Debates of Oct. 21st, 2014

Opposition Motion--Ebola

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday we learned that $1.5 million worth of stockpiled Public Health Agency of Canada medical supplies were auctioned for just a fraction of that figure. This has raised questions about the true value of Canada's contribution to the global fight against Ebola.

Why did the government not respond to the ambassador's June request for gloves and masks? Why did the government not make a donation of personal protective equipment on its own, knowing that the Ebola outbreak was unprecedented? How could the government auction off 1.3 million masks and more than 209,000 gloves after the June request? What is the true value of the personal protective equipment?

[Corneliu Chisu, Conservative, Pickering—Scarborough East, ON]

Mr. Speaker, referring to the process of auctioning of the equipment, this routine process was stopped once the WHO request was made.

The government offered to donate 1.5 million gloves, 2 million masks, and 1.2 million isolation gowns. The first two shipments, including 128,000 face shields, is already delivered in part by our RCAF Hercules aircraft. With the remaining equipment, which will be delivered in the coming days and weeks, priority is being given to what the World Health Organization is requesting.

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind my colleague that Sierra Leone's honorary consul requested these supplies, but the request was ignored by the office of the Minister of International Development.

My colleague went on at length about vaccines. Of course, we are all very proud of the vaccine that was developed in Canada, that our own scientists developed. However, we would sure like this government to let them do their work without constantly being muzzled.

That said, does my colleague realize that it will take months for this vaccine to be usable in the field? In the meantime, we are being told that in a few weeks, there could be as many as 10,000 new cases of Ebola per week in West Africa.

Should this government not be doing a little more on this front than it has so far?

[Corneliu Chisu, Conservative, Pickering—Scarborough East, ON]

Mr. Speaker, when an honorary consul is asking something, if it is not coming from a government official, there may not be an answer.

Second, when we talk about the experiments with the vaccine, which are taking months, we demonstrated that we sent the vaccines at the request of the World Health Organization as soon as it requested them. There are 800 vials in the WHO's possession. It will be an issue that will depend on the World Health Organization.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I think it can be safely said that all of us in the House are united in our concern about this dreadful tragedy and we see that we must keep proportionality. The greater threat is clearly in African nations, and we must not create panic here in North America.

I would like to ask my hon. friend how he sees that balance between protecting Canadian lives at home and the importance of saving lives in Liberia and the African region that is affected.

[Corneliu Chisu, Conservative, Pickering—Scarborough East, ON]

Mr. Speaker, we demonstrated a very quick international response to the Ebola outbreak. Domestically, we are quite prepared to face an eventual outbreak of Ebola.

At the border, Canada has adopted additional scrutiny for passengers who have been in affected countries in Africa. All international points of entry into Canada are routinely monitored 24-7. Travellers from affected countries are referred to quarantine officers. Health assessments and temperature checks can implement measures under the Quarantine Act. There are no direct flights from affected countries in Africa.

The Public Health Agency and the department of foreign affairs recommend against all non-essential travel to Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Canadians in affected countries should consider leaving while commercial flights remain available.

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I will share my time with the hon. member for Vancouver East.

Right now, we are facing an enormous crisis, one that the United Nations considers a threat to global peace and security. This crisis does not affect only the countries of West Africa; it affects us all. The worst thing is that the crisis we are talking about so much could well become an even bigger catastrophe if we do not do everything in our power to contain it now.

To date, there have been approximately 10,000 cases since the epidemic began a few months ago. The World Health Organization is now telling us that the number of cases could rise to 10,000 per week by December.

How are we going to cope with potentially hundreds of thousands of cases just a few weeks from now if we cannot cope with 10,000 cases now?

Let us not forget that the worse the crisis gets in Africa, the more likely it is to spread here. We absolutely have to contain the disease in West Africa now. To make that happen, we have to do everything in our power, but unfortunately, that is not happening.

Canada's response so far has been too little, too late. Weeks passed before Canada made its first substantial contribution. When the crisis was raging and people on the ground were desperately appealing for equipment, the Public Health Agency of Canada continued selling that equipment at rock-bottom prices to people who turned around a few days or weeks later and sold it to the World Health Organization at a huge profit. This continued even though the office of the Minister of International Development had been notified of the situation.

The Canadian response to the Ebola crisis is a bit like me having a fire in my livingroom. I decide to put three drops of water on it, but it grows. I then decide to pour a teaspoon of water on it, but the fire keeps on growing. I finally decide to put two or three cups of water on it. Some people would even say that I should just close the door.

Even when we are starting to get a bit more serious, much too late, it seems we cannot do it right or properly.

Canada has promised $65 million in total, but only $5 million has made it to the front lines so far. Does the government realize that in a crisis where cases are multiplying so quickly, time is absolutely crucial and a few days can make all the difference?

Canada promised vaccines. However, it took a ridiculous amount of time for the vaccines to be delivered, and still, they cannot be used for another few months. Canada also promised equipment, but only a little of that equipment has arrived on site.

