Try it again.
Evidence of meeting #21 for Health in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was covid-19.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #21 for Health in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was covid-19.
A recording is available from Parliament.
2:50 p.m.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Sorry, General Fortin.
To clarify, are you saying that, as of today, we don't have a national number on how many vaccines we can deliver on a national basis? We don't know that number right now.
2:50 p.m.
MGen Dany Fortin
Mr. Chair, what I'm saying is that it depends on the provinces' ability to scale up. The number of 300,000 a day that was mentioned earlier makes perfect sense. It's part of the projections that we shared with provinces, and they intend to scale up different types of vaccination clinics to meet that goal.
2:50 p.m.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Okay.
U.S. President Biden has committed 10,000 federal troops and the National Guard to participate in vaccinating American citizens. Has the government asked you or has the Canadian Armed Forces been asked to participate in vaccinations? Have you been asked about that?
2:50 p.m.
MGen Dany Fortin
Mr. Chair, there are ongoing discussions with the Canadian Armed Forces and the Department of National Defence. In close coordination with Indigenous Services Canada, plans exist to support provinces that require it for some of their remote and indigenous communities. We're actually seeing that now in northern Manitoba as well as northern Ontario and it's appeared in Newfoundland and Labrador, and so it will likely continue as required.
2:50 p.m.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Thank you.
Mr. Stewart, if I can turn to you, you were president of the NRC until September 2020. The day before, on August 31, 2020, the Prime Minister issued a press release that said that Canada would begin producing 250,000 doses per month by November 2020 at the NRC's Royalmount facility in Montreal and up to two million doses per month by the end of 2020.
On August 31, 2020, when the Prime Minister said that, was that your understanding, Mr. Stewart? Was the Prime Minister accurate?
2:55 p.m.
President, Public Health Agency of Canada
I just want to jump in and say that Canada is delivering 637,000 doses this week, just to answer your previous question. That is our current throughput for how many doses we're able to deliver.
With respect to your question about projections and announcements made at that time, I believe that was tied to a thing that subsequently was set aside. It had arisen from the work that you'd previously been talking about around the CanSino project.
2:55 p.m.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
On August 31 the Prime Minister was telling Canadians that the NRC facility that you were head of was going to be producing 250,000 doses in November. On that date, was he telling the truth to Canadians, as far as you were concerned?
2:55 p.m.
President, Public Health Agency of Canada
The NRC facility that you are referring to is the Royalmount facility in Montreal, and that is on track to produce two million doses a month—
2:55 p.m.
NDP
2:55 p.m.
President, Public Health Agency of Canada
Actually, as I just said, that was related to a project that didn't go ahead.
2:55 p.m.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Did you know on August 31, 2020 that the project was not going ahead?
2:55 p.m.
President, Public Health Agency of Canada
I did not know on August 31 that the project was not going to go ahead, but I think that's something you should be discussing with the people who were running the NRC after I left.
February 26th, 2021 / 2:55 p.m.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
That's the problem. You went until September 1. You don't know the answer, and when I put that very question to the NRC chief after September, he said to ask you, so it seems that there's a gap here.
Mr. Stewart, when you were president of the NRC, in the spring of 2020, when the federal government announced an investment of $44 million, it was specifically to “ensure that the facility complies with good manufacturing practices related to the development, testing, and scale-up and production of promising vaccine candidates.”
My understanding is that the reason we've been given for not producing those doses in November that were promised by the Prime Minister was that the facility never achieved its good manufacturing practices, so if you were given $44 million in the spring to achieve good manufacturing practice status, why didn't that happen?
2:55 p.m.
President, Public Health Agency of Canada
There were actually a series of funding announcements, and those were to take a clinical facility and have that clinical facility achieve GMP. Over the course of the summer, the project evolved to become the creation of a large-scale manufacturing facility, and that large-scale manufacturing facility is on track, and it will be GMP.
2:55 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ron McKinnon
Thank you, Mr. Davies.
Committee, that wraps up our round of questions. I think, because we started a little later, we'll try to squeeze in another, lightning round, so let's propose one minute per party. Again, I encourage members to keep their questions short to allow time within that minute for a response.
On my list is Ms. Michelle Rempel Garner, or it will be Mr. d'Entremont again.
Go ahead.
2:55 p.m.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
It's all right. Mr. d'Entremont is going to quarterback today.
2:55 p.m.
Conservative
Chris d'Entremont Conservative West Nova, NS
Okay. We're all fighting about who goes first. I thought it was Larry anyway.
This is for Mr. Stewart since it is for PHAC. Last week we had a number of your vice-presidents or vice-chairs—whatever the positions are within your department—who committed to getting some information back to us, especially on the data that PHAC would have used to tell the government how or why they would use the quarantine hotels. Do you have that information available today, or can you commit to making sure we have it by March 5?
2:55 p.m.
President, Public Health Agency of Canada
Mr. Chair, if I understand, from the discussion that occurred last week, I think the question was what the relationship was between the Alberta pilots and the current structure being used at the border with respect to the three-day PHAC hotels, as they're being called.
First of all, I need to point out that the public health agency is actually part of the Alberta pilots. We provided $23 million in funding to enable the Alberta pilots, and we're partners with Alberta on those pilots.
From that work, which we hope will ultimately involve 52,000 people by the end of the life of the project, we're learning about what is the right sequencing and timing of tests. That knowledge that we've gathered through joining that project is in fact what we used to design the approach we're using at the border now. It's a continuation of learning from being part of that pilot.
I'm sorry. Did I miss something?
3 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ron McKinnon
Thank you, Mr. d'Entremont.
We go now to Dr. Powlowski for one minute, please.