Government Operations Committee on April 29th, 2022

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

Thank you, MP Vignola.

Let me briefly say that I appreciate your work. Clearly you have a lot of questions, which of course I do not have the time to answer. I am happy to answer subsequently in writing or to have officials contribute as well. Thank you for your good wishes and thank you for your respectful engagement.

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

Thank you, Minister. Should you or your officials need a little bit more clarification on what was actually asked, please notify our clerk. We will try to transmit that to you as quickly as possible.

We'll now go to Mr. Johns for two minutes.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Thank you, Minister, for being here for two hours to take some really difficult questions on some really critical and urgent issues. I appreciate your being here.

I want to go back to the question I asked earlier about the announcement around Moderna today. They applied to Health Canada for approval for a COVID-19 vaccine for children who are aged six months to six years old. Currently, we know that children under five years old still have no access to vaccines.

Can you confirm that the government has secured the doses needed to vaccinate children under five years old? Can you outline how quickly these vaccines will be distributed to the provinces upon approval?

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

Thanks for that important question. I'm pleased that we've had time to come back to it. It's always a pleasure, MP Johns, to work with you.

Look, we have good news on the Moderna front; I just had a call with them this week. The relationship is an important one, and they have helped save many lives in Canada. This announcement that the Prime Minister made today I think is absolutely fantastic. We want to increase domestic supply and production, so that's exactly what we're going to do.

With respect to your question, it was exactly why I had reached out to Moderna. We want to make sure that we do have an ample supply. I will say that we have 20 million doses, with options for 15 million additional doses for both 2022 and 2023. Agreements are in place for a future supply of up to 95 million doses from 2022 to 2024. Those agreements are always on the latest formulations. As you will know, the “junior pediatric”, as we call it internally—there is a pediatric, but this is a junior—is essentially a portion of the vaccine that we have in possession now. As soon as Health Canada gives the approval, we're very happy that we will have the supply.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

Thank you, Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Johns.

We will now go to Mr. Paul-Hus for four minutes.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister, I will come back to the issue of the famous $15 billion. We have no idea where this amount will be allocated.

We are here to talk about budgets. We have meetings where we have several discussions, after which parliamentarians are asked to adopt the budget appropriations. However, how can parliamentarians adopt budgetary appropriations when the government cannot clearly explain where this famous $15 billion is and, more importantly, what it will be used for?

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

This question again, Mr. Chair, I would send over to my officials. It's essentially a defence issue, but I'm happy to have my officials respond.

[Wojciech Zielonka]

Maybe I can jump in, Mr. Chair.

As the CFO for PSPC, I can say that the $15 billion is not something that we have in our budget. It would be more appropriate to send that question to DND.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

I understand, Mr. Zielonka. This funding goes to the Department of National Defence, but for procurement contracts, and it is Public Services and Procurement Canada that must award the contracts. These are amounts of money that do not exist anywhere, but that are budgeted.

We will leave it alone. I think the government should find a smart answer for this famous $15 billion, which, by the way, was found by the parliamentary budget officer.

Minister, I have a question for you about Canada Post.

Last January, Radio-Canada reported that the aboriginal reserves had different postal codes. I am currently in Quebec City, two kilometres away from the Wendake reserve. Right now, in Wendake, if you send a package, you have to pay 30% more than elsewhere. This makes no sense. We are talking about the Wendake reserve, which is located in the centre of Quebec City. Since the reserve's postal code is different, it is considered a remote area. The same problem exists throughout Canada.

I imagine that you are already aware of this situation, since it was in the news in January. Have any measures been put in place? When we talk about support for aboriginal people, it seems to me that this is one of the problems that should be very simple to solve.

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

Yes, I am aware of this situation.

In order to provide timely and consistent service to all Canadians, the cost of mailing depends on the size of the parcel, the distance to the original destination, the cost of transportation and processing delivery.

This issue is one that we continue to look at, and I also appreciate your bringing it to my attention.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Thank you, Minister. It would be very important to look at this issue. We can understand in the case of remote regions, but in the case of the reserves located near Montreal or Quebec City, it doesn't make any sense to pay 30% more to send a package.

As for transparency, several witnesses told us that parliamentarians had a problem with access to information on procurement.

Do you agree that more information should be provided to parliamentarians on the progress of the various major procurement issues? If we asked, would it be possible to obtain regular reports, in your opinion?

