Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I agree with Mr. Hanley. The $300 million is misleading, because it's more than that. It's not less. It's actually more: $173 million spent on developing the vaccine and $150 million spent on not receiving a vaccine, in addition to the money invested by the Government of Canada in building the facility itself 10 years ago.
An OPQ on this issue was submitted on February 7. It asked, with regard to the government's $173-million funding for Medicago, announced in 2020, “...does the government or Mitsubishi Chemical Group own the intellectual property developed as a result of this funding?” The government's response was, “In projects supported by the strategic innovation fund”, which is what this was funded by, “the Crown does not have an ownership interest in intellectual property resulting from the project, nor will the Crown acquire new rights in existing intellectual property owned or licensed....” It goes on to explain how it works.
I would argue that the number should probably be higher in the preamble than what it is here. I think Dr. Ellis was correct and knew that when he originally drafted the motion.
I would also draw attention to the end of the motion, which says, “calls on Medicago”. I would suggest an amendment that changes that to “Mitsubishi Chemical Group”, because Medicago does not exist anymore. Mitsubishi Chemical Group is the company that owns the intellectual property.
To me, it's disappointing that it's only four hours. I don't know how you get all these witnesses you've talked about and have any adequate examination of where $300 million, $400 million or $500 million went, in four hours. I don't think that does justice to taxpayers, in terms of getting to the bottom of this. You all are much better questioners than we are in the industry committee, perhaps, if you get this information out in little five-minute jaunts.
I also believe you should leave yourselves open to examining what is needed regarding witnesses. Reserve the right to invite more witnesses and take the time you need to get to the bottom of this. Ultimately, that should be the goal of the committee: to find out what happened, not limit the number of hours this is studied. Get the appropriate witnesses. As we know, once you get witnesses and question them, in all likelihood it will lead you to more questions and perhaps other people or companies we're not aware of that were involved in this and that need to be examined.
Finally, any discussion around the contract.... As long as everybody here understands we're talking about the flow of government money, including the investment in developing the vaccine and all the terms around those contracts from the strategic innovation fund...then, the payments from the strategic innovation fund to sign the contracts, in order to purchase the actual vaccines.
I know I've said a lot there. At a minimum, I propose an amendment, making it “Mitsubishi Chemical Group” that is called on, for accuracy.