Health Committee on Feb. 10th, 2026

[Stacey Mantha]

Yes.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Mr. Mazier, you have one minute and five seconds.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

Okay.

Does the Public Health Agency take responsibility for the temperature deviation that resulted in a $20-million loss of products from the national emergency strategic stockpile?

[Nancy Hamzawi]

Yes, and we reported it in the public accounts.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

Was the Public Health Agency responsible for the temperature deviation there?

[Nancy Hamzawi]

There were a number of factors at play that led to the temperature deviation, and all of that occurred within the Public Health Agency of Canada.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

We had a bunch of miscommunications.

They're still working on ongoing things. They're trying to get things done correctly now in PHAC in these freezers. No one lost....There were no reprimands. There was no one fired over this $20 million, yet there still seems to be ongoing work. I find it quite troubling that there was no one really taken to task on this. Or does the buck stop with the president?

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

That's a statement, Mr. Mazier, and you're over time.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

We now go to Ms. Sidhu.

You have five minutes.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

My question is on how we were having conversations earlier and how there are lessons learned from COVID-19. There are the steps we're taking: answering questions, weekly inspections, oversight of the freezer. There are many steps you are taking. Is Canada prepared if another pandemic happens?

[Nancy Hamzawi]

Yes, we are in a very different place from where we were in 2019. Every day, we are reviewing the threats the country is facing and updating our approaches.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

To follow up on that, when there are steps you are taking in AI or digitalization, is there any arrangement made for oversight on that data protection or on AI threats or cybersecurity threats? What kinds of steps are you taking on that?

[Nancy Hamzawi]

From a cybersecurity perspective, we absolutely benefit from the enterprise-wide approach with Shared Services Canada and working with our colleagues at the Treasury Board Secretariat and the Communications Security Establishment. There are, for example, sensors that they have in place from which we benefit as part of the enterprise-wide cybersecurity posture.

My colleagues spoke about this extensively at the public accounts committee just a few weeks ago, in walking through all the enterprise-wide measures that are in place, and we are absolutely benefiting from that posture.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Collaboration with the provinces and territories is also important. How is PHAC working with provincial and territorial partners to clarify roles, responsibilities and expectations around the surge support?

[Stephen Bent]

There are a few things at play, I think, in terms of our collaboration with provinces and territories. We benefit very much from the Public Health Network collaboration that has existed since the inception of the agency in 2005. Through that, there is a range of activities happening to ensure we are better prepared in our respective areas going forward.

There are a few things that I would highlight in terms of our emergency planning.

We have the public health response plan for emergencies and events that we've been modernizing with our provinces and territories to make sure that our mandates and roles and responsibilities are clear. There's also the Canadian pandemic preparedness plan that is under way and will be endorsed by the Public Health Network shortly. That will fundamentally set out clear roles in the context of pandemic planning as well.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Thank you.

Budget pressures and competing priorities are a reality in today's life. How does PHAC ensure the investment in the NESS delivers value in dollars while maintaining readiness for high-impact events?

[Nancy Hamzawi]

I can kick off and then turn it over to you, Stacey.

We prioritize our investments informed by discussions with our federal security and intelligence partners. We also are very much taking into consideration the geopolitical context and the health of global supply chains. With all of those considerations, we then make strategic decisions as to where the highest priorities for investments are within the agency.

We work with our colleagues at Public Services and Procurement Canada to make sure that we have the best possible procurement in terms of value for money for Canadians, with the particular lens now of the buy Canadian policy framework.

I'll turn it over to Stacey.

[Stacey Mantha]

The only thing I would add is that for those assets that are not drugs and that provinces and territories can procure and require to maintain their own stockpile and surge capacity effectively, we're that secondary surge piece. We work very closely with them to ensure that we are buying products that meet the performance and technical specifications that will ensure it is easy to integrate those into the health care system. We had the example earlier with the NIOSH N95 respirators.

Ensuring that something can be deployed rapidly to support that surge need is another layer in how we ensure that we're getting best value for dollar.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

We've asked the interpreters, and we have room for one more round.

I begin with Mr. Epp, who is sharing time with Mr. Mazier, for five minutes.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

I'll go first, Chair, and then I'll switch it over to Mr. Epp.

I want to get something clarified here today. We've been hearing, and the media have been reporting, that it was an equipment failure, basically. That has taken over.... What we learned here today was that it was actually PHAC.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Be careful, Mr. Mazier. What you learned today...?

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

Well, we have testimony from my last round here that it was really the actions and lack of actions from PHAC that led to this deviation of temperatures and the loss of $20 million of product.

I want to confirm that with the agency here. You're here today. You do take full responsibility for this. The $20-million loss was a result, basically, of miscommunication. There were lots of things reported, but there was a lack of action and proper management over the stock.

[Nancy Hamzawi]

We take this loss very seriously; hence, the immediate investigation into what happened.

Yes, there were system failures within the Public Health Agency of Canada. There are also technical equipment-related modifications that are also required, as the investigation determined.

There are multiple factors that led to this, but ultimately, yes, it's the Public Health Agency of Canada that is responsible, and that is why we reported it in the public accounts.