We see in this case the same mismanagement and failure to act swiftly that we have seen, unfortunately, in too many humanitarian crises—for example, Syria, where we are still not receiving the refugees we promised to welcome to Canada; or when urgent calls for equipment for the winter are answered in the spring; or in South Sudan and the Central African Republic, where the Canadian response has been lacklustre to say the least; and to Ebola, where it is too little, too late, as always.

What should Canada do? It should follow the example of other countries, such as the United States, that have decided to take the bull by the horns. The U.S. has sent 3,000 soldiers, medical personnel and 11 field hospitals.

We must do more in response to the calls by the World Health Organization. Again, this is urgent. We cannot afford to say that we will give a little more and then follow through weeks later. Now is the time to act.

We must also support our other partners on the ground in a more significant way. I am thinking about Doctors Without Borders. I just want to acknowledge the work that is done by those doctors and their president, Dr. Joanne Liu. Dr. Liu is from Montreal and studied at McGill University. There is also the Canadian Red Cross and all the partners in the Humanitarian Coalition, which recently launched an appeal to which I hope we will all respond.

We must support the people who work on the ground, and that includes listening to them in order to find out what they need.

One thing those on the ground are looking for is the deployment of our Disaster Assistance Response Team. DART is available to deal with biological risks and to provide medical care. It can count on the armed forces for logistical support. According to the Prime Minister, deploying DART is not appropriate in this situation. Nonetheless, those on the ground fighting Ebola beg to differ. I tend to have faith in what they have to say.

We also need to think long term. We need to think about building the health systems in those countries. We need to think about building resilience to threats in those countries, whether disease, climate change, or other things. This includes good governance and the promotion of democracy. I know it may sound far away, but here is a good example. I lived in Senegal for years. It is a relatively stable country with good governance and strong institutions. It had a case of Ebola, and it was able to control it. When we compare it to other countries, such as Liberia, which have just emerged from years of civil war and do not have the infrastructure, we see the results. I am not blaming the Liberian authorities. We need to help those countries rebuild. We need to be active in peace building. We have a responsibility to reconstruct. Even if it seems as if we are acting a bit like boy scouts, in the long run we will win and help avoid this type of crisis. We can see that clearly now with what is happening in West Africa.

We can beat Ebola. We must beat Ebola. It is a matter of our safety, of our humanity, and of world stability.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague and I have worked together on the Central African Republic and South Sudan. I enjoy working with her. At least 3,700 children in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone have lost one or both parents to Ebola since the start of the outbreak in West Africa, and many are being rejected by their surviving relatives for fear of infection. As the death toll from Ebola continues to rise, preliminary reports suggest that the number of children orphaned by Ebola has spiked in the past few weeks and is likely to double around now.

UNICEF appealed for $200 million to provide emergency assistance to children and families affected by the Ebola outbreak across the region, including protection activities. So far, UNICEF has received about 20% of the amount.

I am wondering what my colleague would like to see the government do to help provide children with the physical and emotional healing they need.

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her very relevant question. We cannot forget that we are talking about the Ebola crisis, but this goes beyond the people who are suffering or dying from Ebola.

About 75% of the people who die from Ebola are women, since they are most often the ones who take care of the ill. These are mothers who are being lost, which creates orphans. Furthermore, this has consequences for these countries' health care systems. They are completely falling apart. Even more common illnesses cannot be treated at this time, which only makes the ostracism worse.

This brings me to two points. First, in these countries, we are trying to do more work on awareness to try to prevent that ostracism. It makes me very concerned to hear the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health say that people get enough information by watching reports on television. The Government of Canada could do more. We obviously need to support UNICEF, which has received just 20% of what it is asking for.

[Carol Hughes, NDP, Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I really appreciated my colleague's speech. She works very hard with the international community and brings her extensive experience to the House.

Yesterday, a press release from professor Amir Attaran, from the University of Ottawa, said that if the vaccine had been developed and sent on time, more people could have been saved.

We have had a lot of hope about this vaccine since 2005, but we had to wait until 2013 for it to be created. Could my colleague talk about the fact that it is important for the government to take swift action in response to these kinds of crises? Ebola is nothing new and we knew that a crisis was imminent. The government promised to give about $65 million, but only $5 million has been delivered.

Could the member talk about the importance of sending the vaccine and the money as quickly as possible?

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, we often take too long to develop vaccines or drugs to treat diseases that seem far removed from us.

What is more, in this case, the government was slow in sending the vaccines to the World Health Organization. As I was saying earlier, every day and every week counts because, in the meantime, the problem keeps growing.

It is the same thing when it comes to funding. We need to take action now, not a month or two from now, when we have an even bigger crisis on our hands.

[Libby Davies, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to participate in the debate today as the health critic for the NDP. I would like to thank my colleague for bringing forward this motion in the House today.

Obviously we will be supporting the motion. We see it as a very minimal demand to the government to ask the Minister of Health, the Chief Public Health Officer and the Minister of Public Safety to appear before the Standing Committee on Health twice monthly to report and account on what Canada is doing around Ebola, both in Canada and internationally. It is a very minimal demand, and obviously we need to go a lot further and do a lot more. Certainly, as far as the motion goes, we support it and thank our colleague for bringing it forward today.

