Government Operations Committee on Nov. 16th, 2020

[Patrick Weiler, Liberal, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

Okay, thank you.

First, I want to thank the minister for coming to our committee for the fourth time, and to thank the officials for joining her today.

I'd like to start with something that is certainly top of mind for folks right across the country. It's something I'm hearing about constantly, with the really good news that has come out recently about the Pfizer vaccine.

Minister, related to your comments earlier, I understand that you and your department have been working really hard to make sure that Canadians have access to a vaccine when it is ready. I was hoping you could give us an update on how this process is going.

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

This topic is of extreme importance to Canadians, and we are seeing every day the news, like we heard today from Moderna, coming out.

Let me just provide the context for our vaccine procurements for you and the committee. We have bilateral agreements with seven of the world's leading vaccine candidates, and access to another six vaccine candidates through the international COVAX facility.

This procurement process, which was occupying our attention very much over the summer months, guarantees Canada a minimum of 194 million doses, with options for up to 414 million doses. The agreements cover different types of vaccines: mRNA, protein subunit and viral vector technologies, in particular. The strategy was that we needed to make sure that Canadians had access to a diverse range of candidates, because at this stage we don't know which vaccine is going to cross the finish line—or vaccines, for that matter. We don't know which vaccine is going to get Health Canada approval, and so we need to make sure that Canadians have access to a diverse portfolio, and that's exactly what we did.

We're also working with manufacturing facilities here in Canada. We've invested $126 million in the Royalmount facility to ensure domestic biomanufacturing of vaccines. We've also invested in a Canadian supplier, Medicago, out of Quebec, to make sure we have a Canadian or made-in-Canada solution here as well.

This is a broad-based approach to vaccine procurement. It is ongoing, especially with the logistics now, but that gives you a snapshot of what we are working on at the current time.

[Patrick Weiler, Liberal, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

Thank you for that.

You touched on it a bit, but I was hoping you could speak a little more to the challenges associated not only with the procurement of vaccines, but also with their distribution. Some of the vaccines need to be stored in -70°C, for instance, so I was hoping you could share more information on how these logistical and distribution challenges are going to be managed.

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

It is a very good question, and I think it's a question on Canadians' minds right now.

I've already spoken about the importance of the regulatory approval process, and I want to to set out the stages that we are working on in the logistics process. After regulatory approval, we need to also think about biomanufacturing and fill-and-finish capacity here in Canada, because some vaccines may arrive in vat format that will require filling and finishing to occur here in Canada. Once that occurs—and we're hoping that we will have a Canadian facility here to do that to some extent in the Royalmount facility in Quebec that I mentioned—there's the distribution process.

As for your attention to the need for storage or refrigeration at -75°C for the Pfizer vaccine, that is part of the distribution process. We have put in place contracts for deep freeze and refrigeration to enable us to meet the needs of the vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna. For example, we will have the ability to store 33.5 million doses at a time in the freezers for ultra-frozen and frozen vaccine storage that we just put in place last week.

In addition to the distribution of vaccines, we are also working on supporting the provinces and territories in the administration of the vaccines. In that regard, we have procured 90 million syringes, 100 million needles, Sharps containers, 90 million alcohol swabs, 75 million bandages and gauze strips. This is very much a collaborative approach with the provinces and territories. We are placing orders based on indications and orders that are coming from the Public Health Agency of Canada. It is not just PSPC deciding what should be ordered. Based on the vaccine task force and the Public Health Agency of Canada, we are putting in place the logistics and the distribution systems.

[Patrick Weiler, Liberal, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

Thank you, Minister.

I'm not sure if my last question would fall under your ministry. How will we determine which Canadians get access to the vaccine first, and will Canadians have access to the vaccine once it's ready?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

You're right that that's not truly within my portfolio. It is a cross-government discussion about who will get the vaccines first, but we will take note that the national advisory committee on immunization released preliminary guidelines at the beginning of the month to guide the development of priority plans.

Minister Hajdu is engaging directly with provinces and territories on prioritization. The provinces and territories themselves have the best knowledge of the health care systems in their jurisdictions, so they will be making the final decisions in that regard.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

Thank you, Madam Minister. I appreciate that.

We'll now go to Ms. Vignola for six minutes.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you for being here, Ms. Anand.

As part of the national shipbuilding strategy, Irving Shipbuilding delivered the first of six new Arctic and offshore patrol ships to the Royal Canadian Navy on July 31, 2020. The total cost of the project is $4.3 billion.

The ship HMCS Harry DeWolf had an unexplained breakdown.

As part of the national shipbuilding strategy, do procurement agreements, and in particular the contracts with Irving, include terms and conditions to ensure that any performance issues are resolved quickly at the shipyard's, not the government's, expense?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

Thank you so much for the question. It's certainly an important one.

Can you hear me?

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

Yes, I can hear you well.

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

Thank you for the question.

As minister, I take the contracts, every single contract, very seriously, including issues relating to the costs that Canadian taxpayers are bearing under this strategy.

By the same token, I believe that the NSS does offer significant benefits to the broader Canadian economy, so these are the things that we are balancing at the current time.

We are making sure that our investments in the AOPS for the Coast Guard are allowing the delivery of important services for Canadians and creating good middle-class jobs.

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

Okay.

I have no doubt that you are making sure that the budgets represent the costs well and so on.

If there is a problem, is it fixed at the expense of the shipyard or of the government?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

As you can imagine, these are massive issues. They are large contracts that extend over multiple years. They're long-term contracts, so we are constantly engaged with each shipyard regarding its ability to perform under the terms of the contract.

I have asked my department to be very serious in its conversations with the shipyards to make sure that we are maintaining their compliance with the terms of the contracts, and in that regard, I will ask my deputy minister to provide some more details.

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

It's simple, the shipyard or the government pays.

[Bill Matthews]

I will just add that the ships are complex and large, and they do come with warranties, so anything that happens during the warranty period is absolutely covered by the shipyard. Beyond the warranty period is obviously a different question.

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

Thank you.

Will the breakdown I mentioned affect the delivery schedule of the second Irving vessel, yes or no?

[Bill Matthews]

I want to clarify that it is the first vessel in this class.

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

There will be a second one. Will there be a delay in delivery?

[Bill Matthews]

If there are problems, the shipyard will fix them. It is important to examine the vessels to make sure everything is working properly.

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

We agree on that.

Will the problem that needs to be fixed on the first vessel delay the delivery schedule of the second vessel?

[Bill Matthews]

The second AOPS for the Royal Canadian Navy is currently scheduled to be delivered in the spring of 2021, and it's the second in class. Then we will be hitting a schedule of roughly one per year as we go forward.

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

If I understand correctly, the delivery should not be delayed.

[Bill Matthews]

That's the current schedule as I just outlined.

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

Okay.

I would like to understand why the largest shipyard—which represents 50% of Canada's shipbuilding force, and is on time and on budget—received only $3 billion, while the other shipyards, which have accumulated delays and cost overruns, received $77 billion.

I just want to understand the logic behind that.

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

As I mentioned, these are long-term contracts, and what we have are specializations growing within the shipyards. Whereas the Vancouver shipyard has a specialization in the science and research ships and the icebreakers, for example, the Irving shipyard is focused more in the defence area.

With this division of labour, so to speak, we are able to ensure we are meeting the needs of various sectors of the Canadian economy.