on the planes and over to Canada.

We are ensuring we have a diversified source of supply. When I talk about diversity, I mean diversity of country, of manufacturer, of goods, of suppliers, and ultimately of air carriers.

As for the flights that have arrived in Canada, over 10 flights now have arrived from China. The goods have been successfully warehoused and are getting out to Canadian health care workers.

The second part of your question related to quality control. Without question, quality control is a concern for us. That's why we have quality control occurring in China as well as on the ground in Canada.

Once the goods get to Canada, Public Health Agency of Canada has testing measures in place. They're in place for the very purpose of ensuring quality control of essential products so that the equipment that is sent out is safe for our health care workers.

We do hold back some supplies that don't meet the medical testing standards. At PSPC, we're constantly adjusting our procurement approach to mitigate this issue at the outset. This is a key reason we're continuing to diversify our supplier base so that we're not drawing on one supplier only.

Our commitment overall is to supply a good product to front-line health care workers.

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

Thank you.

I want to follow up that answer with another question.

We have this Canadian made-in-China supply chain. Are the companies that provided us with the substandard masks continuing to be part of Canada's supply chain?

Also, when the planes arrive in Canada, either full of supplies or empty, who is there to receive them?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

Sorry, what was the second question?

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

The second question is around the planes that arrive in Canada, whether they have supplies in them or not, who is there to receive them. Who takes ownership of that?

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Minister, we are almost completely out of time. At the end of your appearance before this committee, if there are any questions that you did not have a chance to respond to, I will ask you to provide written answers to those questions to our committee through the clerk. I would appreciate it greatly.

Now we'll go to Mr. Kusmierczyk. You're up for five minutes.

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

Thank you very much, Tom. I appreciate seeing you.

Minister Anand, thank you very much for being here and sharing your time.

I thank the officials as well. We know how incredibly busy you are, and all of your efforts are much appreciated.

Minister, I had a chance to speak this morning with David Musyj, who is the CEO of Windsor Regional Hospital. He stated that the support from PSPC and from your team has been “outstanding”. That was terrific to hear.

I know we're working together to try to secure PPE from numerous countries for front-line staff in our community. I want to ask you, Minister, if you can describe how PSPC works with other departments and other governments. Can you delve into that a bit?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

Thank you for that unexpected comment. I appreciate it.

As you know, we are the central purchaser and we are spearheading the consolidated purchase of emergency supplies and services required for Canada, including at the federal, provincial and territorial levels. We are procuring a wide range of emergency supplies and services at the request of the Public Health Agency of Canada, which is spearheading the asks from territorial and provincial partners.

As your comment suggests, hospital systems are also asking for our assistance, and we are providing transportation services from China for many different partners, including provinces, territories, hospital systems and conglomerates of health care providers, so that we can ensure that our front-line health care workers have the supplies they need.

It's not a competitive approach as much as it is a collaborative approach among people, partners, organizations and governments in Canada. We're all focused on the same goal, which is to make sure that front-line health care workers and Canada's health care professionals have exactly what they need.

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

Thank you very much, Minister.

During the Second World War, the area of Windsor and Detroit was termed the arsenal of democracy, and in a lot of ways Windsor and Detroit and the surrounding areas have now become our arsenal of health.

CenterLine is partnering with St. Clair College to build Ambu bags and ventilators. Hiram Walker and Wolfhead Distillery are converting some of their operations to make hand sanitizers.

Ford Motor Company, Fiat Chrysler and companies like Valiant TMS and Vistaprint are building face masks and face shields.

Minister, what do you think is the Canadian capacity to address the demand for PPE?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

You will have seen in the various releases from our government and in the press that Canadian industry has stepped up in a big way to rapidly scale up and retool production capacity, as your question suggests. With ISED, we are working very hard to make sure that contracts are in place for the retooling of Canadian industry. Among these measures, the strategic innovation fund will provide direct support to Canadian companies for large-scale products, and Innovative Solutions Canada will be helping companies to commercialize products more quickly.

You listed a bunch of companies, and I have previously, so I won't do that again, but I will say that we are pursuing every possible avenue to secure life-saving equipment and supplies that Canada needs from a diverse range of suppliers, both domestically and internationally.

On the distribution of supplies, whether they are Canadian or international, they all have to meet PHAC specs. Only after they have done that are they distributed by Amazon Canada, which is not a Canadian company but has operations and workforce in Canada, partnering with Purolator and Canada Post to make sure that our front-line health care workers get the supplies they need as expeditiously as possible.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

I'll interject now, Mr. Kusmierczyk, if you don't mind, since you only have a few seconds left.

Minister, I apologize for not—

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

I apologize, but I have to leave at noon.