Debates of Nov. 25th, 2020

Health

[Erin O'Toole, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Prime Minister admitted the beginning of the end of the pandemic starts later in Canada.

The Minister of Public Services and Procurement has said that Health Canada approvals could also delay vaccine distribution even more.

The Prime Minister has previously said it is not his job to ensure rapid tests and other things are approved rapidly.

I want to know, does the Prime Minister think it is his job to get a vaccine approved quickly, yes or no?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, as I said, we are working to ensure that Canadians have vaccines as quickly as possible. Indeed that was part of why we worked with experts to ensure that we have the best possible portfolio of vaccines, including more doses per capita than just about any other country. The Minister of Public Services and Procurement has worked extremely hard and is delivering on that. We also know that there are three of the top vaccine candidates that are currently being examined by Health Canada for approvals. We are doing that as it is done to be safe for Canadians and to make sure we can get vaccines quickly.

[Erin O'Toole, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, Quebec's health minister made a specific request of the federal government. He asked for a clear, rapid vaccine distribution plan. The provinces need that plan to fight COVID-19. Unfortunately, 10 months in, the Prime Minister is admitting that he does not have a plan.

Will the Prime Minister release his vaccine distribution plan and, if so, when?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, right from the start, we have been implementing a plan to protect Canadians. That plan resulted in us having the best portfolio of vaccines of any country in the world, with more doses per capita than any other country.

We have done the work we needed to do to access vaccines, and we are now working with the provinces and our partners to deliver those vaccines to Canadians.

We will continue to work with the experts, and we will have more to say about this in the weeks to come.

Official Languages

[Erin O'Toole, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has said that he supports Bill 101. That is a first for a party that has always challenged that legislation.

The Conservatives are proposing concrete measures, such as ensuring that Bill 101 applies to federally regulated companies. Quebeckers expect more than just lip service.

Will the Liberal government make Bill 101 apply to federally regulated companies?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, as a proud Quebecker, I have always known that the best way to ensure a bilingual Canada is to ensure that Quebec is first and foremost a francophone Quebec. Our government has been working on this for quite some time.

I will not wait for the Conservatives to lecture us on protecting the French language. They refuse to appoint exclusively bilingual judges to the Supreme Court. They have no problem appointing unilingual anglophone judges to the Supreme Court. We have taken a different approach.

We will protect the French language in Quebec and across Canada.

Health

[Yves-François Blanchet, Bloc, Beloeil—Chambly, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the leader of the official opposition for announcing that he will vote in favour of the Bloc Québécois legislation.

On October 23, Quebec's health minister sent a letter to the federal Minister of Health, asking about next steps, but he has yet to receive a response. The committee working on this file is avoiding the issue of vaccines. We are not getting the full story. However, solutions do exist.

The Prime Minister said that mass production of the vaccine is impossible. However, some are saying that for certain quantities, that is not true. It would have been possible to produce a certain number of doses rapidly, which we could have had before we get vaccines from abroad. It is not about quantity, it is about timing.

Will the Prime Minister acknowledge that his strategy fails to protect the most vulnerable?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, from day one, we have been working with experts across the country to meet Canadians' expectations.

That is how we ended up securing more doses of vaccine per capita than any other country in the world. That is how we ended up with a solid plan to work with the provinces and territories and our partners to deliver these vaccines as soon as they are available.

We will work with the experts who established these plans, because, on this side of the House, we trust experts and scientists from across the country.

[Yves-François Blanchet, Bloc, Beloeil—Chambly, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it is not about having more doses per capita, it is about having the right number of doses for the people who need it most urgently. Anyone can understand that.

Canada has an approval process that generally takes a little longer than that of other countries. This is often justified, because we take a long-term view. However, in this case, it is an emergency. In this context, every day counts.

Will the Prime Minister consider speeding up Canada's approval process to align with its suppliers and international allies?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, every expert and scientist in the country is working on COVID-19.

Vaccination experts provided us with recommendations that helped us establish the best portfolio of potential vaccines anywhere in the world. We will continue to work with them and with our partners in Canada.

I made an announcement last summer about investments in Montreal that will ensure that we have vaccine manufacturing capacity. The Conservative government under-invested in science, development and research, but we will continue to invest and to be there to meet Canadians' expectations.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, everyone is afraid because of COVID-19.

Cases are on the rise, and the announcement of a vaccine gave people hope. The Prime Minister said that we cannot produce vaccines in Canada right now, but back in August, he announced that the National Research Council of Canada would be able to produce vaccines.

What changed? Canadians need an answer and a plan. What is the plan for getting vaccines in Canada right away?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I was indeed very proud to announce an investment in the National Research Council of Canada in August in order to ensure that it is able to produce vaccines in emergency situations. That will be implemented for next summer or fall.