I want to focus my comments today on what it is that has been completely lacking in Canada's response. Of course we do know that Canada has committed $65 million internationally. Just to put that in context, for example, the U.K. has committed $205 million. Germany, for example, has committed $127 million. There has been just recently very generous contributions made by private individuals.

We are obviously glad that Canada has made the commitment of $65 million, but what is really concerning and we should be focusing on is that at this point less than 10%, only about $5 million of the $65 million has been delivered in goods and services in terms of what needs to be done. That is very concerning.

All of us are very concerned about what is taking place in West Africa. We are watching the evolution and the development of this crisis, and the international response is so critical, not only in terms of the vaccine but also in ensuring that medical supplies, protective gear and so on, as well as health care professionals, are there on the ground. That is the most important point I want to make today.

This is not unlike what we have seen with the AIDS crisis. I note the article that came out in The Lancet magazine yesterday also made the point that the critical issue is containment within the countries that are now infected and to ensure that they have the capacity, the support and the resources, including a vaccine, to deal with their situation on the ground. This is about trying to ensure that we are not seeing an increase in transmissions to other countries, whether it be in other African countries, in Europe or in North America.

It is very concerning to us that we are many weeks into this crisis and Canada has fallen so far behind in its ability or willingness, whatever the impediment is, to deliver on the commitments it has made. I have come to the conclusion that unfortunately what we are seeing unroll in Canada is more of a public relations exercise.

I have been on a number of panels with the parliamentary secretary. We have heard the minister in the House when we have asked questions. We are told every time that Canada is a world leader, we are doing this and we are doing that, the vaccine was donated and it has been made available, yet nothing is actually getting done, or very little. It was only yesterday that some of the vaccine actually moved out of Canada.

We even heard the Prime Minister basically blame the WHO for that, when in actual fact, Canada itself sold the licensing rights to a company for $205,000, a very valuable health product, the vaccine that was developed in Canada, and basically did nothing to expedite the development of the clinical trials and the need to get this vaccine to where it needs to go. In the U.S. they have been working on the clinical trials for a month already.

There are so many questions as to why the Canadian government has made these pronouncements publicly but has not followed through and remained vigilant in terms of delivering on the commitments that Canada has made.

Yesterday or maybe at the end of last week, we learned the shocking situation that back in June the honorary Canadian consul for Sierra Leone was urgently sending messages to Canada saying that they needed protective gear. Canada was auctioning off those same items for cents on the dollar. It seems unbelievable.

It was not until September that those discounted auctions were actually stopped. There was a delay from June until September. There was information on the ground that was coming back to Canada, saying they desperately need assistance and need to get protective gear over to Sierra Leone, and Canada was selling off the needed equipment at incredibly discounted prices. We have now learned that it is being resold elsewhere at inflated prices.

This raises a whole question about the plan and whether or not there is oversight on the plan that Canada has developed and that we have been told exists. We certainly do appreciate the briefings that have been given by officials at the Public Health Agency of Canada. We appreciate the information they have provided.

However, I do have concerns. We know the budget of the Public Health Agency of Canada has been cut by $60 million over the last three years. We have to question whether or not, even within our own environment here politically, within Health Canada, within PHAC, if there is the capacity to deliver on the plan that is being developed.

We have been asking, consistently, in the House and in other venues, and in writing to the minister—I think we have now done two letters—very specific questions about what it is that Canada is doing and why it is that we are falling so far behind. I have to say that we are not getting the answers we need.

It is not like this is an issue where we can say, “Oh well, all in good time”. This is a critical urgency. It is an emergency today. There are people who are dying. The rate of infection is averaging 1,000 new infections per week.

Every day, every week there is a lag or delay it is affecting the lives of many people who we could be helping. This is a very critical issue.

I want to mention the letter we wrote recently to the Minister of Health. We asked some very pointed questions. We asked which minister was responsible for ensuring quarantine and treatment protocols in Canadian hospitals and clinics. That is a very basic question.

We know that PHAC has been developing national guidelines. We know that yesterday the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, a very major organization in this country, representing front-line health care workers, expressed a lot of concern about the fact that front-line health care workers are not prepared in this country. They do not have the protective gear. In fact, provinces are apparently developing different protocols and different levels of safety equipment. What is happening in Ontario may be different than what is happening in Saskatchewan or in British Columbia.

It does raise some very serious questions as to who exactly is responsible for not just developing guidelines but ensuring quarantine and treatment protocols. Who is responsible for ensuring that hospitals and medical practitioners have the appropriate equipment? These are questions that we have not yet had answers to.

Today, I want to say that in supporting this motion, it is important that the officials come before the health committee, that we be able to hold them to account and to provide these questions. We will certainly be doing that in the House. I have been very glad that the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Outremont has been raising these questions in the House on a very regular basis, as have I and my colleague, the member for LaSalle—Émard.

