Health Committee on Feb. 10th, 2026

[Nancy Hamzawi]

I could check with my colleagues—

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

That's perfect.

[Nancy Hamzawi]

—who are responsible for the consortium.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

Thank you.

The Government of Canada announced an investment of $250 million to accelerate clinical trials. Can you commit to submitting to the committee, in writing, the full breakdown of the $250 million, including, for each envelope, the program, the recipient, the exact amount and the timeline for disbursement?

[Nancy Hamzawi]

Yes, absolutely. I could follow up with my colleagues who are responsible for the file. I prefer that the people responsible prepare the details for you when it comes to informing the committee.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

Thank you very much. I appreciate that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

We'll now go to Mr. Mazier for five minutes.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

I thank the officials for being here today. I have to admit I'm quite concerned about what we've heard here in the briefing before this hour. I'll leave it at that.

The government has lost over $20 million in supplies from the national emergency strategic stockpile. Was this a system error or an equipment error?

[Stacey Mantha]

Our root cause analysis and investigation did identify that it was an issue with our quality management system and the implementation of a standard operating procedure.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

Was it a system error?

[Stacey Mantha]

It was a system error with our quality management system, yes.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

Did the Public Health Agency have a validation master plan or a preventive maintenance program in place for the systems that lost over $20 million in supplies?

[Stacey Mantha]

We are in the process of developing a validation master plan for the range of equipment that we hold. We did have, at the time of the event, an annual validation for all of our freezer units by an external certified vendor to validate our units.

[Nancy Hamzawi]

I'll note that we are on a timeline to conclude that by March 31, 2026. That's coming soon.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

Was ineffective communication a contributing factor to the government's $20-million loss of product?

[Stacey Mantha]

Communication between the teams was identified as a contributing factor. We discussed briefly the implication of multiple teams in this deviation. The communication between those teams was identified as a contributing factor.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

Did the Public Health Agency follow all guidance from the manufacturer of the identified freezer units prior to the $20-million loss?

[Stacey Mantha]

The investigation did find that not all equipment specifications were followed.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

That's a “no”.

Is a fully established quality culture consistently demonstrated throughout all operation activities for the national emergency strategic stockpile?

[Stacey Mantha]

The investigation found that we still had work to do on the implementation of a consistent quality culture.

I will confirm that the activities taken to respond to the incident, notably the revisions and development of tools, and tracking and retraining of the standard operating procedure in question, went a long way toward further developing and strengthening that culture.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

Is the Public Health Agency of Canada aware of any potential hostile foreign actors that attempted to access Canada's national emergency strategic stockpile following the $20-million product loss?

[Stacey Mantha]

We are aware, through a vendor we work closely with, that there was interest from a foreign national in obtaining access to our warehouse location. They did not.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

What country was that foreign actor from?

[Stacey Mantha]

I cannot say. I do not have that in front of me right now.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

Can you report that back to the committee?