First, I really appreciate Ms. Vignola for the spirit of her motion. It's really important, for this committee especially, to be leading in this discussion. If we can't do it here, we're in deep trouble.
I am worried about taking out the word “deplores”. I'll give you an example from my riding. We had a local distillery that stepped up to the plate, Wayward Distillery, in Courtenay. They started making PPE and hand sanitizer. They pivoted their distillery to making hand sanitizer during the beginning of the pandemic to support health workers, police, first responders and frontline service workers, and they made a lot of it. They donated $75,000 worth, and then they started getting contracts to develop it. They couldn't keep up with the demand, and they brought in ethanol and product from overseas to be able to supply it. Then Canada flooded the market with Chinese sanitizer. Now they're sitting on all this ethanol. They brought it in so cheaply, they couldn't sell it. They're sitting on this stuff. This is a business that's hanging on by a thread. They put everything into it to help Canadian companies, frontline service workers, and to help Canadians out. I think that's deplorable—I actually think that's deplorable—that this business is sitting on that inventory, completely stressed out. I have huge concerns about that.
I have no problem leaving “deplores” in there, because Canada still hasn't procured from this company and many other companies that stepped up. A veteran owns this company. He's been let down by his own country. I'm sharing that story because I think this is deplorable.
The other part of this motion that I have concerns about—and this is why, as New Democrats, we like motions to come in ahead of time, so we have time to look at them and bring back some thoughtful, positive contributions—is that the way this motion is written, it doesn't prohibit a Canadian company from procuring overseas. There are a lot of Canadian companies that are bringing in foreign PPE. This motion doesn't cite the fact that the product has to be Canadian made, when we're asking the government to replace the foreign product.
I think the motion should be amended after “Quebec”, “and made in Canada” should be in there. I'm hoping that the mover of this motion would be open to that amendment.
I agree; I would love to have all of the PPE replaced by January 31 as well. I don't know how practical that is. I think what is practical is at least having a timeline, where the government can report back to this committee by January 31 on a commitment to and implementation of Canadian PPE. Clearly this needs to be moved on quickly. I think this committee and Canadians need confidence that we're going to have Canadian-made PPE in circulation, replacing the foreign PPE.
Those are our contributions right now. I would ask the mover of this motion whether he'd be open to an amendment after “Quebec”, to add “and made in Canada”.
That's my explanation, and I'm going against his suggestion to remove “deplores”.