Government Operations Committee on June 7th, 2021

[Michael Mills]

I'm sorry. Non-industry-based.... How many are domestic?

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

How many are domestic? That's a better way of saying it. Thank you for helping.

How much of it is domestic and how much of it is international?

[Michael Mills]

In terms of our overall response to the pandemic, including goods and services, we're at about 40%. I'd have to get you the specific percentage on those 2.7 billion items. Maybe it would be lower than that.

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

Okay. Forty per cent are domestic and 60% are non-domestic. Is that correct?

[Michael Mills]

That's right.

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

Out of the ones that have been delivered, has that been mainly non-domestic?

[Michael Mills]

In terms of the 2.7 billion, it would have been a combination of both. The outstanding deliveries would be, for the most part, international deliveries.

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

The reason I'm asking this line of questioning is that I have the Canadian Association of PPE Manufacturers group in my riding. They have reached out to me and have said, “The government came in and asked us to build the capacity and we've built the capacity, so now is there a possibility that we could re-evaluate our international commitment?”

Some of those international commitments benefit from the subsidy from the government, and that is helping them to manufacture and putting them in a competitive position. Are we in a position to do an analysis of how many of these non-domestic contracts we have left? Is there any way that we could re-evaluate our interest in fulfilling that demand from the domestic manufacturers?

[Michael Mills]

There are a couple of points I'd raise on that. I would say that the three outstanding areas of delivery are gloves, N95 masks and gowns. For the gowns and the N95, the deliveries predominantly will be from domestic manufacturers. They're a small volume. A large volume of outstanding deliveries are for nitrile gloves. Unfortunately, at the current time there is no manufacturing capacity in Canada for nitrile gloves. Early in the year we launched an invitation to qualify. It was an invitation to industry to see if there was a way we could approach Canadian companies to establish nitrile glove manufacturing in Canada. We're still pursuing that process.

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

Thank you, Mr. Mills.

We will go to Ms. Vignola for two and a half minutes.

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

Thank you so much.

A few months before the pandemic, large quantities of equipment were thrown out. According to what you just said, we currently still need gloves and certain equipment that is manufactured in insufficient quantities or not manufactured at all here in Canada.

Once the demand in the country drops, what is the risk of the equipment that is currently stockpiled expiring? If there is such a risk, what measures is the PHAC implementing to ensure that resources will not be wasted blatantly ever again?

[Michael Mills]

For this one, Mr. Chair, maybe I would ask Alain Dorion to elaborate.

[Alain Dorion]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I am not trying to dodge the question, but I am under the impression that it is intended for the Public Health Agency of Canada officials.

Am I wrong, Mrs. Vignola?

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

The question is indeed for the Public Health Agency of Canada officials.

[Cindy Evans]

Mr. Chair, it's an excellent question. As we go forward, we will continue to work on a number of options, on life-cycle management and the objective of not having to move to disposal, which would be the last resort. We are working collectively with other government departments, a number of whom have requirements for personal protective equipment. That's one of the avenues we would look at. As well, what are other deployment options? As discussed, what are some of the divestment options, including looking at international donation? There are also other aspects in our Canadian environment where personal protective equipment would be necessary.

We continue to work collaboratively with the provinces and territories in terms of their ongoing needs. We continue to receive requests for assistance from provinces and territories. We're working with them and, as was mentioned by the Auditor General, using the supply-demand modelling.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

Thank you, Ms. Vignola.

We'll now go to Mr. Green for two and a half minutes.

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Through you, Mr. Chair, to Ms. Evans, is it safe to say that each of the remaining six national emergency strategic stockpile facilities have within them the purview to distribute the commodities, the N95s and all of them, to the regions in which they were located?

[Cindy Evans]

Mr. Chair, the national emergency strategic stockpile is managed centrally. The premise that Mr. Green has put forward would not be correct, no.

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Would you have N95 masks in Regina, gloves in Montreal and gowns in Vancouver to be able to distribute out to the provinces, or would you have a little bit at each location?

[Cindy Evans]

We would manage the supplies in a manner in which they could be distributed to the provinces within an appropriate time frame. We've set a 24-hour time frame. Certainly, disclosing the location of our specific commodities would not be something the Public Health Agency would put forward.

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

You threw away two million N95 masks out of Regina. How many other N95 masks did you throw away in the other two locations?

[Cindy Evans]

When the decision is taken to close a warehouse facility, all of the equipment that can be used is moved to other locations. It's moved centrally back to our central warehousing—

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

That wasn't the question, Mr. Chair. That was not the question.

The question was this: At the other locations that were shuttered, how many other N95 masks were disposed of?

[Cindy Evans]

I'm not aware of a record of disposal of N95s from other warehouse locations.

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Mr. Mills, are you responsible for the contracting out of the disposals at Regina? Would that be a contract that would be under your purview?