International Trade Committee on Feb. 1st, 2021

[The Chair (Hon. Judy A. Sgro (Humber River—Black Creek, Lib.)), Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Good morning, everyone. I call this meeting to order.

This is meeting number 14 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on International Trade. The committee is meeting today, pursuant to Standing Order 106(4), as requested by four members of the committee, to discuss their request to undertake a study of the impact on Canada of the European Union transparency and authorization mechanisms for exports of COVID-19 vaccines.

Today's meeting is taking place by video conference and the proceedings will be made available via the House of Commons website.

To ensure an orderly meeting, I need to outline a few rules to follow. Interpretation in this video conference will work very much like in a regular committee meeting. Before speaking, please wait until I recognize you by name. Use the “raise hand” function to indicate your desire to speak and when you are ready to speak, click on the microphone icon to activate your mike. When speaking, please speak slowly and clearly. When you are not speaking, your mike should be on mute.

Should any technical challenges arise—for example, in relation to interpretation or a problem with your audio—please advise the chair immediately, and the technical team will work to resolve them. Please note that we may need to suspend during these times, as we need to ensure that all members get to participate fully.

To the motion that we have on the floor—

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

I'm sorry, Madam Chair, to interrupt so early in the committee meeting with a technical issue, but I do not seem to have a “raise hand” function option on my Zoom at this time. I wonder whether other committee members do and it is simply a technical glitch on my end.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Can you check now and see if you have that ability?

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

No, we don't.

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

I do not have it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

I see that no one has that.

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

Madam Chair, would you like to perhaps recognize people with their hands raised, literally? I'm open to your suggestion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Let me start by doing it that way. I do have a speakers list, so if we're consistent with what I was given as a speakers list, we'll be all right while they try to correct that, if that's okay.

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

Is that a speakers list for the debate on the 106(4) motion, Madam Chair?

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

The speakers list is just for the panellists and the witnesses. For those of us on the committee, just raise your hand and make sure that I notice it.

To speak to the motion that we have before us, Mrs. Gray, go ahead, please.

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'd like to thank the clerk and the committee staff for putting this meeting together so quickly, and also to all of the members of this committee.

I'll be brief, as I understand that we want to go to the motion and that the minister is prepared to answer questions.

I'd like to thank Minister Ng for her responsiveness in coming to this committee. I think it's pertinent and very timely that we hear from the minister on what Canada is doing regarding the COVID-19 vaccine export control measures put in place by the European Union on Friday. As I understand it, Canada was not explicitly listed as a country that is exempt from these measures, unlike nearly 120 other countries. We also can't forget that our approved Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are shipped from Belgium and Spain respectively.

I hope to see all members of our committee support this motion due to the importance of this issue. Therefore, I move:

That, given the announced Transparency and Authorisation Mechanism for exports of COVID-19 vaccines by the European Union, the committee invite the Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade and her officials to appear before the Committee for no less than two hours regarding matters related to the European Union’s export controls and its potential impacts on Canada’s COVID-19 vaccination strategy, and that this meeting occur no later than February 10, 2021.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much, Mrs. Gray.

Ms. Bendayan, parliamentary secretary, go ahead, please.

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I would like to thank all of the colleagues on this committee and, in particular, to thank the Conservative member who has raised this important issue. Obviously, we have been working around the clock over the weekend. In parallel to that, I have been working in order to secure the minister's appearance before this committee at the earliest possible opportunity.

It is Monday morning, and I am pleased to advise all committee members that the minister is available to appear immediately after this discussion, so I would invite colleagues, unless they have any urgent matters to raise in connection with this debate, to move quickly to hear directly from the minister.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Is there any further discussion on the motion before us? Okay. All those in favour, please raise your hand.

I'm sorry. Hold on. Mr. Blaikie wishes to speak to the motion.

Go ahead, Mr. Blaikie.

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Thank you, Madam Chair. It's just a quick word to put my support for the motion on the record.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Is there anything further?

(Motion agreed to)

It has been voted on unanimously that we move forward on the motion.

