Debates of Dec. 3rd, 2020

Opposition Motion—Status Update on COVID-19 Vaccines

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Madam Speaker, we heard during some of the other speeches today that premiers across Canada are very concerned with their lack of information. We have heard quotes from Scott Moe in Saskatchewan and Doug Ford in Ontario, and certainly from the Premier of Quebec and premiers in the Atlantic provinces as well.

With the lack of information, does it not seem that the Liberal government is setting up the provinces to fail? They do not have access to the important information about when vaccines are going to be available and how they will be distributed.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

I hope not, Madam Speaker.

If that is the case, it is scandalous.

I cannot believe that the government thinks that way, but that is what all the signs point to. Why is the government not answering the provinces? Why is it not answering the legitimate questions from the provinces, which are the ones responsible for administering the vaccine through nurses and doctors? The health care system is provincial.

These people all deserve answers because they need to get organized and decide how to administer the vaccine. If they do not know how many doses they will get or when, they cannot get organized. That will lead to failures, but they will be the Liberal government's failures, not the provinces'.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada and to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Madam Speaker, I assure the member across the way that the Government of Canada, through its departments, in particular health, is in constant dialogue with the provincial jurisdictions. It is absolutely critical that territories, provinces and Ottawa work together, because ultimately that is how vaccines are going to be delivered.

Could he provide his thoughts on how important it is that this sort of ongoing collaboration continues in a positive fashion?

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Madam Speaker, I want to ask the parliamentary secretary to the government House leader why the provinces are complaining in the media that they do not have information if those discussions are indeed taking place and if there is so much communication between the federal and provincial governments. Why are the premiers saying they are not getting answers from Ottawa? That is the real question.

The government keeps saying that there are channels of communication and they are working seven days a week, 24 hours a day, but the provinces do not seem to know that. There is a substantial gap between the rhetoric and the action on the ground.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Madam Speaker, I listened carefully to my colleague's speech. I would like to ask him about the federal government's vision and the Conservative vision. Allow me to explain.

Canada and Quebec were once scientific research hotspots. Sadly, that is no longer the case, and that is one reason we find ourselves in the unfortunate position of having to wait for a vaccine.

More specifically, there used to be federal programs for partnerships with the pharmaceutical industry, including technology partnerships Canada, the TPC. Who abolished it in 2005? The Liberals. Who wiped it out completely in 2007? The Harper government. That is why I want to ask my colleague about the Conservative vision. Are the Conservatives saying no to science and yes to casting aspersions on science?

There is more. In this morning's Toronto Star, the member for Durham, the Conservative Party leader, avoided questions about the antivaccine e-petition sponsored by the member for Hastings—Lennox and Addington, who seems to want to make sure there will be no vaccine. I am laughing, but I am trying to be serious about this. What is the Conservative stance on science?

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Madam Speaker, I would like to know what my colleague thinks of today's motion, namely that we are calling on the government to tell us “how each type of vaccine will be safely delivered to Canada” and when. Will it be 2020, 2021, 2022?

Unfortunately, I am not interested in knowing today what happened in 2005, and I really do not care. I want want my constituents and Canadians to be the first or among the first to receive the vaccine. Why am I saying this? It is because if they do not receive the vaccine, there will not be an economic recovery. That is what matters. Therefore, I invite my colleague to read the motion properly and to support it, because it is important to all Canadians.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Abitibi—Témiscamingue

Before I begin, I would like to talk about what appears to be the government's attempt at communication. Every time that we ask the government a question, we are told that we are looking to pick a fight. The Leader of the Government in the House of Commons used that logic again today, during question period, saying that we were trying to pick a fight instead of working together.

All I want to say is that the motion our Conservative colleagues moved today is about working together, because it is seeking more information on vaccines, and this information is vital to keeping everyone safe. I say this simply as a little warning. I am not trying to pick a fight with my speech. I am looking to point out the blind spots that the government unfortunately missed.

In that respect, I could begin by saying that I heard the parliamentary secretary to the government leader say to the leader of my party when he gave his speech that we have never asked questions about vaccine development. That surprised me because one example of the government's inaction is the case of Medicago. I remember making many representations in that regard because Medicago received a letter of intent from the Liberal government in March, but we had to make many representations before the government finally sent Medicago the confirmation of its financial support in July. It took four months.

