International Trade Committee on Feb. 1st, 2021

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

Sorry, but does that, incidentally, Madam Minister, include supporting a waiver for the TRIPS provisions at the WTO?

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

You know that Canada is a steadfast supporter of the WTO. Through my work with Ottawa Group colleagues, I continue to ensure and advocate for a rules-based international trading order that is respectful of the rules. What we are talking about and what we are absolutely focused on is making sure that access to the vaccines that Canada has procured does not experience impacts or delays as a result of this mechanism that the European Union has put in place.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much, Minister.

We'll go on to Mr. Lobb for five minutes.

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

The first question I have for the minister is in regard to the advance purchase agreements, the contracts. Is the government willing to publish the parts of the scheduled deliveries? Is the government considering that so that it's more transparent for Canadians?

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

I thank the honourable member for that question. As the minister of trade, I'm not able to give you that answer; I think that question is better directed to my colleague the procurement minister. Suffice it to say that throughout all of this we have endeavoured, just as I am endeavouring today, to be transparent.

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

Okay. That is perfectly reasonable, but in your discussions, you have...or we as a government have kind of hung our hat on the fact that we have these advance purchase agreements. If a company like Pfizer is scheduled to deliver four million doses in March, and they deliver 3.5 million doses in March, is that a breach in your purchase agreement?

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

Again, I want to make sure I am always providing, to my colleagues and to the committee and certainly to Canadians, accurate information. I'm just not able to give you the information specifics with respect to contracts, but I know that—

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

In fairness, Minister, you've gone on television, and I have your words about advance purchase agreements and how these contracts will be respected. When you come to the committee, I think it's only reasonable that you would be able to tell us about a breach, because that is what some of these export rules are really hinging on.

Let me ask you this question. In the advance purchase agreements, is it a schedule by month or by quarter, or is it a total dose at the end of a period of time? Can you tell us that?

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

What I can tell you is that the consideration for advance purchase agreements that have been contracted by third countries like Canada will continue to be respected. That is the assurance I have received from my colleague in the European Union. We all operate on a rules-based system. As I indicated to you and to my colleague, Canada would expect that our contracts would be honoured and that this mechanism would produce—

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

We don't even know what's in the contract. With all due fairness, we don't even know. If we receive only 3.5 million from Pfizer by the end of March, is that a breach of contract? Is there anybody here today who can tell us that? Is there an official who has been advising you who can tell us if that's a breach? My next question really hinges on that.

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

What I can say to you is that the advance purchase agreements Canada has with the companies are to be respected. We have been clear about that with our colleagues in the European Union. I have certainly been clear about that as well with my colleagues in member states such as Belgium—

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

I'm sorry to cut you off, but AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot said, “Our contract is not a contractual commitment”. That's what he is on the record as saying.

If I were a European Union commissioner, I'd say, “You know what? Fantastic. We will not do anything with the export authorization regulation as long as it adheres to your APA, because the APA is meaningless. It means nothing.”

The CEO of a company has said that a contract isn't even a contractual commitment. We're at committee and we don't even know if it breaches a contract on four million. This is quite a situation. The government has put Canadians' lives at risk, I would say. What do you think, Minister?

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

What I would say is that I think all of us, on all sides of the House, are very committed to making sure we are transparent with Canadians—

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

But that's not true.

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

—and that we work—

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

You're not, because we can't see the contract.

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

Excuse me. I think I can seek the same time to speak.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Allow the minister to answer, please.

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

Fair enough.

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

I think Canadians expect all of us to work together. I think we need to work together in an effort to ensure that there are no disruptions, that Canadians get the vaccines that we have procured, and that the vaccine rollout to Canadians is done. Working closely with provinces and territories is one part of it. Making sure these vaccines get into the country is the other part of it. I think Canadians are looking to all of us to make sure we are working together to engender that confidence.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you, Minister.

We will now go to Ms. Bendayan.

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I would like to begin by thanking the clerk and all the officials who were available over the weekend to respond quickly and to organize this session with the minister.

I would also like to thank the minister for making herself available. I know that she had to move many important discussions in her schedule in order to make time for the committee and respond to questions from committee members. I also know that she feels it is important to come to committee and respond to our questions. I thank her for that.

Picking up on the conversation we were having a moment ago with respect to advance purchase agreements, I would like to point out that it is my understanding, from the text of the EU regulation, that the European Commission is mindful that advance purchase agreements contracted by third parties, including Canada, need to be respected and that they will work to ensure the expectations of all countries, including Canada, to obtain other deliveries will be met.

I wonder if you could speak a little more to that, Minister, and particularly the work of our government to conclude, many months ago now, many different contracts with, I believe, over seven different suppliers and how that put us on a solid footing to continue to engage with our allies and ensure that there are no disruptions to our shipments of vaccines for Canadians.

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

I want to thank the honourable member for that question. Maybe I'll start answering where she left off.

We understand—and we share this with everybody on all sides of the House—the absolute urgency for Canadians to have access to life-saving vaccines and to make sure that they are readily available. This is the sense of urgency the government works with every single day, including me, all of my colleagues and the Prime Minister.

With more than 1.1 million vaccines distributed across the country to date, Canada is among the top five G20 nations for COVID-19 vaccines. We are on track to receive six million vaccines by the end of Q1, 20 million between April and June, and a total of 70 million doses by the end of September. That is just with the approved vaccines alone. Our government continues to stay on top of this.

The advance purchase agreement is noted in the EU's announcement. The regulation is clear in respect of APAs that have already been contracted by third countries, such as Canada. In the conversation I had with my counterpart, on two occasions—as well as the Prime Minister with President von der Leyen, and the health minister with the commissioner of health in the EU—we received repeated assurances that Canada's vaccine shipments will not be affected by this measure.

Having said that, we take this very seriously. We will continue to work on this here. The team Canada that is on the ground for the missions in Europe continues to work with the companies as well as the member states and the European Union to ensure there is no disruption.

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

Thank you, Madam Minister.

I know you've had several discussions and will have more in the next few hours and days, but the reality is that this work has been going on for a long time.

You, me and many other representatives of government have been advocating for the continued free movement of goods across borders, even during COVID-19. As we saw other countries turn inward and, let's say it on the record, we saw other countries move toward protectionist policies, Canada was a leading voice to ensure that our supply chains remain open.

Perhaps you can take a step back and tell us a little bit about that important work and how that work is feeding into some of your conversations with your European counterparts.

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

Thank you for that important question.

You're absolutely right. The work that Canada has been leading on with like-minded countries preceded COVID-19. Canada leads the Ottawa Group with a number of like-minded countries, like Australia and Japan—the EU is included in there—New Zealand, Singapore and Switzerland. We've been working to ensure that supply chains flow freely and that protectionist measures are not in place.

As I said earlier, we did see projectionist measures at the very beginning of this pandemic, in the order of 90 countries with over 200 restrictive measures. I am pleased that during COVID-19, the Ottawa Group and its members have worked on a plan to make sure there is greater transparency and that if measures are put forward, they are filed with the WTO to ensure that critical supplies like food and medicines continue to move around borders, and to make sure we are working on trade and health.

In fact, this is an initiative championed by both the Europan Union and Canada to ensure that we are enabling key goods—critical goods, essential goods—including vaccines, to move freely so that there are no impacts on people in our countries.