Health Committee on Dec. 6th, 2023

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Ajax, ON]

As I said, with the way the advance purchase agreement was structured, we knew that it was going to be lost. Let's be very clear. The advance purchase agreements were structured with seven different vendors. If they didn't end up being successful, that was going to be lost money. We went into that with eyes wide open.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Thank you.

Was a risk analysis done on Medicago before the funding was granted? If so, would it be possible to provide it to the committee?

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Ajax, ON]

I talked about the COVID-19 vaccine task force. It was an independent, multidisciplinary team of external experts and industry leaders. They were the ones who made the determination of what had scientific viability. Again, I think it's quite remarkable that they identified the ones that were successful, including Medicago.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Can that analysis be tabled with the committee?

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Ajax, ON]

No, that's not possible.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Mr. Sheppard, why can't that analysis be tabled with the committee?

[Dr. Donald Sheppard]

It's my understanding that the details of the deliberations and recommendations were ministerial communications and, therefore, are confidential at this present time.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Madame Vignola.

Next we have Mr. Davies, please, for two and a half minutes.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Minister, on February 24, 2022, Health Canada announced, in a news release, that it authorized Medicago's COVID-19 vaccine. The same day, Medicago put out a press release, and Takashi Nagao, the present CEO of Medicago, said, “We're...grateful for the Government of Canada's support in the development of this new vaccine, and we are manufacturing doses to start fulfilling its order.”

Why didn't we receive the doses?

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Ajax, ON]

As I indicated, after the approval it became clear that we had the doses we needed. The other vaccines that were available meant that the doses from Medicago, a division of Mitsubishi, were not required.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Did the government inform Medicago that we would not be needing the doses?

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Ajax, ON]

I'm not sure I can answer with that level of granularity. I would defer to Mr. Sheppard.

[Dr. Donald Sheppard]

Discussions were ongoing with Mitsubishi, and more specifically Medicago, about what our needs were and what their production capacity was. They were ongoing from the time of approval through, as you had already—

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Did Canada tell them that we don't need the vaccine doses because we already had enough?

[Dr. Donald Sheppard]

As you had mentioned, initially there were challenges with commercial-scale production. When they were in a position to provide it on a commercial scale, they were informed at that point in time, which is when we refer to as having all the other vaccines, that we were not in need of production.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

In February of 2023, Mitsubishi Chemical Group announced its decision to cease all its operations at Medicago. Did we not have a clause in the contract that said, if Medicago closed down and didn't produce the vaccines we paid for, we would get our money back?

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Ajax, ON]

I can answer that.

Again, the nature of the advance purchase agreements is that you're taking a risk because there were seven viable options, all of which were large companies that we expected to maintain viability, but there was a risk. In that risk, we ensured—

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Minister, if the company shuts down and doesn't fulfill its part of the bargain, that's not a risk. That's a party breaching a contract.

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Ajax, ON]

The reason it shut down was due to the success of the other vaccines.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

That's not what they said. They said they shut down because of Medicago's challenges in transitioning to commercial-scale production. That's what they said in their own release on why they shut down.

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Ajax, ON]

That's correct, because as in any marketplace you are against your competitors. If there were no competitors, if they were the only one in the market, then they would have proceeded. The reality is that the marketplace was replete with vaccine options.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Wouldn't it have been better to at least have the doses? At least we would have had something for the value—

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Ajax, ON]

They were not needed, and we had the doses that we needed from the vendors we had.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you.

Mr. Paul‑Hus now has the floor for five minutes.