Today, Medicago, the only company conducting pharmaceutical research in Quebec, is four months behind. That is symptomatic of what we are seeing today. It is a form of inaction on the part of the government with regard to the vaccine and the consistency needed to support the vaccination process.

Earlier, my Conservative colleague talked about something that I also wanted to bring up. He talked about a lack of information. If there is one thing that is key to making people feel safe in a pandemic, it is information.

There are two dimensions to this crisis. As we see it, the first is to keep workers safe. That is what was done in a collaborative effort when we created the Canada emergency response benefit and the emergency wage subsidy. We got lots of calls at our offices from people who were worried and wanted to know how it was supposed to work. The work we were doing was about keeping them safe. Now we are getting the same kind of calls because there is another dimension—

[Chris Bittle, Liberal, St. Catharines, ON]

Madam Speaker, on a point of order, I believe poor sound quality is making interpretation difficult.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

Is the member on the French channel? Would he please check that his headset is properly plugged in?

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Yes, I am on the French channel. I unplugged my headset and plugged it back in. Is it working now?

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

Yes, it is working.

The hon. member.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Madam Speaker, as I was saying, there are two dimensions to this crisis. The first is to keep our workers safe, and, with our collaboration, the government managed to do that by introducing the CERB and the wage subsidy.

The other dimension concerns health infrastructure, including the search for a vaccine. During the first wave, we received many calls from our constituents who wanted information on the CERB and the wage subsidy. Unfortunately, when it comes to vaccination, we have a big problem, because we cannot properly inform our constituents, who have very legitimate concerns.

Another rather crucial element is the fact that, without clear guidance on vaccination, I do not think it is possible to foresee a return to normal. Earlier this week, the government presented an economic statement without any recovery plan. I hope that will come soon, but we cannot think about economic recovery without a vaccine.

If Canada goes last, which appears to be the case, our economic recovery will be delayed and getting life back to normal for the entire population will happen more slowly. We therefore need clear guidance as soon as possible.

Thinking back on the government's actions on health and what it has been saying these past few days, I thought of a rather simple principle that is used in the health sector, the precautionary principle. It means rapidly taking concerted action when confronted with danger or elevated risk. It emphasizes being proactive, not reactive.

It seems to me that the government did not apply the precautionary principle when it comes to the vaccine. We are faced with two major questions that remain unanswered by the government: when will the vaccine be available to all Quebeckers, and how will it be administered?

The question of when is still a grey area. I will come back to that. The question of how is also a grey area, since we do not know how the vaccine will be distributed to the provinces. Has the government decided to distribute the vaccine based on the number of cases or based on the available infrastructure? We have no idea. This planning is the federal government's responsibility.

That is what is shocking. The government is interfering in areas of jurisdiction where it does not belong. One example is how, in its economic statement, the government is proposing $1 billion to support long-term care homes by imposing Canada-wide standards. This is an area of provincial jurisdiction, not federal.

The government is intervening and maybe applying that precautionary principle in these areas of jurisdiction that do not belong to it, but it is not doing anything to sort out when and how to procure the vaccine. This is cause for concern and confusion for many Quebeckers, and many Canadians too, I am sure.

With respect to the question of when, earlier this week, I heard the Prime Minister say that a majority of Canadians would be vaccinated by September. For a sovereignist, a majority means 50 plus one, or 51%. What kind of majority is the government talking about? Is it 51%, 60% or 70% of the population? That is another pretty big grey area.

The government also said that potentially by March 31 next year, 700,000 Quebeckers would be vaccinated, which is 8% of the population. Once again, we do not know how Quebec will get these vaccines from the government. The federal government itself does not seem to know.

Three large companies are the furthest along in their vaccine research: Moderna, Pfizer and AstraZeneca. However, the federal government does not seem to know where it stands in the order of precedence. The Prime Minister told us that we rank high with Moderna, but we do not know where we stand with Pfizer or AstraZeneca. We are completely in the dark about when and how the government will procure the vaccine.