We will continue to do so because we are very concerned that this not just be a public relations exercise by Canada, but that it be a full commitment, not just in the short term but in the long term, to help people in West Africa who are affected and to ensure that there are the proper protocols and treatments in place should there be a case in Canada, which of course we hope will never happen. However, we have to be prepared, particularly given what we have seen in the United States and some of the protocols that were broken there.

We support the motion and we will be doing a lot more on this file to hold the government to account.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I want to compliment and thank my hon. colleague, the member for Vancouver East, for consistently putting health matters first. On the Ebola crisis, I second all of her concerns with regard to the over-promising and underdelivering from Canada in the face of a crisis. We know that there is still much more we can do.

I was personally struck by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's statement that of the $20 million or $30 million promised, apparently he has access to only $100,000 to confront this crisis. Does my hon. friend know if that remains the situation at the United Nations? How quickly are the promised Canadian funds moving into the region?

[Libby Davies, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands for her very appropriate and pointed question, because the issue of timing and what is moving quickly or slowly is a very critical matter.

As I pointed out in my comments, we do know that as of this date, less than 10% of the funds committed by Canada have actually been delivered. That implies that we are a long way from where we should be in ensuring that Canada's commitment is actually getting to the people who need it.

Overall, the same is true internationally. This does have to be an international effort. It is very concerning to see the estimates made by the World Bank, the United Nations, and others that this is about the long game. It is about a sustained effort. It is about ensuring basic health care capacity in the affected regions. That is a very important question to deal with. We saw that with HIV/AIDS. Even if treatments are available, if there are no local clinics, no trained personnel, no delivery system, then what needs to be done is completely missing.

We have to focus on the short term in terms of a vaccine and protective gear, but we also have to make a long-term commitment to make sure this funding continues.

[Andrew Cash, NDP, Davenport, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Vancouver East for the work she has done on this issue. She underlines the fact that in many instances the government will make grand announcements and then either not follow through or else be incredibly slow under dire circumstances. Its commitments around Syrian refugees is another example.

I want to double back to the letter that my hon. colleague sent to the government, because Canadians watching this debate want to know parliamentarians' level of engagement on this issue and the importance we place on moving these issues forward in a non-partisan way to get the job done and fulfill our commitments internationally.

One of the questions that was asked in the letter was as follows:

Is there a plan to rapidly increase production of the vaccine in the unfortunate advent of worst case scenarios as outlined by the World Health Organization?

I wonder when we might expect an answer on this issue. There are a number of very detailed questions, but they are very clear and they are questions Canadians want answers to. Could the hon. member enlighten us as to when we are expecting a response?

[Libby Davies, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, that is a very good question. Unfortunately, I wish I knew the answer as to when we would get a response from the government. This is precisely why we need to have officials come before the committee: so that we can keep pressing on these questions.

We have asked if there is a plan to rapidly increase production of the vaccine in the unfortunate event of worst-case scenarios, as outlined by the WHO. We have not had a response on that question. We do not know what efforts are currently under way to produce more of the vaccine. We do not know what percentage of the existing supply will be used for clinical trials.

There are a ton of questions that we have to keep pressing. I can tell the member that we will absolutely do that. It is our responsibility and duty to do that until we get answers.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am grateful for the opportunity to rise today to speak about our Liberal motion that first recognizes the terrible devastation that Ebola is wreaking in West Africa and that will require the Minister of Health, the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, and Canada's Chief Public Health Officer to appear monthly to report on Canada's efforts at home and abroad to ensure that the outbreak does not pose a threat to the health and safety of Canadians.

My colleague from Vancouver Centre and I began formally raising Ebola on the national agenda on August 3 by writing an open letter to the Minister of International Development regarding what Canada had specifically contributed to the Ebola response. We asked how many specialists Canada had sent to the World Health Organization to help out, and in what disciplines. We asked that the minister work with colleagues in relevant departments here in Canada in areas of air transport, border services, and protection of health care workers. We asked the government as well to give more funding. While the government responded with a donation of $5 million, the amount was tiny in the face of the overwhelming need and the generosity of other nations.

We wrote the letter because Canada had a moral responsibility to do more to help combat what was then an unprecedented outbreak of Ebola. We also understood that the best way to stop this devastating disease was to stop it at its source, before it spread more widely and became even more difficult to contain. We understood that if we want to protect Canadians from Ebola here at home, we had to end the suffering in West Africa.

During the emergency debate on Ebola on September 15, I asked the following:

...how is Canada working with other countries, particularly through the Global Health Security Action Group and the global health security agenda? How is the government working across departments and what specific departments are involved in each of preparedness, response and recovery, and what is the lead agency for each? What specific actions are each of the departments undertaking?

What is the government doing to ensure the safety of Canadians travelling to West Africa to undertake humanitarian work, commerce and trade, and to safeguard the well-being of those who are there now in areas where Ebola is spreading? What guidance is being provided to Canadians before they leave and while in areas in which Ebola has been reported? If they think they have symptoms compatible with Ebola, what should they do upon their return to Canada?

