Debates of Nov. 26th, 2020

Health—Main Estimates, 2020-21

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Madam Chair, over the years, we have focused on home care and mental health in particular, as well as on palliative care. As the member opposite knows, all of those things are extremely important to Canadians.

The member is right. We have been investing in those areas and working on creating standards in some cases, such as in the area of mental health. This work has been somewhat disrupted by the pandemic, but I know that the provinces and territories are committed to continuing it to ensure we have mental health care standards across the country.

As I mentioned earlier in a response to another colleague, access to mental health care is one of the things I hear about the most, as a member of Parliament, when I speak with constituents. We certainly know that the provinces and territories need to continue their hard work to ensure that there is equitable access and diversity of access and that we have standards for access to mental health care across the country.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Madam Chair, I am really glad the minister brought up mental health specifically, because mental health is something I believe in. Based on the interactions at my office, I am becoming very concerned about people's mental health as we go through COVID-19.

I am wondering if the minister can hit on the Wellness Together program and what supports the government is providing during COVID-19 to Canadians experiencing mental health issues that they need to be assisted with.

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

Madam Chair, I am extremely happy the Wellness Together portal is serving Canadians. It is available to Canadians from coast to coast to coast, no matter their circumstances or where they live. It is an online tool Canadians can use. It is also available by phone, as I mentioned earlier in my remarks.

It provides a variety of different self-help tools, such as a self-assessment tool, and a connection to psychotherapists, social workers and counsellors. It is available in a variety of different formats. People can talk, text or virtually chat with someone. It really does provide the diversity of access that we know accelerates the use of these tools.

I really want us to promote this tool together to our constituents. We have a number of ways we speak to our constituents. It is a great thing to slide into our householders to let Canadians know there are free resources available to them at no charge, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in both official languages and with translators for 200 other languages.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Madam Chair, one of the other tools we have, which I mentioned a few minutes ago, is the COVID Alert app. It is an exposure notification app rather than a contact-tracing app. The app uses strong measures to protect the privacy and confidentiality of any data it collects. It does not track a user's location or collect personal identifiable information.

At what level of uptake will the app be considered effective, and why has the Government of Canada not made the COVID Alert app mandatory in all provinces and territories so all Canadians can benefit?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

Madam Chair, the COVID Alert app is a useful tool. It is designed to complement manual contact tracing by identifying close contacts not necessarily found through standard contact-tracing methods. It is also a way to protect the anonymity of people who want to let close contacts know they may be diagnosed with COVID-19.

The app alerts people who have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive. It tells them to reach out to public health to get advice about testing or isolation. It also helps alleviate the burden on our hard-working front-line public health workers, who are doing so much contact tracing every single day.

More than 5.4 million Canadians have downloaded the app. More than 5,800 users who have tested positive have notified others of their possible exposure.

We are continuing to work with the provinces and territories to encourage them to implement it in all jurisdictions—

[The Assistant Deputy Chair, Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

The hon. member for Kingston and the Islands.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Madam Chair, my next question for the minister is related to the safety of the vaccine when it becomes available to Canadians. We know that there are a lot of people out there who are concerned about the safety of a vaccine. A lot of vaccines go through a 10-year period in order to establish that level of safety.

What is the Canadian government doing to ensure the confidence of the Canadian public in the vaccine that becomes available to them, when it does?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

Madam Chair, the member opposite talks about something that is extremely important. We know there are people who are vaccine hesitant in Canada. These are people who are not necessarily sure if vaccines are safe or right for them. That is why making sure anything we approve in Canada is done with the utmost commitment to integrity, science and data review is so important to ensuring that Canadians can be confident that the vaccines approved for use in Canada are indeed safe.

We are working closely with the manufacturers and, as the member noted, we have instilled a rolling regulatory review process through an interim order that I made. This allows for the manufacturers to submit the data as they acquire it. Health Canada regulators are working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, around the clock, assessing data. We are working in partnership with—

[The Assistant Deputy Chair, Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

The hon. member for Kingston and the Islands.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Madam Chair, just so the minister knows, I will say I am on the same side of the House as her. She called me the member opposite, but I am on the same side. I am sure they would love to have me over there, but I am still on the same side as her.

The World Health Organization identified people's hesitancy to take vaccines, generally, as one of the top 10 threats to global health in 2019. This absolutely concerns me because in order to protect a lot of people who perhaps cannot take a vaccine for one reason or another, to achieve that immunity, we need people who can take it, to take it.

I wonder what the government might be doing to ensure that people have confidence. I know the minister has already touched on this, but how do we reduce that hesitancy that might be there from people when it comes to taking the vaccine?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

Madam Chair, it is so important that we know, first, that most Canadians believe that vaccines are safe, but we have to protect that confidence that Canadians have in vaccination. That is why we are providing a variety of information for Canadians about the vaccines under review, and we will continue to provide full transparency about the effectiveness of the vaccines as we go forward.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Madam Chair, I will share my time with my colleague from Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry.