I would like to highlight something else I found quite shocking. On Tuesday of this week, the Prime Minister announced that $126 million would be invested to increase Canada's domestic vaccine manufacturing capacity through the National Research Council of Canada. I quote: “Once a vaccine is proven to work, we’ll also need to be able to produce and distribute it here at home.”

The Prime Minister said this on Tuesday, but that is not when he should have said it. The government should have said it in April. This brings us back to the precautionary principle I mentioned. We already knew in April that pharmaceutical companies were well on their way to finding a vaccine. It was then that the government should have invested in the infrastructure needed to produce it ourselves. What made the government act only on Tuesday instead of in April? That is a rather important question.

We also know that the COVID-19 vaccines are made using a new technology. We knew that in April. We knew that our facilities in Quebec and in Toronto, the two major facilities capable of producing vaccines in Canada, did not have the required infrastructure. The government took no action before Tuesday, when it made this $126-million announcement. That means that we lost eight whole months when vaccines could have been made here.

Do I have any time remaining, Madam Speaker?

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

I can see that the member has more to say, and I am certain that he can finish up in questions and comments.

Questions and comments, the hon. member for Battle River—Crowfoot.

[Damien Kurek, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Madam Speaker, I would simply ask for the member's comments on how the government seems to be making this a hyperpartisan issue when the motion is quite clear. We simply want clarity for all Canadians on this very important issue—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

We lost part of that.

The hon. member for Jonquière.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Madam Speaker, at the beginning of my speech, I said that we are starting to hear the same old tired rhetoric in the House. As soon as we question the government's decisions, we are told that we are trying to pick a fight and that we do not want to collaborate anymore.

I think the best way for the government to collaborate is to give us a clear indication of when and how the vaccines will be distributed. The government needs to stop playing partisan games that seem to me to be an attempt to hide its inaction.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada and to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Madam Speaker, it is important to point out that there is and has been collaboration by the federal government. It is working with the different departments, particularly health, and the provinces to ensure that once the vaccines have been approved and are ready, Canadians will have access to them. That involves a great deal of collaboration, and I am glad to say that collaboration is taking place.

The health and well-being of Canadians is our first priority moving forward on vaccines, and we will continue to work with provincial jurisdictions, the Canadian Forces and the many stakeholders to ensure that Canadians will be well served during the vaccine's distribution.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Madam Speaker, I did not really hear a question in what the parliamentary secretary said.

I understand that the Liberals want to work with the provinces. The big problem is that they focused their actions on the wrong targets. In seeking to apply standards to seniors' residences, they are infringing on an area of jurisdiction that does not belong to them, and they are forgetting to do what they should be doing, which is to procure a vaccine and ensure that we have the infrastructure to produce it. The Liberals are not doing their own job.

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

Madam Speaker, I want to apologize. I am sticking to the English channel to make the translation work better. This is a fairly technical question, so I hope the member will forgive me.

We have talked in this place about access to vaccines, and the fact that federal funding, and government funding all around the world, has gone to private sector companies that now plan to reap the profits of the public investment.

Is the member aware of a move, from South Africa and India, for a vote at the World Trade Organization next week for a waiver from the onerous patent requirements under the TRIPS Agreement: the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. Green Party members certainly support a waiver so that more countries, particularly developing countries, can manufacture their own vaccines and bring down the price.

Does the Bloc Québécois have a view on this move to make vaccines more available as common intellectual property and not just for the profits for big pharma?

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Madam Speaker, I do not have enough information to take a stand on that issue, although I do tend to be in favour of what is known as open research, which can benefit everyone.

I want to stress one thing. In the 2000s, we had a sizeable cluster of pharmaceutical companies in Quebec, but unfortunately the Liberal and Conservative governments cut technology partnerships Canada, which meant that, in the space of just five years, all those major players disappeared from Quebec.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Jonquière for a very good speech. I would like to talk a bit more about those pharmaceutical companies, and I'm drawing inspiration from the open letters my colleague from Joliette published. He published another one just this week in L'aut'journal.

