Francis Drouin at the Government Operations and Estimates Committee

On March 24th, 2021. See this statement in context.

March 24th, 2021 / 5:30 p.m.

Liberal

Francis Drouin Liberal Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I want to thank the minister for appearing before us.

Minister, I also want to talk about vaccine procurement. I'm an MP from Ontario, as you know, and I come from where the sunshine rises in Ontario—far, far east.

We know Ontario has over 570,000 doses in its possession right now. In January and February you reiterated on multiple occasions that Canada would get at least six million vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna. Despite the fearmongering from opposition members, you reiterated on multiple occasions there would be no reason to believe our vaccine suppliers would not respect their contractual obligations.

Recently the AstraZeneca vaccine was approved in Canada, and you were able to secure over 500,000 doses prior to March 31 through Covishield. How were you able to do that? Could you explain to this committee the relationships you have with various vaccine suppliers?

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