How specifically was the April 18 funding of $1,285,000 used to address the outbreak? How many specialists and in what disciplines did Canada send to work with the World Health Organization and/or to West Africa to help? How specifically was the August 8 funding of $5 million to address the outbreak spent?...

Although the risk is low, is Canada ready to isolate and care for someone if affected? Does the Public Health Agency of Canada have a public awareness plan to help Canadians understand the prevention, transmission, and signs and symptoms of the disease?

Does the government accept that the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has become a real risk to the stability and security of society in the region? Does the government accept that Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone need more doctors, nurses, beds, and equipment?

Does the government accept that the international response has been inadequate and that we need to scale up international response?... In light of the United Nation's international rescue call, will Canada do more to help?

We followed up the August 3 open letter with another open letter on September 17, yet again calling on the Canadian government to do more to help West Africa, specifically to provide more money, more personnel, and more materials.

On September 24 I published an article entitled “Will Canada Do More to Help Combat Ebola?” Specifically, I asked:

Will our Government do more to help, beyond the most recently announced $7.5 million? Will the acting Chief Public Health Officer of Canada speak directly to Canadians to communicate the global impact of Ebola, and coordinate and support health workers who wish to assist efforts in West Africa?...

Will the Government explain to Canadians how it will facilitate the delivery of assistance, including qualified, specialized and trained personnel and supplies to the affected countries?

We asked as well if the government would offer much-needed field hospitals and other equipment, and more health care specialists, and whether the government would call on non-traditional partners to contribute in the areas of communications, health, information, and transport.

Because we lacked answers, my colleague from St. Paul's and I wrote to the Minister of Health to ask for a briefing for all parliamentarians on Ebola, as we needed answers on these important questions. We would like to thank the Minister of Health for granting our request, but Parliament needs to be updated on a regular, ongoing basis.

After the first patient suffering with Ebola arrived in the United States on September 20, the Government of Canada made two separate pledges, each for $30 million. Why did we not see the same pledge and the same sense of urgency to help in West Africa before North America's first case?

The government had two responsibilities when Ebola began spreading unchecked in West Africa: first, to join with the international community in trying to stop it; second, to be prepared should a case to be identified in Canada.

When the World Health Organization asked for $600 million in July, the government gave only $5 million. Why a sluggish response to what was identified then as an unprecedented outbreak?

For the longest time, the government largely made announcements. It announced vaccines, with a delay of three months between the announcement and sending them to the World Health Organization.

The government announced personal protective equipment, or PPE. On October 3, I asked in question period:

With Ebola patients and deaths tripling since August, West Africa needs personal protective equipment urgently, but Canada has failed to fulfill its September pledge.

I will ask again: what is the minister doing to ensure that the promised supplies get to where they are needed now?

Prior to this, Canada's only response was to auction off personal protective equipment until September, months after the alarm was sounded and after the Sierra Leone ambassador to the United States and aid organizations made a plea for personal protective support, and months after the World Health Organization said the same.

Shockingly, we learned just yesterday that only two shipments have been sent to the World Health Organization—with others to follow “in the coming months”, according to the assistant deputy minister of public health—and it is unclear whether the first shipments have in fact even been dispatched to affected areas.

The government has announced funding. Of the $35 million initially pledged, only $4.3 million for showing up as committed funding on the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs' financial tracking website, suggesting no legal agreements have yet been drafted concerning the remaining funds.

As of October 19, Canada's actual financial contribution for the international response to combat the disease came in 17th place. The United States, with $206 million in committed funding, remains by far the largest donor.

Mere announcements cannot fight Ebola. Only commitments on the ground in West Africa can counter the epidemic. Canada's lack of commitment to short-term results is unacceptable with Ebola cases doubling every 25 days.

Yesterday we learned that Canada would not be sending any more medical personnel without a guarantee that they can be medically evacuated if they get sick. Of course we always want to ensure the health and safety of Canadians, but why does Canada not have this capability? When will a plan be in place? Has the minister met with anyone yet on this? When, and who?

The World Health Organization has been calling for urgent international support in sending doctors and nurses to the worst-affected countries.

Dr. Margaret Chan of the WHO has been clear:

But the thing we need most is people, health care workers. The right people. The right specialists. And specialists who are appropriately trained, and know how to keep themselves safe.

My contacts on the ground in Africa echo her call for more personnel. My contacts were, in fact, hoping that an announcement would be coming from Canada very soon regarding how it would coordinate those who wish to go and work in West Africa. Despite my asking repeatedly during the emergency debate on Ebola, we still do not even know how many Canadians are involved in the response in West Africa.

As the international development critic for our party, let me now focus attention on the needs of West Africa, and let me begin by sending strength, courage, and hope to the people of West Africa—namely, to the people of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, who have suffered so much—and to Canadians with families, friends, and loved ones in Africa. Let me also extend my condolences to everyone who has lost someone during the world's worst outbreak of Ebola in history. I want them to know that we feel their pain, that we stand by them, and that we will fight for them.

