Health Committee on Feb. 5th, 2021

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Minister Anand, the government has said repeatedly that we have enough vaccines locked in from Pfizer and Moderna alone to vaccinate every Canadian by September. We also have as one of our seven contracts, one for...I think it's 20 million doses, with AstraZeneca.

If that's true, why did Canada need to access two million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from COVAX, which, let's face it, is a fund primarily to help low-income countries get access to the vaccine?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

As I said, we are aware, and participate in COVAX and its two pillars. The multilateral procurement pooled mechanism is for the purposes of receiving doses in both developed and developing countries. We're one of the highest contributors in the world.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Right, but my question, Minister, is why we need to access that. If it is true that you already have enough from Pfizer and Moderna, you don't need to access COVAX.

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

Mr. Davies, the reason is that we would like to have as many doses in Canada as early as possible. COVAX allows us earlier doses, and that was our goal in selecting AstraZeneca.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Diana Sarosi from Oxfam says, “Canada should not be taking the COVAX vaccine from poor nations to alleviate political pressures at home. Receiving one or two million doses isn’t going to solve Canada’s vaccination challenges and it is going to cause harm elsewhere in the world for the poorest and most marginalized people.”

How do you respond to that statement?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

I respond by saying that we are committed to COVAX. We provided $220 million to the advance market commitment, which is for low-income countries specifically. We are making sure we participate, not only through the advance market commitment for low-income countries but also in the governance of COVAX, making sure that Karina Gould, our Minister of International Development, is taking a leading role on behalf of our government.

In addition, we will share excess doses with the rest of the world once those doses come into Canada and are not usable, so there is the intention to help the rest of the world.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Obviously we're in a global competition for limited supply. We have billions of people chasing millions of vaccines. India and South Africa have proposed to the WTO to loosen trade rules to allow all countries to have access to intellectual property instead of having a handful of companies control limited supply.

Why is Canada opposing that proposal at the WTO?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

Actually, I am not sure of the reason myself. I am so focused on procuring vaccines for this country. I spend every waking moment, and there aren't many others, in the day on this issue, but I will certainly get back to the member about this question and elucidate it for both him and me.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you, Mr. Davies.

That brings our questioning to a close. I'd like to thank the—

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Chair, I have a point of order. We started five minutes late because we were waiting for some witnesses, and we have five minutes left. I'm wondering if we can have a quick one- or two-minute round for each party, just to make up for that lost time. We still have five minutes left in our allotted committee time, so I would like to make that proposal.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

I have been informed by the clerk that we have a hard stop at four o'clock.

We had planned to do some committee business following the testimony of the witnesses, and unfortunately that's not going to be able to be done—

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Chair, I have a point of order. It's not four o'clock yet. There are five minutes until 4 p.m.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Excuse me. Please do not interrupt me.

That's not really going to be able to be done. There's really no time. We have five minutes—

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Left until 4 p.m.—

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Pardon me, Ms. Rempel Garner. I would appreciate it if you did not interrupt me. I will deal with your point of order in due course.

I wanted to inform the committee that we will not be able to do the committee business we proposed in this meeting, but I'll consider it deferred until the next meeting, following the witnesses.

I take your point that there are four minutes left. If each party wants to have a one-minute round, I'll certainly go ahead with that.

Ms. Rempel Garner, who would you like to speak on your end?

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Barlow.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Go ahead, Mr. Barlow. You have one minute.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to put a motion on notice. We know that countries like the United States have negotiated weekly vaccine commitments in their contracts with suppliers and penalty clauses when those allocations aren't met. We've certainly heard today that we do not have the same mechanisms within the contracts that we have signed. We're told Canada has managed not weekly, not monthly but quarterly commitments, which I think is very concerning, and there is no recourse when those allocations aren't met.

Of course, none of this can be verified, not by journalists, premiers or elected MPs. I think this needs to change, Mr. Chair, and our job is to get answers for Canadians.

We know that the law clerk has received more than 6,000 documents to date from the government in response to our House order.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Please wrap up your question. You have 20 seconds left.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Mr. Chair, I'd like to table the following motion: “That the chair of the committee write the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel inquiring whether or not the contracts for Canada's seven vaccine agreements with suppliers have been provided to his office as part of the motion adopted on October 26, 2020, by the House of Commons. Should the Law Clerk have copies of these documents, the committee instruct the Law Clerk to prioritize the translation of these documents and these documents be published as soon as possible in accordance to the parameters set out in the House motion. If the Law Clerk does not have these documents, the committee requests from the government the contracts for Canada's seven vaccine agreements with suppliers be tabled with the committee and the documents be vetted in accordance with the parameters set out in the House motion and the members of the Standing Committee on Health review these documents in camera.”

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you, Mr. Barlow.

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

Mr. Chair, could I respond to the motion?

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

My time is up, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Yes, I'm going to rule the motion out of order at this time, as Mr. Barlow knows—

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

It was the tabling of a motion—point of order.