Recently, the Government of Canada admitted that the U.S., the U.K. and Germany would start vaccinating their populations in December 2020, whereas Canada would have to wait until the first months of 2021. Why will Canada be starting the process months after the others? It is hard to know, because the Government of Canada signed confidential agreements with pharmaceutical companies that put Quebeckers and Canadians in line behind the Americans, Brits and Germans. That is why the Bloc Québécois demanded that the federal government agree to the Government of Quebec's request for more information about how we will be getting the vaccine.

The Government of Quebec and the Bloc Québécois want to understand why Canada did not get any guarantees for priority processing of its orders. Why did it not align its approval process with those of the vaccine-producing countries in order to synchronize timelines? Why will Quebeckers not be vaccinated at the same time as the rest of the world? Why is Canada unable to come up with a solution to Canada's vaccine production and licensing capacity so that the vaccine could be produced in Canada on a tight deadline? Above all, why did the Prime Minister give a false impression about how quickly the vaccine would be available in Canada?

Upon closer examination of the Government of Canada's decisions and actions, it is hard to know whether there is a real plan for vaccination and, more importantly, whether there is any willingness to increase vaccine manufacturing capacity in Canada, particularly in Quebec, with Medicago, a Quebec-based pharmaceutical company that has the capacity to meet the demand for vaccination with other international pharmaceutical labs.

That is why the Bloc Québécois demanded that the federal government agree to the Government of Quebec's request for more information about the decisions and actions of the Government of Canada. With former Bill C-13, the federal government had established the legal framework required to ensure that pharmaceutical companies could produce a competitor's vaccine without having to wait for a licence. However, Ottawa backed out after the first step. Lastly, the Prime Minister gave false impressions.

I will now speak about the destruction of our pharmaceutical industry because it is worthwhile delving into this issue. I would like to remind my colleagues in the House of Commons that just a few years ago, Quebec had the capacity to develop and sell vaccines. For decades, Quebec was a world leader in the pharmaceutical sector. In Longueuil, Laval and Montreal, in the metropolitan area, large pharmaceutical companies were well established in Quebec.

Under the Government of Quebec's requirements, Canada was collaborating with the Government of Quebec to develop a true pharmaceutical cluster. At the time, the pharmaceutical industry in Quebec was thriving, with many start-ups. The governments of Canada and Quebec were providing economic incentives and policies favouring the development of large laboratories, as well as local manufacturing of innovative drugs. Hundreds, thousands, even tens of thousands of start-ups, SMEs and jobs were being created.

In the 1980s and 1990s, through the collaboration between the federal and Quebec governments, Quebec built a true pharmaceutical cluster, but as usual, the federal government simply destroyed Quebec's pharmaceutical cluster in the 1990s and the 2000s.

It was the Liberal Party that started the destruction in the 1990s by reducing patent protections for pharmaceutical companies operating in Canada. The Liberal Party then suspended Technology Partnerships Canada, a risk-sharing investment program. When the Conservatives returned to power in the 2000s, Stephen Harper simply finished what the Liberals had started by abolishing the program.

From then until 2012, all of the big pharmaceutical laboratories in Quebec shut down one after the other. Once again, Quebec was abandoned by Ottawa. Meanwhile, the Liberals and the Conservatives chose to favour pharmaceutical companies in Ontario at the expense of those in Quebec. I should also point out that the pharmaceutical companies in Ontario have always contributed significant amounts to Liberal and Conservative election campaigns. Both the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party were responsible for Ottawa's choice to stop investing in pharmaceutical companies in Quebec.

That is why, even though the Government of Quebec wanted to develop its pharmaceutical cluster on its own, it simply could not keep this industry competitive in the face of global competition. What kind of dynamic growth would we have seen in Quebec's pharmaceutical industry? What kind of expertise would Quebec have now? I believe that this industry would still have been one of the best in the world. It would surely be in the process of manufacturing a vaccine. That vaccine might even have been approved by now, and we would have been vaccinated.

Once again, Ottawa undermined an important industry in Quebec. Once again, Quebec had a world-class pharmaceutical industry, but Ottawa kept dragging Quebec down. Once again, Quebec's expertise was world-renowned, but Ottawa kept plundering Quebec's industry to help Ontario's. It is always the same old story with Ottawa.