This past Sunday, I spoke via telephone with Professor Monty Jones, special advisor to the president of Sierra Leone and ambassador at large, who was responsible for overseeing the Ebola response in the country. Our Parliament should know that he was listed as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2007. His Excellency President Ernest Kororma was briefed that the call was taking place and what transpired, and he gave permission for me to talk about the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone and, particularly, the urgent needs of the country and the Canadian Parliament.

Twenty-five hundred people have been infected, 900 have died, and 580 have recovered in Sierra Leone. In the words of the special advisor to the president, the disease remains “very stubborn, despite all the measures taken”. In fact, five of the country's fourteen districts are quarantined, including parts of the capital.

Sierra Leone needs community-based care centres and 1000 more beds. The country needs more health care workers. Special advisor Jones says three to four health care workers are needed for each patient with Ebola. This means the country needs a minimum of 500 more doctors, 2,000 nurses, and 1,000 technicians with various specialties.

Burial remains a challenge in Sierra Leone, as the government wants to give a decent burial to everyone. Custom in Sierra Leone involves crying, mourning, and touching the body, but now there are no ceremonies, no touching, and burials are fast-tracked.

The special advisor to the president explained that a swab is taken from each of the dead, in order to ensure someone has not died of Ebola. The problem is that there are not enough ambulances, not enough laboratories, and not enough technicians to analyze the blood samples. As a result, there is a backlog of samples, which means there is a backlog of bodies to pick up. Sometimes bodies remain in houses for three days. The longer a body remains, the greater the chance that people will want to touch their loved one.

Special advisor Jones says labs currently process 50 to 100 samples per day, but the country needs more labs and more technicians so 500 samples can be analyzed per day.

The special advisor is particularly concerned about possible travel bans and what such bans might mean to the economy and the importation of food and desperately needed health care and medications.

Sierra Leone was one of the fastest growing economies in the world. The World Bank ranked it the sixth-fastest reformer. Economic growth was at 11% and predicted to go to 14%, but has now dropped back to 7%. The special advisor explained that a ban would cripple the economy further and prevent much needed food and medical help from coming in.

He explained that people are thoroughly screened in Sierra Leone airports with thermometers and infrared temperature screening and if there is even a slight increase in temperature, they are turned back, to health care.

Special advisor Jones hopes that the international community will continue to respect the known science with regard to travel bans and not make political decisions that would hurt his country further.

As a final point, the special advisor to the president wants the Canadian Parliament to know that the economy and health care will need help after the Ebola outbreak and that we must not forget the people of Sierra Leone and, indeed, of West Africa.

Several humanitarian organizations have relayed the same point to me. Health care systems have effectively collapsed and will require substantial support to be rebuilt and strengthened. The government's investment in maternal, newborn, and child health and the gains in MNCH in the region will be reversed if we do not have a place to assist mothers after the outbreak.

I will now discuss the health care needs from people on the ground in West Africa, with whom I am in touch almost daily. However, before I do, I want to acknowledge the tremendous efforts of health care workers, scientists, and humanitarian organizations in incredibly difficult, heartbreaking circumstances.

While there is a real push to create more treatment centres and holding beds, I also hear that there is a tremendous need for training, particularly training for local health workers to use personal protective equipment, PPE, to protect themselves. Even in developed countries, only a small number of health workers have ever used the required level of protection, which sadly was illustrated by the experiences in Spain and in the United States. Training that is taking place overseas involves three days, plus two days in a ward, then regular supervision and mentoring. There are no shortcuts.

The Ebola outbreak ravaging West Africa is the most severe and acute public health emergency in modern times. Never in recent history has such a dangerous pathogen infected so many people so quickly over such a wide geographical area for so long.

It is past time that the Minister of Health, the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness and the Chief Public Health Officer appeared in front of the health committee to update parliamentarians and Canadians on whether Canada is actually fulfilling its pledges on Ebola; that equipment and money is actually getting to the people who need it most in West Africa; and that parliamentarians have an opportunity to ask ministers and officials about Canada's state of preparedness. Parliamentarians will want to ask about preparedness of Canada's ports of entry, health care facilities, and other institutions to identify, diagnose, isolate, and treat Ebola patients in a safe and appropriate manner.

We have said from the very beginning that this is a non-partisan issue, and so in the spirit of compromise, I move, seconded by the member for Random—Burin—St. George's, to amend the motion as follows.

by replacing the words "the Minister of Health, the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada, and the Minister of Public Safety to appear before the Standing Committee on Health twice monthly" with the words "the relevant minister or ministers to appear twice monthly and the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada to appear monthly before the Standing Committee on Health".

I call on all members of this House to support this motion to protect the people of West Africa so that we can protect the health and safety of Canadians here.

[The Acting Speaker, Conservative, Barry Devolin]

The amendment is in order.

