Health Committee on Jan. 18th, 2022

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister, and all the witnesses for joining us today to give Canadians an update on COVID-19.

My first question is for Minister Duclos.

Minister, health care workers have been hit hard by COVID. A few weeks ago I spoke to the CEO of the William Osler Health System here in Brampton about the situation. As you know, there was a code orange called in our hospital system. My question is this: What measures is the federal government taking to provide additional support to human health resources?

Can you expand also on virtual care services and how the federal government is supporting Canadians?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Québec, QC]

Thank you, MP Sidhu. Thank you, Sonia. I'm glad to see you during this new year.

A large part of the $63 billion additional investment that the federal government made in protecting the health and safety of Canadians was designed to help our health care workers, to whom we have such a debt of gratitude for the hard work they did during COVID-19. Furthermore, we promised in the campaign a rapid investment of an additional $6 billion for greater access to primary care, including training, hiring and retaining personal service workers, nurses, doctors and all the people we need, because these people are looking after the health needs of so many other Canadians in Canada.

The third thing is an additional $6 billion to reduce the backlog in surgery. It's a key input to help surgeons, doctors, nurses and hospitals across Canada and to support health care. It's a personnel investment, but it's obviously also to look after the large number of Canadians who have seen their surgeries—heart surgeries, cancer surgeries—delayed by the COVID-19 crisis.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Thank you, Minister.

The next question is for Mr. Thompson.

Mr. Thompson, this is about rapid testing. What agreement do we have to ensure these essential rapid tests continue to be delivered, and what measures are you and your department taking to ensure our deliveries will continue to come as expected, given the increased global demand?

[Paul Thompson]

Thank you for the question.

As has been noted, we're really putting the emphasis now on securing this goal of 140 million tests for the month of January, so that's job number one. We are working extremely hard on that, with a range of efforts to facilitate the process, such as changing the packaging work that's done on arrival and facilitating that by working with colleagues at CBSA to facilitate the arrival of shipments and working on logistical supports. A range of efforts are being made in addition to the daily contact with the providers to shorten the period of time and increase the likelihood of securing that target of 140 million. We're also working on the week-by-week, month-by-month target for the months that follow.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Thank you, Dr. Thompson.

Dr. Tam, we have briefly heard your update on the mental health programs. I had a great conversation at CMHA about the impact of the pandemic on mental health. As we know, people's mental health is also impacted during COVID-19.

We already have the Wellness Together platform, but can you give an update on what our government is doing to expand these services?

This is for Dr. Tam or Minister Duclos, or anybody who can give this information.

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Québec, QC]

I will ask Dr. Tam.

[Dr. Theresa Tam]

Yes, mental health is an extremely important aspect of the pandemic response as well as an ongoing issue.

I have been a great advocate to consider physical and mental health together, so the Wellness Together platform is extremely important, and there is a new application called PocketWell that links to this platform to provide instant access to resources that Canadians need, be it a counsellor or other support.

I actually think the pandemic has given us an opportunity to learn from these innovative measures. They could help us on an ongoing basis, so from my perspective it is important to see these gains and innovations being sustained going forward. Of course, they may need evaluation, but we must not take a step back.

I know that Health Canada is the lead on the mental health file, so there may be other responses to supplement mine.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

As long as they are brief, we'll allow a couple more sentences. There won't be time for another question, Ms. Sidhu.

Does anybody else want to chime in on that?

Go ahead, Minister.

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Québec, QC]

I have two brief additional sentences. First, mental health investment was key in our first mandate in 2017, with an investment of $5 billion over a number of years. Second, we have signalled in the campaign that there will be an additional $4.5 billion just for mental health investments, obviously in support of and in collaboration with the provinces and territories.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Minister. Thank you, Ms. Sidhu.

Next is Ms. Kramp-Neuman, please, for five minutes.

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON]

Hi there, and thank you, Mr. Minister, Mr. Chair and honourable members.

I appreciate this is a very difficult time for everyone, but years ago when I first started working on Parliament Hill, a fine gentleman once told me, “Facts, ma'am, just the facts”, so this is what we're looking for today.

I'm going to switch gears this afternoon and ask questions that are a little more specific and pointed.

Mr. Minister, what is the status of the mobile field hospitals that SNC-Lavalin was contracted to produce? Also, has the company delivered all the units the government requested, or does the work still continue?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Québec, QC]

There are three things on that.

First, this is an example of the significant level of preparation that we did throughout the crisis to prepare for all sorts of eventualities.

Second, this is obviously in support of the needs and requests of the provinces and territories.

Third, I'll turn to DM Thompson to see whether we can have an update on that, knowing that DM Thompson has arrived just a few days ago.

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON]

Fair enough.

As the next question, what is the total amount of taxpayer money delivered to SNC-Lavalin in regard to this particular contract, and are there any outstanding payments that have not yet been made?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Québec, QC]

This is a PSPC question, so I'll turn to DM Thompson.

[Paul Thompson]

Thank you very much for the question.

I personally don't have all the details at my fingertips right now—

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON]

If you don't have all the details, sir, we can get them on paper and I can move on to the next question for the minister.

[Paul Thompson]

Okay.

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON]

Awesome. Thank you.

The next question for the minister is this: Why have the field hospitals from SNC-Lavalin not been deployed during any of the waves of the pandemic? We're in the fifth wave of this pandemic, so what's going on? Can I have some clarity there?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Québec, QC]

Thank you for the question.

As I mentioned earlier, this is an example of a large number of initiatives that my department, with other departments such as DND, Public Safety, and Public Services and Procurement, has done and supported in the context of collaboration with the provinces and territories.

For further details on the exact nature of the state and use of that equipment I will turn again to DM Thompson.

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON]

No, at this point I think it's quite clear that in the fifth wave of the pandemic we're unfortunately not getting a lot of clarity with some answers, so I'm going to move on and try another question.

How about this: Did the Minister of Public Services and Procurement or the Minister of Health sign off on the decision to give SNC-Lavalin a sole-source contract, and did the PMO approve of this?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Québec, QC]

Again, that's a PSPC question, a Public Services and Procurement process, so I'll turn to DM Thompson.

[Paul Thompson]

Thank you very much.

There were indeed two contracts that were established, one with SNC-Lavalin PAE and one with Weatherhaven Global Resources. The total value is $150 million for up to 10 mobile health units each.

Those are the basic details on the contracting. I'd have to follow up on any other details and the current status of that.

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON]

I have another question with regard to SNC-Lavalin. Has the government given SNC-Lavalin any other sole-source pandemic-related contracts?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Québec, QC]

Thank you for the question.

That's again a Public Services and Procurement question, and therefore I will turn it immediately to DM Thompson.

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON]

I'm sorry, Mr. Minister, but the buck starts with you and the buck stops with you. Sadly, I recognize that you don't have all the answers to everything, but it doesn't seem like we're getting a lot of answers on anything with regard to the questions that I'm posing today.