Madam Clerk, do we need to suspend to do a sound check with the panellists?

[The Clerk of the Committee, Ms. Christine Lafrance]

We need to suspend because neither the officials nor the minister has been able to connect. They have received the information to do their connection. I don't know what's going on. I'm trying to check with the staff, but I don't have any news yet.

For now, we'll have to suspend.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Okay.

We've adopted the motion. We will suspend momentarily until we have all our witnesses and the minister prepared to meet with the committee.

Ms. Gray.

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want a clarification on how long the minister would be with us today.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Our meeting goes until one o'clock, so hopefully we're not going to lose very much time in getting everybody connected. Hopefully, we'll have lots of time.

The committee will suspend, for just a minute or two, until we have everybody connected. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

I'm calling the meeting back to order. I'll call Minister Ng for opening remarks and hopefully by that time we'll have the officials connected.

Is it okay with everybody that we do it this way, so we don't lose too much time? I know everybody's schedules, especially the minister's, are very tight.

Minister Ng, would you like to give opening remarks, please?

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Minister of International Trade]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Good morning and, I guess, good afternoon to everyone, to the vice-chairs and of course to all the members of the committee.

I am pleased to be here today to discuss the steps our government is taking to ensure that critical vaccine supply chains remain open and resilient.

Madam Chair, securing timely and adequate supplies of COVID-19 vaccines for Canadians is our government's highest priority. We knew that vaccines would be vital to ending this pandemic and that is why Canada has seven vaccine procurement contracts covering the largest number of vaccine doses of any country in the world. Our government has diligently sourced vaccines manufactured in both Europe and the United States, countries with whom we have strong free trade agreements, to mitigate against any export restrictions or other potential disruptions.

On January 29, the European Commission brought into force a temporary transparency and authorization mechanism for exports of COVID-19 vaccines. Under this regulation, exporters require authorization before they ship their COVID-19 vaccines to ensure that advance purchase agreements with the European member states are being respected.

As soon as we learned about the forthcoming measure earlier last week, I immediately reached out to my counterpart, the European Union trade commissioner and executive vice-president, Valdis Dombrovskis. In that conversation on Thursday before the EU made their announcement, I pressed Canada's continued expectation that this mechanism not have an impact on Canada's shipment of vaccines. I reiterated that Canada has advance purchase agreements with vaccine manufacturers in Europe, and we expect those agreements to be respected.

Vice-President Dombrovskis provided strong reassurances that this mechanism will not delay vaccine shipments to Canada, and we both committed to continuing our work together as we have since the beginning of the pandemic.

Last week, Prime Minister Trudeau also spoke with the president of the European Union, Ursula von der Leyen, and received the same reassurances that our vaccine shipments would not be affected. I had a second conversation this past Saturday with Executive Vice-President Dombrovskis once the EU measure was officially announced. Once again, he assured me that the EU's measure would not have an impact on Canada's vaccines, and that we once again reaffirmed our commitment to continue working together.

Yesterday, Minister of Health Patty Hajdu spoke with the European commissioner for health and food safety, and she also received clear assurances that the EU mechanism would not affect shipments of vaccines to Canada. In addition to this, Minister Garneau will be speaking to his European Commission counterpart later this week, and Minister Anand is in constant contact with suppliers.

Given that we have vaccine shipments coming from Belgium, I also reached out to my Belgian counterpart, deputy prime minister of Belgium, Sophie Wilmès, and spoke with her yesterday afternoon. Deputy Prime Minister Wilmès also provided me with clear and explicit assurances that Canada will not be affected by this mechanism.

Let me be crystal clear. Canada has expressed our continued expectation that this mechanism will not impact Canada's vaccine shipments, and we have received repeated reassurances that shipments of vaccines to Canada will not be affected.

This is an urgent matter that we take seriously. Our government's top priority is to ensure that vaccines are distributed so that all Canadians have immediate access to safe and free vaccines.