I would like to talk about Pfizer. More specifically, on July 22, the Americans signed an agreement with Pfizer for 100 million doses of vaccine.

On August 5, the Government of Canada secured 20 million doses and, more recently, in early November, it secured an additional 56 million doses.

Can the minister explain to me why the Americans, who signed an agreement on July 22, and the Government of Canada, which signed an agreement two weeks later, will not have access to the Pfizer vaccine at the same time?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Madam Chair, the member opposite has heard me, I am sure, say that we are in fact so thrilled that Pfizer is one of the seven promising vaccines in our vaccine portfolio, and it has submitted to Health Canada for regulatory approval.

Pfizer is the vaccine manufacturer of a new and novel vaccine. This is something that all countries around the world are working to approve, to ensure that we understand the safety of the vaccine. As soon as a vaccine is approved for safety in Canada—

[The Assistant Deputy Chair, Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

The hon. member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Madam Chair, the minister has been telling us the same things over and over for weeks.

Does the minister realize that the agreement the Americans signed on July 22, a contract for 100 million doses, stipulated that they would be the first to receive them? That was part of the agreement.

The Americans' MO is not the same as this government's. The U.S. health department puts everything down in writing and in detail. We are familiar with their agreements. The Americans tell us exactly where they are going.

Why is the minister constantly telling us about some big portfolio, which is meaningless, given that we know the Government of Canada has booked 76 million doses from Pfizer and that we will probably get six million doses by late March or early April? Can the minister clarify?

I think we have spent enough time fooling around.

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

Madam Chair, as I said, we expect to receive doses of Pfizer and Moderna in the first quarter of 2021. In fact, Health Canada is doing the work right now to review the vaccines for safety. As soon as they are approved for safety, they will arrive in Canada and we will deploy them.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Madam Chair, I do not think the minister can explain how it works because I do not think she knows, or perhaps she does not want to know.

What I can say is that the United States was able to negotiate its contract, and its vaccine negotiations have been made public.

Also, we learned today that the Food and Drug Administration and Health Canada are working together on approving the vaccine. The minister, however, keeps telling us that we will have to wait.

Just today, we were told that everything is going to be done at the same time, while the United States is announcing that people will be able to get vaccinated in two weeks.

Why can't Canada be more transparent and clear? Can the minister tell us about something other than her large portfolio of vaccines? That does not mean anything to us right now.

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

Madam Chair, I think I have been perfectly clear. What I have been perfectly clear about is that Canadians can have confidence that they too will have access to effective vaccines in Canada. In fact, a variety of different kinds of vaccines, which is good news for Canadians. We are not certain that all vaccines will work on all people. In fact, some vaccines will be indicated for use on certain kinds of populations. This diversity in our portfolio will serve Canadians well. We have the most per capita—

[The Assistant Deputy Chair, Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

The hon. member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Madam Chair, I am going to change subjects and come back to the issue of ultra-cold freezers.

Two or three weeks ago we learned that Quebec took the initiative to buy 60 units. Quebec did not wait for the federal government because I think it understood that it needed to be proactive. Now, here in Canada, I believe we have 126 of these freezers.

Can the government tell us whether contracts have been awarded?

Have the freezers already been manufactured? Are any of them ready for use?

When will we be getting them?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

Madam Chair, the fact that Quebec is preparing to receive, especially, the Pfizer vaccine that must be stored at extremely cold temperatures is exactly a sign of what he is asking for, which is interprovincial-federal collaboration. That is so essential to ensuring that we can deploy these vaccines successfully. As the member opposite will also know, Quebec has a long and very successful history of immunizing its population, something it has the provincial jurisdiction, authority and expertise to do. That is why I think Canadians are in good stead—

[The Assistant Deputy Chair, Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

The hon. member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Madam Chair, Quebec took the initiative to do something about the ultra-cold freezers it needed. That is great, but the nine other provinces, as well as the territories, are awaiting news from the federal government.

Can the minister tell me when the ultra-cold freezers will be available in the other provinces? I will not ask her how many each province will get, because I think that is a bit much. However, will the provinces get these freezers by December 15, December 31 or January 1?

Can she give us a date?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

Madam Chair, in fact, the federal government at a number of working tables has worked closely with provinces and territories, first, to assess readiness to receive vaccines, and second, to ensure that if they do not have the equipment necessary the federal government can procure that equipment for them and have it in place. Let me be clear: When a vaccine is approved, Canadians will have access to the vaccine. Canada will be ready.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Madam Chair, from what I understand, the minister has no idea what is going on with the various contracts. If she does know, she is choosing not to say, which is the most disturbing part of this for everyone. I want to touch on one last point, which is the infamous contract awarded to CanSino Biologics.

Can the minister tell me why the Government of Canada did business with a company owned by the Chinese communist regime, which allowed the company to steal Canadian intellectual property?