Evidence of meeting #14 for Industry, Science and Technology in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was vaccines.
A recording is available from Parliament.
President, Public Health Agency of Canada
I think that it's already been discussed. I think this is not a new topic. This has been well considered—
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
I'm asking who that person is. It's a pretty straightforward question, Mr. Stewart. Who is the person who decided that?
President, Public Health Agency of Canada
I think the review will give us the insights you're looking for.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Fair enough.
Mr. Stewart, you have said that you're confident that Pfizer will deliver its four million doses by the end of March. Is that based on five or six doses per vial?
President, Public Health Agency of Canada
At present, the regulated use of the product is five doses. I believe Pfizer has made a submission, but that's not my area of responsibility. Deputy Minister Lucas is the regulator.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Right, but if you're confident that we're going to have four million doses, then surely you understand the math on that. It makes a big difference if we're getting five doses or six doses per vial, if we're going to confidently say we have four million doses coming.
President, Public Health Agency of Canada
Sir, the contract is based on the number of doses, so we will receive the number of doses we contracted for.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
That's a matter of logic. Let's hope so.
Mr. Stewart, you referred to procurement schedules in meeting that promised number of doses. Will you release those procurement schedules to the Canadian public?
President, Public Health Agency of Canada
Procurement is managed by a different department, by PSPC. I believe Minister Anand and her colleagues will be coming before you and that would be an appropriate question for them.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Okay.
On August 31, 2020, the Prime Minister's Office issued a press release promising the “production of 250,000 doses of vaccine per month starting in November 2020” at the National Research Council's facility in Montreal and “up to two million doses per month by next year”, that is, by 2021.
However, on November 24, 2020, Prime Minister Trudeau claimed that COVID-19 vaccine access for Canadians would be delayed because “Canada no longer has any domestic production capacity for vaccines”.
Finally, on November 26, the NRC released a statement claiming their facility will not be ready until mid-2021 because the NRC realized in the fall that the space allocated would not meet “good manufacturing practice” requirements.
Mr. Stewart, was the Prime Minister misleading Canadians when, on August 31, he promised us that we would have 250,000 doses of vaccine per month starting in November 2020, and if not, can you explain that discrepancy?
President, Public Health Agency of Canada
The events that you are referring to happened after I left the organization. From the sounds of it, you're combining two projects. Mitch Davies would be better able to explain the responses to what you're asking after. My understanding is that the manufacturing facility is on track and will be delivering on the timetable announced. However, I'm not current with that project anymore.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Okay.
Ms. Hajdu, can you explain that discrepancy to us? How could the Prime Minister promise Canadians 250,000 doses of vaccines starting in November out of the NRC facility when, as we have found out, the NRC facility will not be ready to produce any vaccines in any project before mid-2021? Can you explain that to me?
Liberal
Patty Hajdu Liberal Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON
I think that question is best left to my colleague, Minister Champagne. As I mentioned earlier, that isn't a file I've been involved in.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Okay.
Ms. Hajdu, you do sit around the cabinet table. Maybe you can answer this. Prime Minister Trudeau told Canadians that Canada would be unaffected by EU export controls, but we are not on the EU's exemption list for export controls.
Can you explain that discrepancy and maybe explain why Canada failed to secure an exemption from EU export controls?
Liberal
Patty Hajdu Liberal Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON
I think my colleague, Minister Ng, has spoken to this in the media and in the House. In fact, she has had very good conversations with her counterparts.
The EU has assured us that their intent is not to stop shipments to Canada. I also spoke with my counterpart, the minister of health for the EU, on the weekend and she also assured me of that. Again, this is a question that would, in detail, be better put to my colleague.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
I should put it to someone else. Okay.
Perhaps I can pose one more question to Mr. Stewart about something that is in his area.
You publicly stated that it was unacceptable that one of your agency's managers ignored your own advice and took a free vacation in Jamaica, paid for by an airline. That was Dominique Baker. She is, inexplicably, the manager of border and travel health, a program tasked with keeping communicable diseases out of Canada. She violated the advice of PHAC. Can you tell us if she is still working at PHAC?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sherry Romanado
Mr. Davies, you are actually out of time but I'll allow Mr. Stewart to answer that.
President, Public Health Agency of Canada
What is the question? You weren't finished. Sorry.
President, Public Health Agency of Canada
First of all, I characterized her behaviour in the media as being unacceptable. It is unacceptable. That is a matter that is being investigated. Of course, because it's now a matter of an individual's personal privacy, I think the investigation should be undertaken without discussing it further, sir.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sherry Romanado
Thank you very much.
We will now start our next round of questions.
Our first round of questions goes to MP Cumming.
You have the floor for five minutes.
Conservative
James Cumming Conservative Edmonton Centre, AB
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll direct my questions to Mr. Stewart.
Mr. Stewart, I want to go back to your time at NRC. You were dealing with, under the CanSino agreement, an agreement with a Chinese entity that has a proven track record.... China certainly has a proven track record of violating intellectual property rights. You sent the proprietary cell line for developing vaccines to CanSino. When you did that, were there any red flags? Did it raise any concerns that the entity you were dealing with could have been a problem?
President, Public Health Agency of Canada
I have a couple of things.
CanSino is a private company. If I remember, it is publicly traded on the Hong Kong stock market. What we transferred to them, sir, was a cell line, which is a basic platform. It's actually their intellectual property in the vaccine, not ours. In that instance, our cell line was something that we have commercialized with many different people. We didn't have any concerns about the intellectual property because the cell line is a physical thing. The intellectual property risk, if there had been any, would have been around who owns the vaccine ID. In this instance, it was actually their ID and not ours.
Conservative
James Cumming Conservative Edmonton Centre, AB
There were further developments, where even CSIS officials said the NRC should have seen red flags around this CanSino partnership. Did this not raise any concerns for you in dealing with CanSino?