Our heads of missions abroad have also been proactively engaging with decision-makers in the European Commission and key member states to ensure that there are no inadvertent impacts on Canada's shipments. In every interaction, our counterparts have confirmed that there is no intention to do so.

As a result of Canadian interventions from ministers and our diplomatic posts, there are efforts under way to streamline the process for Canada's shipments this coming week. From the beginning of the shipment process—prior to the introduction of this mechanism—our European posts have been working diligently with Canada's suppliers on the management of orders and other logistical issues to ensure that Canadians are able to access COVID-19 vaccines as quickly as possible.

Canada's diplomatic network across Europe is also keeping close track of how European Union member-state governments are carrying out their obligations under the mechanism. We understand that one motivation for the EU-wide mechanism was to pre-empt any local or national measures, making it even more clear that this will not affect—and it was not intended to affect—Canadian shipments of the vaccine.

We are taking a whole-of-government approach to this important issue, as we have done with the entire pandemic, engaging with the EU and member states at every level to ensure that Canadian vaccine shipments will not be impacted and that Canadians will have access to safe and free vaccines. We're also analyzing and monitoring the mechanism to ensure that the EU respects its trade obligations under the World Trade Organization rules. The specifics of how a measure is implemented are also important. We are looking closely at how the EU is implementing the new measure, and we'll continue to monitor to ensure that the mechanism is applied on a non-discriminatory basis as required by international trade rules.

The European Union is a trusted partner of Canada. We share close people-to-people ties, as well as a robust free trade agreement. Canada will continue to expect that the European Commission's mechanism will not affect Canadian vaccine shipments and that we will continue to work with the European Union with fairness and transparency, including in our work of promoting rules-based international trade.

Since 2018, Canada has led the Ottawa Group on WTO reform, working with like-minded international partners, including the EU. We have made progress on multilateral, rules-based trading, and we are collaborating with like-minded partners to encourage all WTO members to resolve the appellate body impasse. When the pandemic arose, the world saw 97 countries respond to COVID-19 by implementing more than 220 restrictions on cross-border trade. Canada and the Ottawa Group members continue to do their work to strengthen supply chains and to reduce COVID-related barriers to trade. Today, only 138 of those restrictions remain in place, and the work continues.

Canada and the European Union have jointly championed the WTO trade and health initiative, which calls for no new, unjustified export restrictions on medical goods, including vaccines. Canada will also continue to leverage its leadership role within the WTO, the G20 and the G7 to promote universal access to vaccines. We will continue to work with all countries towards ensuring that responses to COVID-19 do not impose unjustified or harmful burdens, and to support equitable access to vaccines.

We know that COVID-19 has no borders. It is a global problem that needs global solutions. Both Canada and the EU know that we can only successfully fight this global pandemic when everyone has equitable access to vaccines. As long as one country is at risk, we're all at risk. Since the beginning of this pandemic, our government has been committed to a strong global effort to stop COVID-19 and to address its devastating health, social and economic impacts on Canadians and people around the world.

Securing a safe and effective vaccine for Canadians is the number one priority for this government. Canada will work steadfastly with our trade partners and will continue to strengthen and protect global supply chains.

If there's one thing we want Canadians to know, it is this: We are on top of this. We're always operating with urgency on anything concerning Canadians' getting vaccines rapidly. Ensuring supply chains stay open and resilient means a flow of food and medicines so that businesses can open again, kids can safely go to school, families can gather and both our society and economy can recover and thrive into the future.

We understand that Canadians are concerned and we are working hard to ensure access to these life-saving vaccines as quickly as possible.

Our government is operating with this sense of urgency every single day.

With that, I will now answer any questions you have for me.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much, Minister Ng.

To our clerk, do we have our panellists?

[The Clerk]

Yes, we have two officials connected. The ambassador has tried, but she can't connect. I think she is following the debate on ParlVU.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Let's move on, then, to our speakers list.

Again, thank you, Minister, for being here so very quickly. We very much appreciate it. It's an important subject.

We will move on to Mrs. Gray.