Questions and comments, the hon. member for Timmins—James Bay.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Mr. Speaker, we are learning now that HIV first appeared in the 1920s in Kinshasa. It circled around, it died out, it morphed, it came back, and it formed again until it reached a point where it became the virulent killer of the latter part of the 20th century.

No one should be surprised about what is happening with Ebola. It has appeared a number of times. The World Health Organization has been aware of it. However, this latest outbreak has carried on with absolutely no awareness or no interest, it seems, from western powers because it was in poor African countries like Sierra Leone and others. Now we are facing potentially 10,000 new cases a week. We can make many incriminations looking back, but this was staring us in the face: the need for an international response to prevent this pathogen from getting to the point where it is now.

What does my hon. colleague think we need to do to learn lessons from this and to make sure that we hopefully will not see 10,000 deaths a week? We seem condemned to learn these lessons again and again, as governments do not pay attention to the importance of public health. What does my hon. colleague think?

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Ebola really started to increase in the spring. At that time, $100 million was asked for to stem the outbreak. In July that increased to $600 million. There was a real cry for more help from governments around the world. Through a letter at that time I asked the government for more funding and it came through with $5 million, a very small amount. In the fall that number was increased to $1 billion. As of last week, that fund is only 25% funded.

I have been saying since the fall that the international community and Canada must step up their response. West Africa needs more hospital units, more beds, more transportation, more labs, and more personnel.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague has a real passion for this topic and for many other topics involving the developing world, health in particular.

At the end of the member's speech she proposed an amendment to the motion, and that is the second amendment that has been proposed today. I would like to invite her to speak to both of them. The first amendment came from the government side and was put forward by the member for Pickering—Scarborough East. He did not get consent from the mover. His amendment would have allowed for the ministers who are being called before committee to make written submissions rather than appear before committee. I would invite my colleague's comments on why that amendment did not receive the consent of the mover and why it is unacceptable.

Could she also speak further to the amendment that she just put forward in terms of how she expects it to gain cross-party support?

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is the job of government to protect the health and safety of Canadians. We have a major public health crisis, the worst outbreak of Ebola in history. It is also the job of government to communicate with Canadians in an open and transparent manner.

That is the reason we put forward our motion calling on the Minister of Health, the Minister of Public Safety, and the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada to appear in front of committee every two weeks. We then heard today that the government wants to respond in writing. That is not good enough. Canadians need to hear parliamentarians asking questions. Is the government prepared, should a case ever come to Canada? The government has to be prepared. It is not enough to submit written communications. We have to be able to ask those questions.

I amended the motion in order to hopefully get all-party support.

I had questions on Ebola last week. Families in my riding have families back home, as do many members of the House. We all need to be asking these questions to ensure that the outbreak in West Africa will come to an end and to ensure Canadians' health and safety are protected.

[John Carmichael, Conservative, Don Valley West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I welcome the opportunity to address the Ebola crisis in West Africa and to update the House of Commons on our government's actions to date.

I will be sharing my time today with the member for Elmwood—Transcona.

The outbreak continues to be a very serious situation and our thoughts are with those affected by it. Recent statements from West African researchers, scientists, clinicians and health officials underscore the fact that families and entire villages have been shattered.

Canada remains at the forefront of the Ebola response, contributing funds, expertise and equipment to the international efforts to fight the Ebola outbreak. Our government continues to work with domestic and international partners to ensure the most effective response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. We also continue to take steps here in Canada to further protect Canadians right here at home.

I will start off by reiterating that there are no confirmed cases of Ebola in Canada. However, Canada must be prepared for a case to come here. Provincial and local health officials are the lead on any Ebola case in Canada, but the Public Health Agency of Canada continues to assist.

The Government of Canada has a number of systems in place in Canada to identify and prevent the spread of infectious diseases like Ebola. It will continue to work with the provinces and territories to ensure that we are prepared to protect Canadians in the unlikely event that a case were to arrive in Canada.

We also has five Ebola rapid response teams in place, which include epidemiologists, lab expertise to quickly confirm diagnosis and emergency supplies from our national strategic stockpiles, such as masks, gloves and gowns. These rapid response teams would support the provincial and territorial authorities in their response should a case of Ebola occur.

Internationally, we are supportive of the leadership role being played by the World Health Organization. We remain committed to working effectively with it and other key partners, including Médecins Sans Frontières and the Red Cross to respond effectively to this public health emergency.

Canada has been providing financial and in-kind support of humanitarian, security and public health measures since April to address the spread of the Ebola virus disease in the West Africa region. On October 17, the government announced an additional $30 million to support international efforts led by the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response, or UNMEER, to help strengthen global efforts to stop the outbreak, treat the infected and prevent the spread of the Ebola virus disease in West Africa.

With this most recent announcement, Canada has committed a total of $65.4 million to the global efforts to support health, humanitarian and security interventions to address the spread of the disease. The government continues to assess the needs identified by the WHO and to explore what else Canada can do to support global efforts in response to the outbreak.

As members are aware, the agency's National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg is on the cutting edge of global research and testing capabilities for Ebola. The lab recently sent a second mobile laboratory to help provide on-the-ground rapid diagnostics and testing infection control measures.

