International Trade Committee on Feb. 1st, 2021

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

Madam Chair, I suggest that the Conservative members are wasting precious time by engaging in this debate. Furthermore, we received this emergency 106(4) request on Saturday night, and the minister appeared on Monday and has moved calls with international counterparts on this very issue in order to appear before the committee. I would suggest that important work on behalf of all Canadians needs to continue. I would move that the Conservative member use the valuable time that he has with the minister still before him in order to ask questions.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Madam Chair, I was expecting the answer from you, with all due respect to Ms. Bendayan, but I will move forward and I would like to start with my questions, please.

Minister, there's a saying that if it's not in writing it never happened. Do you agree?

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

What I would say is that assurances by a vice-president and commissioner of the European Union, as well as by the European Union president to a prime minister, are a good thing.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Wouldn't you rather, Minister, see the assurance in writing rather than have it verbally?

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

We are all working very hard to ensure that—

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

The question is very clear: Would you rather see this assurance in writing rather than verbally?

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

What we're working very hard on here is ensuring that the shipments of vaccines from Europe to Canada are not impacted as a result of this mechanism.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Speaking of which, the readout from your call with the European Commissioner of Trade mentions the words “minimize the impact”, so there is an impact or at least a foreseen impact of their move. If we had this in writing, we could probably have a better assurance, wouldn't you agree?

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

It's really important that I continue to do this work with the absolute urgency with which I am and with which the government is, to ensure that there aren't impacts on vaccines coming into Canada and so that the vaccines scheduled for Canadians continue.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

I gather, Minister, that you probably don't see any difference between having a written assurance and having a verbal assurance, which I see as odd in any business dealing whatsoever. Did you ask for a written assurance from the European Union?

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

I did not ask for something in writing. I did have two conversations with my counterpart, and in those conversations, as I have said, I made very clear that Canada expects that our advance purchase agreements will be respected and that vaccines to Canada will not be impacted by the mechanism that the European Union has put forward.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Then why does the readout say “in case of any impact”? I think that raises concerns amongst Canadians, and if anyone would read this readout, they would be able to at least gather that there is something that hasn't been told to Canadians. I believe that we are all here to provide full transparency to Canadians so we don't have to run into a problem and have to go beyond 2021 to vaccinate all Canadians.

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

The member is absolutely correct that we all must provide transparency. That is why I make readouts. That is why we absolutely share readouts immediately, so that I'm able to share with Canadians the discussions that I've had. It's precisely why I thought it was absolutely important, upon the invitation by this committee, to come to the committee so that I would be able to speak to all of you and to Canadians.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Minister, under this cloud of uncertainty and lack of information, I think it would be very beneficial and very important if you could provide in writing the schedule of shipping or deliveries, whatever you want to call it, of receiving the vaccines, and I would like to see that tabled at this committee, please.

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

With respect to the member's request, we will endeavour to do our best.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you, Minister.

We'll move on to Mr. Sheehan.

[Terry Sheehan, Liberal, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

Thank you very much, Minister, for appearing on such short notice. This underlines and highlights that you're working around the clock, and I really appreciate it.

Last Wednesday, on the 27th at 1:04 p.m., in Sault Ste. Marie, the first vaccine was administered at the Finnish Resthome. The recipient was a resident named Larry Grekula, and he said, “The vaccine means happiness, I am happy to get it and it is a start for the country to get back to normal...it feels good to be a part of making history.”

I thought that was really well said.

To my community and communities across Canada that are feeling those sentiments, could you please explain how the cabinet committee on the federal response to the coronavirus disease, working amongst yourselves—I know you're a member of it—but also working with provinces and territories, is getting vaccines distributed to, for example, the Finnish Resthomes and other rest homes in Canada?

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

You've highlighted absolutely the priority we are all placing on this.

Yes, I serve on the COVID-19 committee of cabinet. The purpose there, of course, is to enable us to work in a whole-of-government way. It's to enable me, in this particular circumstance, to work very closely with Minister Anand, who is in regular contact with the drug suppliers, but also with Minister LeBlanc, who is working with top priority and urgency with provincial and territorial colleagues to make sure the vaccines are indeed making their way expeditiously, quickly and readily to Canadians.

There is nothing more important to all of us, on all sides of the House, than to fight COVID-19 and to be sure we are doing this using a team Canada approach, making sure that absolutely top of mind on the one hand is that emergency measures are there for Canadians and for businesses, and at the same time, making sure that vaccines come into the country and are deployed provincially.

There is nothing more important to Canadians than our government staying absolutely on top of this and working diligently and very hard, to the best of our ability, to make sure there is no delay.

[Terry Sheehan, Liberal, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

Thank you very much.

I guess the question that people are asking right now.... Everyone was very pleased to see how aggressive we were to get the vaccines and the agreements done well ahead of the expectations of some critics. We have made the statement over and over again that, by the end of September, vaccines will be available.

Minister, in your opinion, are we on track to meet our continued commitment to have a vaccine available to all Canadians who want one by the end of September?

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

The short answer to that is, yes, we are on track to ensure that all Canadians who wish to have a vaccine will get one for free by the end of September.

Canada received vaccines, as all of you know, starting in December, which was ahead of many other countries. By the end of first quarter this year we expect to have three million people vaccinated, and the vaccines that we expect to come in—just the approved vaccines, so Moderna and Pfizer—will be in the order of six million doses by the end of March, 20 million between April and June, and over 70 million by the end of September.

That is just from the approved vaccines. There are other vaccines, of course, that Canada has procured and that are also going through the process of approvals at Health Canada.

We are absolutely working, with priority and urgency, to ensure that this work continues and remains on schedule.

[Terry Sheehan, Liberal, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

Thank you.

Do you feel that your work as trade minister and having secured a multitude of trade deals with pretty well every country in the world has made it easier for you to pick up the phone and get an answer right away, and to have those dialogues and that trust relationship?

One thing the readout doesn't give us is just the feeling. Can you give us a feeling about how your phone calls are going?

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

I think that Canada has certainly been providing leadership work through the Ottawa Group, working with many like-minded countries that are part of those very agreements that you spoke of in Europe, as well as in Asia. Canada's reputation for being a country that respects the rule of law and the multilateral rules-based trading order, and the work we are doing working with the Ottawa Group around WTO reform, really enables Canada to work on issues that are shared among our colleagues, and certainly like-minded colleagues.

This work of ensuring that supply chains remain open, critical food and medical supplies continue to flow, was very much a part of this work before the pandemic, and that work during the pandemic is absolutely even more important.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you, Minister.

We will move on to Mr. Savard-Tremblay for two minutes.

[Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

I'm going to ask the senior officials this time, if they are willing to answer.

We do not know at this time whether all vaccine supply contracts contain a schedule or a total number of vaccines. Why have there been problems in recent weeks? There have been unforeseen events, delays, detours and other problems.

What guarantee do we have that there won't be any more problems in the future, with all these great deals?

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

Monsieur Savard-Tremblay, let me just say that this is absolutely a top priority for the government.

You asked it of the officials, so perhaps I will turn to my officials, who could give you a response on that.