Health Committee on May 10th, 2021

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Fair enough. That will put pressure on our next panel, because I think we will be shoehorned there as well, but if that's what the committee wants to do, by all means we will do one-minute slots, one slot per party.

We will go to the Conservatives to start with. I'm not sure who that will be. Will that be Ms. Rempel Garner?

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

It will be Mr. Maguire.

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

I will go ahead, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Mr. Maguire, please go ahead for one minute.

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

To Deputy Minister Stewart, have you provided the government with any advice regarding using rapid tests for all persons including essential workers at our land borders?

[Rob Stewart]

Yes, sir. There is an active dialogue going on. It would not be me personally who would one providing that advice, but, yes, we are working closely with the Public Health Agency and our critical infrastructure unit to see it applied.

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

Along that same line, have you given any advice or recommendations to require any form of pre-departure testing for domestic air travellers?

[Rob Stewart]

That would be in the domain of Transport Canada, but I can tell you that no such air advice has been provided. That would be an issue of testing on a domestic level and would be the responsibility of the provinces.

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

I want to thank Dr. Shalmon from Israel for his excellent testimony.

You pretty well answered all the questions I had, Doctor, so thank you for being with us.

I think it's remarkable that you could start on December 19 and have everybody over 16 years old vaccinated by the time eight weeks were up. Obviously, you didn't have any interruptions in vaccine procurement. Was that the case?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

The witness may answer.

[Dr. Asher Shalmon]

Yes, it was well planned, and in that sense it worked well. Actually the shipments were on time. I can recall only one shipment that was late by two days from Pfizer. Otherwise, things worked well. It was unbelievable, you might say.

At no point were we in shortage, because from the beginning we kept a second dose for everybody, so we had flexibility in using those extra doses.

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

It sounds as though you had good contracts.

Thanks.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you, Mr. Maguire.

We go to Mr. Kelloway.

Mr. Kelloway, go ahead, please, for one minute.

[Mike Kelloway, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

Thanks, Chair.

My question is for you, Dr. Stewart. You're closely involved in how the federal government has been supporting the provinces and territories, especially when it relates to emergency requests for support. I have two very quick questions.

Can you tell the committee about the kinds of support the federal government has provided to the provinces and territories? Second, what is the process now, Mr. Stewart, for a province or territory to request more and additional support?

[Rob Stewart]

The Department of Public Safety, under its Emergency Management Act responsibilities, has coordinated over 70 responses to requests for assistance either from the provinces and territories or from indigenous groups. We've provided assistance via the Canadian Red Cross and the army and have coordinated with public health delivery of drugs and human health workers, of late into Ontario in particular. We stand by with an inventory of services and help for provinces. If they wish to access it, they only have to ask.

[Mike Kelloway, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

Thank you.

Mr. Chair, that's good for me. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you, Mr. Kelloway.

Mr. Thériault, you have one minute.

[Luc Thériault, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

Ms. Tremblay, we have been dealing with this pandemic for more than a year now. Some agencies have talked about various improvements that could be made and lessons that have been learned.

Can you give us two or three lessons that you have learned from this pandemic? What would you do in future or what should you improve from here on out?

[Christyne Tremblay]

Thank you very much for the question, Mr. Thériault.

The first lesson has to do with the capacity to work together quickly not only in a situation like the pandemic, but in any emergency situation. There also needs to be improved coordination between all levels of government and quicker responses in some cases.

My colleague, Mr. Stewart, mentioned that 70 requests for assistance made it easier to fight the pandemic. We could also find ways to speed up these processes to intervene even more quickly on the ground and respond to the needs of Canadians.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you, Mr. Thériault.

We'll go now to Mr. Davies for one minute, please.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Thank you.

Mr. Stewart, I'll direct this to you. We learned last week that two of the four airports receiving international travellers in Canada are not enforcing federal quarantine rules. That's in Quebec and Alberta. What measures is the federal government considering to deal with that situation?

[Rob Stewart]

We have a dialogue with the provinces and territories through a federal-provincial policing table, where we are actively working with both governments and their police forces, the police of jurisdiction, to enhance enforcement of the quarantine.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Thank you.

Madame Tremblay, on November 27, the Clerk of the Privy Council, Mr. Shugart, wrote to this committee with respect to the document production order adopted by the House of Commons on October 26, 2020. He wrote, “Preliminary estimates suggest that there are millions of pages of relevant documents.”

However, according to the law clerk, only 8,166 documents have been turned over by the government to date. Can you confirm whether the government is purposely withholding documents or explain why it is being so slow to produce documents ordered by the House of Commons to this committee?

[Christyne Tremblay]

Thank you very much for the question. I think it's a good one.

We have to coordinate the work all across the government to make sure that there is consistency and that we can remove the duplication. As we work, the documents are more and more complex, but it's really kind of the intent to share the documents with the committee.

For the question that I got earlier about the contracts with the companies, there are seven contracts, and we are having discussions with the seven companies in order to be able to share with you the contracts as much as possible. This work is in progress.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you, Mr. Davies.

That really wraps up our time for this panel. I'd like to thank all of the witnesses for sharing your time, expertise and knowledge with us today. I'd particularly like to thank Dr. Shalmon for joining us all the way from Israel. Thank you, all.

With that, we will suspend and bring in the next panel.