Evidence of meeting #37 for Industry, Science and Technology in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was camr.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Mike Lake Conservative Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB
Thanks, Mr. Chair.
A fairly quick round, hopefully. I'm interested in process, actually, as I've been listening. In terms of how a CAMR request is actually initiated, would it come from the country originally? It's the country itself, the receiving country, that would initiate a request. Is that how that works?
Director General, Marketplace Framework Policy Branch, Industry Canada
Yes, it would be the country that would initiate the process.
Conservative
Director General, Marketplace Framework Policy Branch, Industry Canada
Yes, although a manufacturer can also approach a country and say it's interested in providing medicines. There's a notification process, and then it's over to the supplier company to comply with the requirements in camera.
Conservative
Mike Lake Conservative Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB
So a company might work to educate countries on the process, but ultimately it's the country itself that has to actually initiate the ask, I guess, in a sense.
Director General, Marketplace Framework Policy Branch, Industry Canada
It certainly has to notify, that's right.
Conservative
Mike Lake Conservative Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB
Has that happened? Have there been countries out there en masse requesting medications? Or is the problem, really, that there aren't countries actually even requesting medications under CAMR?
Director General, Marketplace Framework Policy Branch, Industry Canada
My understanding is there's only been the one notification.
Conservative
Director General, Marketplace Framework Policy Branch, Industry Canada
And it was fulfilled.
Conservative
Mike Lake Conservative Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB
Okay. That's very interesting to know.
In a sense, it might be or is the fact that countries who have identified the need are finding other sources, competitively, in a sense. They're going to India and finding that's a better option for them than the regime we have here.
Director General, Marketplace Framework Policy Branch, Industry Canada
It's our understanding they are going directly, with the assistance of one of the international organizations, to get the medicines in other ways, when they can and when they have the infrastructure and the other mechanisms to do so themselves.
Conservative
Mike Lake Conservative Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB
So I'm not incorrect in understanding that...there are not countries out there making requests and then the “flaws” with CAMR are causing drugs not to be able to be delivered.
I know that was a very oddly worded question, I'm sorry.
Director General, Marketplace Framework Policy Branch, Industry Canada
We're certainly not formally giving notice.
Conservative
Mike Lake Conservative Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB
Right. Okay.
In terms of the 45% of the Global Fund, I think you said, being spent on procurement of medication, in effect we're contributing money to this Global Fund, which is then being used to buy medication from India and China and wherever medication might be able to be produced at a lower cost.
Director, AIDS, TB Programming and Health Institutions, Multilateral and Global Programs Branch, Canadian International Development Agency
That's right. It's a tender process, and it also has to its benefit the bulk-buy aspects, so they can get a lot better price and insist on good quality. That's how the Global Fund actually does it, through a mechanism called the voluntary pooled procurement system, and it is actually quite highly encouraged by the Global Fund, particularly in countries where they are aware there's no infrastructure whatsoever.
Conservative
Mike Lake Conservative Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB
Okay. Are there some numbers? Can you quantify the amount of drugs that are actually getting to Africa through this process? I am not referring only to Canada's contribution, but maybe Canada's as well as the rest of the Global Fund's.
Director, AIDS, TB Programming and Health Institutions, Multilateral and Global Programs Branch, Canadian International Development Agency
I don't have the actual numbers of the drugs here per se. I mean, it's also bed nets. Well, maybe I do actually.
No, I don't, but I can give you a quantification in terms of the actual resources.
The Global Fund, until this week's replenishment, had at this point a $20 billion fund of resources over time. Doing the math, that's roughly $10 billion to date spent on drugs and nets.
Conservative
Director, AIDS, TB Programming and Health Institutions, Multilateral and Global Programs Branch, Canadian International Development Agency
Yes.
Conservative
Mike Lake Conservative Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB
Can you provide for us the numbers actually having to do with the amount of drugs being supplied under that program? That would be helpful to the committee, if you could do that.
Director, AIDS, TB Programming and Health Institutions, Multilateral and Global Programs Branch, Canadian International Development Agency
Sure.
Conservative
Mike Lake Conservative Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB
I want to get back to a couple of different things.
I guess this is our last round of questioning. Maybe what I'll do, as opposed to trying to get into a whole new question with the short time I have left, is ask you if there is anything we haven't covered in our questions that would be of concern and you would want to highlight before the end of the meeting.
Director General, Marketplace Framework Policy Branch, Industry Canada
I think we've covered everything we think is relevant.
Conservative
Mike Lake Conservative Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB
Okay. I think I'll pass, then, on the rest of my time. Or is that it?