In the meantime, we have been working with partners around the world to ensure that Canada will have access to tens of millions of doses of the vaccine when they become available.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, we are in the middle of a second wave. People are deeply and desperately afraid of what that means for their family, with COVID-19 cases on the rise. The announcement of vaccines gave people hope, but when the Prime Minister said we are not able to produce them in Canada, people were afraid again.

In the summer the Prime Minister announced that the National Research Council could produce vaccines, but now it seems as though we cannot. We need to know what the plan is. Canadians are worried and afraid. They need to know there is a clear plan with dates for how these vaccines will be delivered. What is the plan?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased that the member opposite actually read the press release from last summer. He just did not read the whole thing. It is an investment and a commission to build a vaccine-manufacturing facility at the Royalmount National Research Council facility in Montreal, but we are still in construction of that facility.

We have made investments to stand up more biomanufacturing capacity in Canada after 10 long years of a Conservative government that saw most of our vaccine manufacturers cut their production and, indeed, leave Canada. We will continue to invest in science. We will deliver vaccines to Canadians.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Speaker, did the Prime Minister and his government even bother to negotiate the right for Canada to manufacture the leading vaccine candidates here in Canada?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, around the world, various parliaments and governments are having to explain to their citizens and to their oppositions why Canada has done so much better than them on getting a better portfolio of vaccines and more doses per capita than their countries were able to.

Canada has negotiated, through working with experts and scientists and relying on their recommendations, an excellent portfolio of vaccines with tens of millions of doses for Canadians. Those scientists and researchers are working very quickly to get those vaccines as soon as possible to Canadians.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Speaker, it does not matter what portfolio of vaccines we have if Canadians cannot get it until 2030.

The Prime Minister did not answer the question I just asked him, which is very material. He said he has spent all this money on developing vaccine-manufacturing capacity. Did he, his industry minister, his procurement minister or whoever even bother to negotiate the rights for us to manufacture those vaccines here at home?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, allow me to reassure anyone who actually might have listened to, or might tend to believe, anything the member just said. We will get those vaccines well in advance of the dates she is offering up, which I will not even repeat.

We have signed and secured vaccine-delivery contracts for 2021 with tens of millions of doses. We know how important it is to deliver them quickly. In signing the contracts, yes, we looked at different ways of ensuring domestic production as much as we were able to, but that, unfortunately, is not something we can move forward on.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the one thing that I notice about the Prime Minister is that whenever we ask him direct questions he cannot answer, the first thing he does is impugn the character of strong women, and that is wrong and sexist.

Instead of saying to me what I should not believe or what I do not know, answer the question. Did you even bother to negotiate the right for Canada to manufacture these vaccines at home? Did you? Do we have the ability to do this, and when are Canadians going to get these vaccines?

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I want to remind hon. members to place their questions through the Speaker and not directly to the person. Of course the answers have to go through the Speaker as well.

The right hon. Prime Minister.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, as I said, Canada has the best portfolio of vaccines purchased in the world, including two domestic vaccine candidates, VIDO-InterVac and Medicago, but the member opposite was asking what happened to domestic manufacturing in Canada. The Conservative government happened to domestic manufacturing.

In 2007, AstraZeneca and Bristol Myers closed their Canadian manufacturing operations. In 2010, Johnson & Johnson and Merck's Montreal research centres closed their facilities. In 2011, Teva closed one of its Canadian manufacturing operations. In 2012, AstraZeneca, GSK and Sanofi announced closings and layoffs.

That is what happened to manufacturing—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The hon. member for Chicoutimi—Le Fjord.

Official Languages

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I was pleasantly surprised. Following our questions yesterday, we were finally able to move our motion before the Standing Committee on Official Languages, after many weeks of obstruction by the Liberals.

The bill on the modernization of official languages must be introduced before December 11. Will the Prime Minister commit to respecting the wishes of the committee members who unanimously adopted this motion?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, this government has an excellent Minister of Official Languages who has been working hard for the past several years to protect French across the country and especially in Quebec.

In the latest throne speech, we mentioned how important this is, so I can assure members that we will be moving forward with the long-awaited modernization of the Official Languages Act.

[Alain Rayes, Conservative, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister and his ministers have been beating around the bush for weeks and refuse to introduce the bill on the two official languages before Christmas.

We heard on the news this morning that the minister is instead preparing a white paper for next year. The problem is that all the consultations have been completed, and recommendations have been submitted by organizations, the Commissioner of Official Languages and the Senate. We do not need a white paper. We do not need more consultations. We need a bill before Christmas, end of story.