Government Operations Committee on March 24th, 2021

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

It really doesn't actually because it's based on per capita.

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

It also depends on the type of vaccine that is being procured and the availability of that vaccine. For example—

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Minister, are you proud of the fact that we're 60th?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

I don't acknowledge that we are 60th because you haven't shown me any documentation to prove that's the case.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Minister, you haven't presented me with an alternative. Where would you rank us?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

It's not a conditional point. What I'm saying is that our—

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

What sources would you like to look at, and what ranking would you offer based on those sources?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

I will provide that to the committee if that is the direction that the member would like to travel.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

It is the direction. I just asked the question and you weren't able to answer it. What I can say is this. I can say that if we're 60th, but yet you as the minister who is responsible for this portfolio are saying that we have a world-class portfolio, clearly for us being ranked 60th the problem cannot be with the portfolio. The problem then must be with the one who is responsible for the portfolio. Would you agree?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

I do appreciate this very interesting question. I will simply say that we are at the very beginning of a very long vaccination campaign and we cannot make decisions about winners in this race at this very early moment.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

I'm just wondering, would you agree?

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

Thank you, Minister, and thank you, Ms. Harder.

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

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and Minister.

I really appreciate you joining us here today. I just want to recognize, frankly, the incredible work that you and your department have done in the face of unprecedented circumstances. The level of coordination and co-operation that was required across all levels of government is simply incredible in this unprecedented environment.

I want to focus on the issue of personal protective equipment. I know that in my riding of Windsor—Tecumseh an excellent example of Canadian industry stepping forward to retool and respond to the pressing need is Harbour Technologies. Its contributions have saved lives and I'm proud of its contributions to the health and welfare of the provinces.

Minister, the opposition have raised concerns about our PPE procurement and whether you did enough to engage Canadian industry.

Minister, can you outline your PPE procurement strategy and what steps you took to ensure that Canadian suppliers were fully part of the process?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

I would like complete my response to the last question. The number that matters the most is the number of Canadians that are vaccinated. That number is increasing by the hundreds of thousands every single day. Over the course of time, as the millions of vaccines come into this country, we will continue to see our Canadian population vaccinated. It's important to recognize that Canada is competing in a global environment, and we are still able to get vaccines into this country and into the arms of Canadians.

Now onto your question.

The procurement of PPE was the first mountain that we climbed at PSPC during this pandemic. We procured over 2.7 billion pieces of PPE, and over 1.5 billion have been received to date. We have contracts in place for face shields, gloves, gowns, hand sanitizers, N95s, non-medical masks, cloth masks, surgical masks and ventilators.

What we have done in this procurement process is to ensure we have domestic capacity in place, just like Harbour, the company you mentioned. It's important to note that over 40% of our contracts, by dollar value, are with Canadian companies. While we procured from a multiplicity of sources, we ensured that Canada would never again be in a situation that it was in at the beginning of this pandemic.

In addition, this time last year, there were no N95 Canadian-made masks in this country. Now a company, Medicom, in Quebec, has produced 10 million N95 masks. The 3M plant in Brockville, that we entered into a contract with the province of Ontario, is up and running and producing masks.

Finally, if I could go back to the question that I was asked regarding rankings, I like to speak in hard facts. I like to provide the documents to my colleagues before I cite numbers from them. We are 12th in the OECD in total doses administered. That is a far cry from 60th.

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

You had a chance to visit Windsor-Essex a few weeks ago to meet with the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit, local health care workers from our area hospitals and health care providers to discuss vaccines and the local vaccine readiness.

One of the concerns that was raised was with regard to the supply of PPE, such as syringes and disposable gowns, for when the local vaccine rollouts accelerate, and when we see more clinics pop up and more pharmacies delivering vaccines, which we are seeing right now.

Could you speak a bit to our readiness in terms of PPE supply for the big vaccine rollout? Could you also mention the role that the essential services contingency reserve potentially plays in that?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

I'm really glad the question has referenced syringes, because unlike many countries in the world, the PSPC has procured 262 million syringes and 160 million low dead-volume syringes, which are the syringes you need to extract the most number of doses per vial in an efficient and expeditious manner. We have 12 million of those syringes in Canada already, being delivered to the provinces and territories.

That's what we've—

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

Thank you, Minister. I appreciate that. I hate to cut you off there, but we have time constraints. If you could provide us with further information on that, it would be appreciated.

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

We'll go to Mr. Paul-Hus, for six minutes.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Good evening, again, Minister.

I know how we can save $375 million, which is equivalent to the taxes paid by 25,000 middle-class Canadians. That is the cost of 15,000 unnecessary ventilators.

Can you tell us whether or not you will do everything you can to cancel those 15,000 unnecessary ventilators and save $375 million?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

It's interesting that in the question you say they're not going to be useful.

I just wonder, Mr. Chair, how my honourable colleague comes to that determination.

At PSPC, I'm simply continuing to execute requests that are given to me and my department from the Public Health Agency of Canada, and—

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

I can answer you quickly, Madam Minister.

We have taken 400 ventilators that were already available from the national emergency strategic stockpile, and 500 new ventilators have been manufactured. That leaves 25,000 that are not needed or may be needed in the future. However, that is far too many. We could cancel the contract for the remaining 15,000 ventilators and save the equivalent of the taxes of 25,000 Canadians. Since you don't want to answer, let's continue.

In the November economic update, your colleague Hon. Chrystia Freeland, the Minister of Finance, mentioned that $14.3 billion was for vaccines and therapeutic products. This includes $1.3 billion for COVAX—which is fine—and $2 billion to pay for two doses of vaccine per Canadian. We don't know where the other $11 billion goes.

Here's my question. Should we pay the companies even if we don't need the hundreds of millions of doses of the suite of vaccines you have famously reserved, yes or no?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

We paid a down payment to the vaccine suppliers for the provision of vaccines. If we do not receive vaccines or we do not exercise options, we do not pay the full amount of the contract.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

My understanding is that, if we can get enough doses from Moderna and Pfizer quickly to vaccinate Canadians, we won't have to honour the contracts and pay billions of dollars extra.

With respect to the timeliness for the vaccines—

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

Am I able to respond to any of these questions at all, Mr. Chair, or do I just have to wait and hear him make incorrect points?

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

It was information on my side, not a question.

I have a next question, Minister.

The Prime Minister has announced that every Canadian will receive one dose of the vaccine by July 1. Since two doses are required, no Canadian will actually be vaccinated by July 1.

How long will it take to get through the pandemic? Do we still see the possibility of doing so before September 30 or are we now looking at December?

Based on our current vaccination rate, we certainly won't be vaccinated by the end of the year. Is that true?