In response to the World Health Organization's appeal to member states for the donation of personal protective equipment to support the ongoing Ebola virus disease outbreak response in West Africa, the Government of Canada offered the WHO a donation of over $2.5 million in personal protective equipment, including gowns, masks, respirators and gloves. The government has already delivered two shipments to West Africa, in part by Royal Canadian Air Force Hercules aircraft. This personal equipment will make a difference on the ground in helping to reduce the risk of transmission and infection.

The Government of Canada is also donating up to 1,000 vials of an experimental Ebola vaccine, developed by the Public Health Agency of Canada, to the WHO to support the response to the ongoing Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

The Government of Canada owns the intellectual property of this vaccine. It is the product of more than 10 years of scientific research and innovation by the Public Health Agency of Canada scientists at the National Microbiology Laboratory and could be an important tool in curbing the outbreak.

The experimental Ebola vaccine has never been tested in humans but has shown great promise in animal research. This donation represents up to two-thirds of the total vials of this experimental vaccine currently in the possession of the Public Health Agency of Canada. The remainder will be kept in Canada for further research and in the unlikely event that it is needed for compassionate use.

The Government of Canada has begun to ship 800 of these donated vials of its experimental Ebola vaccine to the WHO. The first shipment left yesterday by air from Winnipeg to the University Hospital of Geneva. The vaccine vials are being sent in three separate shipments as a precautionary measure due to the challenges of moving a vaccine that must be kept at a very low temperature at all times. The vaccine must be packed in dry ice and kept at -80°C, which is similar to the conditions required for transplanting human organs.

The Public Health Agency of Canada is supplying the vaccine to the WHO in its role as the international co-ordinating body for the Ebola outbreak in the hopes that the vaccine can be made available as an international resource.

The Government of Canada views this experimental Ebola vaccine as a global resource. In the interest of global public health, we are sharing it with our international partners to help address the outbreak. The WHO, in consultation with partners including health authorities from the affected countries, will guide and facilitate how the vaccine is distributed and used. There are both ethical and logistical challenges with the use of experimental vaccines and treatments in humans. The WHO will need to consider those carefully before using this vaccine in this outbreak.

We are mindful that the vaccine is experimental. There have only been a handful of people in the world who have received it to date. It has not yet been tested in humans for safety or effectiveness. We expect the WHO to deploy these doses as ethically, quickly and safely as possible.

To this end, the WHO organized an expert consultation in late September to assess the status of work to test and eventually licence this Ebola vaccine along with another that was developed in the United States. More than 70 experts, including many from affected and neighbouring countries in West Africa as well as Canada, attended this event. Participants had varied backgrounds and were able to provide expertise ranging from the virology of emerging infections to regulatory requirements, medical ethics, public health and infectious diseases. Some participants came with more than three decades of experience working in Africa on other infectious diseases.

In order to clarify the safety of the vaccines, the WHO, these experts and other partners have helped to facilitate the expedited evaluation of the two vaccine candidates in order to generate phase one safety and dosage data for decision-making. A series of co-ordinated phase one trials is currently under way and others will soon be initiated with international partners at more than 10 sites in Africa, Europe and North America.

These trials, which are being conducted in healthy volunteers, will provide critical information about the safety of the vaccine and the appropriate dosage required to stimulate a person's immune system to produce Ebola antibodies. Results from the clinical trial are expected in December 2014.

Our government is committed to supporting the efforts of our international partners to control the Ebola outbreak and hopes that the experimental vaccine will be able to address this global crisis.

In conclusion, we recognize that the Ebola outbreak currently ravaging parts of West Africa is the most severe acute public health emergency in modern times. Canada, with its partners, is well-prepared and ready to support international efforts in West Africa.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I listened with great interest to my colleague. I am very interested in this important vaccine. We do not know how effective it will be, but this could be a lifesaver for tens of thousands of people.

I would like to ask the member about the decision to sell the vaccine to NewLink Genetics for $200,000. That seems to be an absurdly low figure. We are also hearing questions raised about the ability of this company to deliver the vaccine. In fact, some international health organizations are calling on Canada to withdraw that agreement, which we have the right to do apparently.

Can my hon. colleague confirm whether that right exists to withdraw the rights by which this company was able to get the vaccine for such an outrageously low price, so we can get it to a larger company that can actually deliver the vaccine in a timely manner because we are potentially facing 10,000 new cases a week appearing in Africa?

[John Carmichael, Conservative, Don Valley West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, as I stated in my speech, the intellectual property of the vaccine remains the property of the Canadian government and of public health. Clearly, it is important that this vaccine be tested quickly and put to work in West Africa where it can curb the tide of this devastating disease. This is the worst public health crisis we have seen in modern times. We must be able to find a solution that will bring an end to the spread of this terrible disease.

The biology labs in Winnipeg have demonstrated the development over 10 years of this remarkable product. By bringing it to market after testing, and hopefully with the final test results in December, it will bring an end to the spread of this disease.