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

Are you asking about defence procurement or about procurement generally?

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

I'm talking about major procurement contracts in different areas. I know that you award a lot of contracts, but I'm talking about major defence procurement contracts, for example, or contracts like those awarded during the pandemic for the purchase of vaccines. So I'm talking about issues that are somewhat evolving. Would it be possible for the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates to receive regular updates, upon request, so that we can do our job properly?

I just want to know whether or not you are open to providing us with this information. More details can be given later.

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

Thank you, Mr. Paul-Hus.

Minister, could you provide that answer? Unfortunately, timewise—

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

It's going to take me a bit of time, but succinctly, there are measures in place whereby information is shared. If you have a specific ask, especially in defence procurement....

I mean, we are sharing information. What I wouldn't want to see is layering on extra work that's going to get in the way of the work that officials are doing in order to get projects done, but at the same time, I understand that if you think there's a specific problem in a specific area with respect to the information being shared, then I'm happy to hear about that and to look at it.

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

Thank you, Minister.

We'll now go to Mr. Jowhari as our last questioner. You have four minutes or less.

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll be splitting my time with my colleague MP Thompson, so if you could flag me within two minutes, that would be really appreciated.

First of all, Minister, as I'm one of the last who will be asking questions, I want to thank you for coming to our committee and dedicating a full two hours to answering our questions.

Minister, I want to focus on one of the items in your mandate letter in which I'm quite interested. It's the issue of forced labour in our supply chain.

Can you share with us what our government is doing, and specifically what you are doing at PSPC to ensure that Canada is procuring ethically sourced goods? What is the government's response vis-à-vis some of our large corporations that are engaged abroad, specifically in mining? Are we ensuring that resources they use don't fall under forced labour and that ethnic groups aren't forced to provide those services?

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

Thanks so much, MP Jowhari.

Before I answer, let me say this, because I don't think I get concluding remarks: Look at the really respectful dialogue. I appreciate the questions that you've asked and the respect that you've shown. I want to continue to work collaboratively with everyone to deliver for Canadians.

The forced labour issue is one that's important to me. Previously, I served as Minister of Labour and looked to move forward on this issue. I am delighted that my mandate letter says that I'm going to work with the Minister of Labour to move forward on legislation to eradicate forced labour in supply chains. It's really important.

We have made some steps forward, and they are important. For example, at PSPC there are now terms and conditions in contracts that state that if forced labour is used, we can terminate the contract. It gives us the power to do that. We took the significant and maybe even unprecedented step of extending the forced labour ban in CUSMA to all imports, and we did that in July, I believe. That was an important step.

We are taking steps and we have taken steps. This is critically important. We know Canadians would not support any use of forced labour in our supply chains. I look forward to continuing to work with the Minister of Labour and all colleagues in the House to come forward with legislation in this regard.

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

Mr. Jowhari, you have a minute and 20 seconds.

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

I'll yield that to Ms. Thompson.

[Joanne Thompson, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

Thank you. I appreciate that.

Minister, the final question I want to jump to is on the NSS. Being the MP for St. John's East and understanding the significance of the coast along Newfoundland and Labrador, I want to touch on the NSS and the efficiencies and self-reliance that it brings to the country. There's also the enormous economic benefit.

Could you touch on this and the jobs that the NSS has created to date? How can we continue to improve this economic benefit?

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

Thanks, MP Thompson.

This is an extremely important question. When we look at the shipbuilding strategy, we know that shipbuilding is challenging and difficult work, but we have companies right here in Canada that are working so hard to ensure that these ships are made in Canada.

As of December 31, 2021, we've awarded over $21.07 billion in the national shipbuilding strategy. It's contributed approximately $20 billion, or $1.82 billion annually, to Canada's GDP, and it's created or maintained close to 17,000 jobs between 2012 and 2022. It indicates the importance of this. It demonstrates the economic benefits.

Again, what I would share is that OSI is not a unique example. There are other examples. OSI is a company that got its start from the national shipbuilding strategy. It was—

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

Thank you, Minister. I appreciate that. Unfortunately, four minutes goes by very quickly.

I would like to thank you, on behalf of the committee, for spending the full two hours with us today. It's greatly appreciated. We really do wish you well with everything else and with your endeavours.

With that said, I'd like to thank the interpreters, technicians, analysts and clerks for all the work they've done.

I declare the meeting adjourned.