As we saw with the shipbuilding, auto and forestry industries, and as we are currently seeing with the aerospace industry, Ottawa continues to drag Quebec down. Quebec gives half of its tax revenue to Ottawa, but Quebeckers have a bad feeling that they are paying for the destruction of Quebec's most successful businesses with their own money. They have felt that way for far too long. We see it happening with the decisions made by the Liberal and Conservative parties, which do not really care about Quebec's economic development.

I think it is worth mentioning these industries. It has been said that this was a missed opportunity and that there has been a decline in the pharmaceutical industry in Quebec. We were once one of the major world centres. In the early 2000s, we had seven big private pharmaceutical labs in Canada, six of which were located in Quebec. They were Merck Frosst, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Witten A.R., Shire BioChem, Boehringer Ingelheim and AstraZeneca, whose vaccine is currently undergoing approval.

In 2006, the best year for Quebec's pharmaceutical sector, investments totalled $600 million. Six big pharmaceutical companies had research centres that employed 8,100 people. The pharmaceutical sector had 21,000 employees.

All the big pharmaceutical laboratories subsequently closed their doors. Now, the pharmaceutical industry is one-third smaller. Several major researchers have left the country. Several small pharmaceutical companies were bought out for their patents, and their products are now manufactured abroad. That is the crux of the problem.

If this had not happened a dozen or so years ago, the vaccine could surely have been manufactured in Quebec and Canada. The pandemic might have been over by now, and we would have been able to leave our homes. We could have spent Christmas with our families. The Liberals and the Conservatives bear a certain responsibility for this.

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC]

Madam Speaker, I have a question for my colleague, but I would like to start by reminding him that the vaccines slated for distribution in the U.K. next week are being made in Belgium.

I think the people tuning in are wondering when Canada will take action and when the Liberal government will tell people at what point the country will finally get a vaccine. It is almost Christmas, and nothing is certain. Today, we learned that there will be no small gatherings in Quebec.

Would my colleague tell us how this delay in getting the vaccine will affect his community, the fight against the pandemic, and a future return to cruising speed once the country is back on track?

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for the question.

It will have a huge effect. I am lucky enough to live in a yellow zone in Abitibi-Téminscamingue. We can have a more or less normal social life. However, my in-laws are in the eastern townships, and I am worried because I just found out today that I cannot go visit them. If we had the vaccine, if we had the capacity to manufacture the vaccine, if we had planned ahead, we could probably be seeing our neighbours and families.

I am also worried because Canada's chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, asked that we start by vaccinating seniors, health care workers, essential workers and members of the most vulnerable communities, such as indigenous people. As we know, several families often share one dwelling in indigenous communities, which is very dangerous for spreading a virus. I am very worried when the government says that just six million doses will be available in a few months, because I think that means that we will still be dealing with this pandemic for a long time.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada and to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Madam Speaker, ultimately the distribution and that priority list are done through the provinces for most, if not virtually all, that is being suggested. Ottawa does play a role, as our health care experts will provide some opinions. I offer that in a positive way to my colleague across the way.

At the same time, I would ask him to look at the different restrictions such as different codes and different jurisdictions in Canada. Canada is a big country and there are a lot of restrictions. Unfortunately, it will have an impact, but I do not believe it is appropriate to start blaming political parties. I believe we have seen a great deal of collaboration from different political parties and different levels of government to try to ensure that people would have the best Christmas we can this year. There is no vaccine today.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Winnipeg North for his comments.

I am going to act in good faith and point out the good things that were done this fall.

The government announced $126 million for the creation and production of vaccines by the National Research Council in Montreal. Obviously, production will not be able to start for six months. The government announced its intention to inject up to $173 million in Medicago and set up a production facility. In the best-case scenario, these vaccines could be developed and released in 2021.

The message I would like to send my colleague from Winnipeg North is that the government dropped the ball this time. It was the first strike, but what will happen the next time? We can expect another pandemic, we can perhaps expect a third wave, and we can expect another type of pandemic like COVID-19.

Will the government be able to step up the next time if it brings back the cutting-edge pharmaceutical system that used to exist in Quebec? I am certainly in favour of that.