Health Committee on June 23rd, 2020

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Okay, I'll try to speak more slowly. How's that?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Minister, what I'm asking you about, though.... One day Canada says it supports the UN's call for a global ceasefire, and at the same time you end a moratorium, which then permits military vehicles to be exported to Saudi Arabia, which a UN panel has found to commit widespread and systematic targeting of civilians, which actually constitutes war crimes. Do you not see, sir, the contradiction there?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

I would say we've been transparent with Canadians, because three or four days before.... I think it was on March 31 when the amended contract was signed. I think it was only appropriate in my duty as foreign minister to come to Canadians before, to be fully transparent about what the Minister of Finance had renegotiated in terms of the contract with GDLS, and on the other hand what kind of measures I was putting in place to uphold the spirit and the letter of the law as Canada signed the ATT, talking about the expert panel I put, and also what we're going to do for an inspection regime.

If you look at the timing, Mr. Davies, just look at the date the contract was amended. I did that a few days after, before permits were issued with respect to that contract.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

If I could switch to another subject, the Government of Costa Rica has proposed that the World Health Organization set up a global pooling mechanism of intellectual property rights, research and data on COVID-19-related technologies. This is to ensure open innovation and support the production of COVID-19 technologies that will be equally open to all countries of the world. Has the Government of Canada made a public statement in support of that initiative, or what is your position on it, Minister?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

The fact that a vaccine should be a public good is something that has been talked about around the world. It's something that Canadians support and Canada supports. I think even the Prime Minister spoke about it. Certainly, we realize that, on this, we care for the most vulnerable in the world. As long as the virus is somewhere, we're all going to be at risk.

Canada has been at the forefront of the efforts. You may recall my opening statement. I was the one who said we need to amplify the voices of the most vulnerable, to make sure that what started as a health crisis doesn't turn into a food crisis, which is likely or may happen in some parts of the world. That would lead to a humanitarian crisis.

You may have seen the amounts that we committed when we were at the Gavi pledging conference, the amounts we put forward to strengthen the health care system in many countries. I certainly believe that this is a time for Canada to not only care for our country, but also show leadership around the world when it comes to the COVID crisis.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

That wraps up round one.

We do have a hard cap on our access to these video conferencing facilities at half past the hour. I think we'll have to do a somewhat abbreviated second round. Instead of five minutes, we'll do four-minute questions. For Mr. Davies and Monsieur Desilets, I believe it will be two minutes. Thank you for helping out.

With that, we will start our second round with Dr. Kitchen.

Dr. Kitchen, please go ahead for four minutes.

[Robert Gordon Kitchen, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Thank you, Minister, for staying and allowing us to have this second round.

Minister, I'm going to follow up a little bit on one of Mr. Thériault's questions. GAC has always had a mechanism for loaning money to Canadians who are stuck abroad and find themselves in financial distress, with the requirement that those loans be paid back to the government within 30 days of receiving an invoice.

According to the Global Affairs website, under frequently asked questions on emergency loans for COVID-19, there are a question and an answer as follows. The question is, “I have returned safely to Canada. How do I repay the loan?” The government's answer is, “Global Affairs Canada is establishing the repayment process and will provide more information soon. It is not possible for you to pay back the loan at this time.”

Minister, when are they going to have to repay? When will the process be established?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

I will certainly look into that. I think maybe Ms. Jeffrey can comment on that. I'm not aware of that on the website of Global Affairs Canada. I'm sure either the deputy or Ms. Jeffrey can provide you with elements of response. Obviously, we want people to repay. To your specific question, why the Q and A has that, I'd have to defer to our officials.

[Robert Gordon Kitchen, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Then I would ask if the officials could send that to us in writing afterwards. I'd appreciate that.

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Sure.

[Robert Gordon Kitchen, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

You also mentioned that people basically are entitled to the money to fly back, and therefore they should be able to get that money because they need that money to pay for a flight to get back. Most of these Canadians have flown outside the country and have a return flight. My question to you is, who gets the return flight refund once they apply for it?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Well, that's a private matter between the traveller and whatever travel company they have, or airline. What we would provide—

[Robert Gordon Kitchen, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

But GAC has paid for an extra flight; therefore, the Government of Canada has paid for this extra flight. Why is it that the Government of Canada is not expecting someone to refund that flight?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Just for the record, sir, we've never paid for any flight. Citizens who were embarking on all our flights were responsible for paying their fares.

What the Government of Canada did was to offer a loan. We had some Canadians who were in distress in some parts of the world. This has been done on a cost-recovery basis. I can give you the exact amount of what we have expended so far. We had an appropriation to repatriate Canadians, and so far we have invested only $8.5 million on flight facilitation. We were providing a certain minimum guarantee to be—

[Robert Gordon Kitchen, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

You just said you didn't pay for flights.

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

No, but there were other incidental costs.

[Robert Gordon Kitchen, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

I'll move on. Thank you, Minister.

On May 27, a representative from the Red Cross appeared at this committee. When asked about the support Canada has provided to other countries in terms of supplies, he stated, “We are also in partnership with Global Affairs Canada in supporting the shipping and receiving of international donations and protective equipment.”

Can you tell us how many donations Canada has received to date?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

I know we received donations from China and Taiwan, but I'm sure we received help from many, many countries.

I can tell you, sir, that we would not have been able to repatriate thousands and thousands of Canadians if countries around the world were not facilitating. Some countries allowed Canadians to fly on their planes. Others opened their airspace, and some others granted facility, extended visas, etc.

I would say we need to thank a lot of people who helped our Canadians.

[Robert Gordon Kitchen, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

We are talking about PPE here, and I'm basically questioning what sort of PPE items have been donated, either through the Red Cross or through any other channel.

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

I would have to defer, if you want the exact.... I suspect that the things we received, the things that Canada needed most, were masks, PPE and hand sanitizer. You're right. We worked with the Red Cross, because that's the best way we could do that.

If you want an exact accounting, I'm sure the officials can get back to you, sir, and provide the exact breakdown of what we received.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Okay.

[Robert Gordon Kitchen, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you, Dr. Kitchen.