Government Operations Committee on Nov. 16th, 2020

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you very much, Mr. Matthews, for your appearance today and your responses to a number of interesting questions.

COVID-19 has shone a spotlight on the importance of Canadian ingenuity and engineering when it comes to the production and procurement of PPE, medical equipment and whatnot. At the same time, it's also shone a spotlight on the importance of basic research.

I know that in the departmental plan, you state that, “In partnership with federal science-based departments and agencies, PSPC will advance the government's commitment to strengthen federal science by creating world-class collaborative science facilities.” I know the minister alluded to that in her opening remarks today.

Can we get a sense of the types of science facilities we are talking about and perhaps get some information on the timelines and where we are in that particular process?

[Bill Matthews]

Certainly. The change in direction as a result of the laboratories Canada initiative is around creating hubs of laboratories as opposed to having individual departments do their own thing. There are a number of hubs that have been created. The PSPC part of that story would be around contracting for and helping build the infrastructure required for the labs and really getting some economies of scale in how they're stood up.

Initial site selection has been done. The money you're seeing in the main estimates will continue with the planning. There are also some projects under way—I'm going from memory here—in Mississauga, Hamilton and, I believe, Moncton. They are first out of the gates, but there are more hubs to follow after we have initial site selection done.

It is a new, more collaborative approach among related departments in terms of how they approach the science piece.

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

Are those new locations for these facilities or are they simply where existing facilities and existing workforce and researchers are already located?

[Bill Matthews]

It's a bit of both. In some cases there will be new facilities, and some cases will improve or expand existing facilities, so there's a mix.

Obviously, if we can make use of an existing facility, that's a more economical way to go. In some cases, the facilities are so far run down or unfit for the purpose that a new facility makes more sense.

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

Okay, gotcha.

My colleague raised some questions earlier about the government's greening policies.

How are we integrating sustainable plastic and alternatives as part of our greening policies? Can you speak a bit about that and our goal of diverting 75% of our plastic waste from federal operations?

[Bill Matthews]

Certainly, and it's one of those things that COVID threw a curveball towards because a lot of our plastics usage was in things like food courts in our buildings that we own or lease.

We were working with the vendors, proactively with like-minded people, to work towards not using single-use plastics and more environmentally friendly products instead. We had some “experiments”, I would say, under way, a signal to most of our vendors that this was the way we were headed.

We were making some good progress, but given that most of our food courts are fairly empty these days.... That would be the main initiative there.

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

Okay, gotcha.

I know that PSPC also undertakes a number of waste audits of its facilities. Is that information available publicly and online in facility-by-facility waste audits? I'm just curious.

[Bill Matthews]

I don't know if it is available publicly or not, but I can find out, and we can get back to you on that.

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

Thank you, Mr. Matthews and Mr. Kusmierczyk.

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

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

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

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

In the current budget, how much money is budgeted for planning and ensuring vaccine distribution?

[Bill Matthews]

The current medical funding would come from the Public Health Agency of Canada, and the expenses there would eventually be in their budget.

In addition to the vaccine contracts themselves, PSPC has a process under way around distribution to contract with a third party logistics provider specifically on vaccines. We will be having some results from that fairly soon, but the funding for those contracts will be out of the Public Health Agency of Canada.

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

So there are contracts under negotiation, but we don't know what budget will be used. I'd have to ask the department that will award the contract how much can be invested in the process.

Do I have that right?

[Bill Matthews]

The competitive process is under way, so we're not at the negotiation stage yet. Again, the role of Public Services and Procurement Canada in this regard is to help manage that process and negotiate the contract, but the actual funding for that contract will come out of the Public Health Agency of Canada's budget.

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

Okay.

It has been reported that 400 million vaccine doses have been reserved for 38 million people. I understood earlier that there is the whole issue of vaccine preference based on this or that criterion.

Has a deposit been given to reserve these vaccines? If yes, what is the amount?

We're talking about 400 million doses, which is still more than 10 times the population of Canada. If we get the 400 million doses that we've reserved but don't need them, what will we do with them? Do we respect the idea of not harming developing countries that can't afford to pay the big price or are we going to keep them for ourselves?

[Bill Matthews]

There are a couple of points there. Number one, most of the vaccines we're talking about require two doses. As mentioned, none of these vaccines is yet approved for use, so it's not certain that they will come to fruition, but Canada does have the option to donate doses to other countries if that is of interest. Again, that is a question more appropriate for Global Affairs and Health Canada.

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

Thank you, Ms. Vignola.

Two and a half minutes can go by very quickly.

Mr. Green, you have two and a half minutes.

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Mr. Chair, as a point of order, before you start my time, can we make sure Mr. Matthews' sound is working in good order, without echo? I don't want to go through this again.

[Bill Matthews]

Am I the only one hearing the echo?

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

No, I was hearing it too. I think it has to do with the Zoom, when it switches from the “in room” to you.

Can you just say a couple of things?

[Bill Matthews]

Certainly. I'm very much looking forward to Mr. Green's questions.

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

I should be good to go, so if you have your stopwatch, we can get going.

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

Okay, Mr. Green, I'm touching the start button now.

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Thank you very much. Through you to Mr. Matthews, I'm going to switch gears a bit.

We know that, in the last Parliament, Bill C-344 was a private member's bill to amend the Department of Public Works and Government Services Act “to provide the Minister with the authority to require an assessment of the benefits that a community derives from a construction, maintenance or repair project.” :

Given the government's recent signals that a COVID recovery would include significant investments in infrastructure, does your department still follow that in spirit, even though it looks as though the bill might have gotten stalled at the Senate?