Debates of Jan. 26th, 2021

COVID-19 Vaccine

[Darren Fisher, Liberal, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

Madam Speaker, that is a very important question. Canadians want us to be able to utilize every option at our disposal to make sure that we keep them safe. From day one, that has been our priority, to keep Canadians healthy and safe. In recent days we have heard ministers say that we are willing to use every option at our disposal to do that. That includes the things the member was just stating.

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

Madam Speaker, I want to follow up on my colleague's fine comment about being able to deliver a certain number of vaccines each week as we move forward. I assume at some point that we will be able to see a contract that states there was a delivery mechanism for what I was talking about in my speech earlier tonight and in my replies to questions, such that there would be so much supplied per month as stipulated in the contract. I wonder if he could elaborate whether the contracts he has seen, if he has seen any, would indicate that to Canadians, because I am asked that just about every day.

[Darren Fisher, Liberal, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

Madam Speaker, I thank the hon. member, whom I sit with on the health committee, for his earlier speech and his question. It is very clear that he cares about Canadians and his constituents. I appreciate his work on the health committee.

We were releasing weekly rollouts of vaccines as they were coming in and letting the provinces and territories know from day one what they were expected to get based on what we were hearing and the information that was coming in.

[Eric Duncan, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure, as always, to rise in the House to represent my constituents in the riding of Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry and to participate in tonight's emergency debate on the vaccine rollout. Nonetheless, the fact is we are here tonight having an emergency debate on an issue that I do not think Canadians wanted us to have to have. As we watch other countries around the world going on social media, providing their updates every day to their citizens of increased rollouts, increased numbers of vaccines, and increased production, in Canada we are asking ourselves here in the House tonight, “What has gone wrong?”

I want to note that I am sharing my time tonight with my colleague from out west, the member for Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo.

I have been speaking to hundreds and probably thousands of constituents and businesses. This is an extremely stressful time for Canadians.

Locally, I want to acknowledge and thank the first responders and the front-line workers who are doing the work, particularly in our long-term care homes.

My riding and community is heartbroken with the situation at the Lancaster Long-Term Care Residence, where 40 of 47 residents have tested positive for COVID-19. Unfortunately, there have been nine deaths. Numerous staff, I think the number is 16, have been infected. There have also been issues at Akwesasne, where there has been a terrible situation from numerous outbreaks. The Red Cross has been involved. I just want to say how proud we are of their work and thank them all for keeping us safe and doing their work during these stressful times.

Again, this highlights the need for this debate. I have said the line many times, and I know many of us from all parties have said this, that there is light at the end of the tunnel. We can see the light; we just do not know how far away it is. When we get news like we have in the last week from the government that what it had promised to provide Canadians will not be happening this week, will not be happening next week, and will not be happening for the next couple weeks, we start to get worried that the light is slipping farther away and that Canadians are getting further away from the finish line for COVID-19.

The key to getting us back to normal, to opening back up, to getting back, lowering the case count and lowering the unfortunate number of deaths in this country is getting vaccines into the arms of Canadians as soon as possible.

I have been in public life here in Ottawa now for about 15 months and counting. I have talked to many constituents on different topics. They will say that the government announced this last week and it is all good. However, I have to say that when we deal with these things and issues, particularly with COVID-19 in the last year, Canadians not only need to listen to the announcement but also they have to follow up on it and see if the government is actually delivering on what it said it was going to do.

I have said this before. I will give a compliment to the government. It gets an A for announcements. The government is one of the best in the business of politics, having the Prime Minister stand out in front of Rideau Cottage and different ministers making announcements, saying that all is good and that they have done X. However, the devil is in the details. We follow up to see if the government is actually doing what it said it was going to do.

It is an A for announcements, and I will say it is an F for follow-through. The vaccine distribution and rollout that we have seen is showing that the government's plan is not working. The commitments the government made are not being fulfilled, and we are losing confidence and asking a lot of questions.

I want to acknowledge the work of our shadow health minister, the member for Calgary Nose Hill. We have been asking questions, and I have been here many days, pretty well every day throughout the fall, in question period, asking question after question, wanting to get certain answers. We were told to stop being so negative and to stop asking questions, that we were on team Canada and we are all in this together. We were told not to worry, not to be negative and to stop criticizing. The very things, the very questions and issues we were raising months ago, I wish did not come to fruition, but they are right now.

There are a few things in this situation that we find ourselves in that I want to elaborate a little on. We cannot see the details of the contracts that have been signed. We can look at the details of contracts in the United States and a lot of other countries. I can go online and print off the details of their contracts, what deals they signed with organizations and different companies, with what dates, what guarantees, what perhaps what penalties in certain cases, and the order and priority of the work they have been doing for several months.

We cannot do that or get those full details here. It makes us wonder why. Now, when we see that tens of thousands of vaccines went to other countries around the world this week and we got zero, we start to understand why the government maybe does not want to disclose the full information on this.

The other issue we face in this country is we do not have domestic production. I will go back again to following up on announcements made in April. The government said not to worry, we do not have domestic production, but it would spend tens of millions of dollars in Montreal. I believe it was the National Research Council. We were going to expand so we could have domestic production in our country. It was a great, feel-good announcement. Yes, we need domestic production. As far as I know, we have not even seen a shovel in the ground. That facility is not operational.

We are in the heat of the moment. Other countries that are producing domestically have good contracts and are getting their vaccines. We had an announcement but there was no follow-through in actually getting it done in a timely manner. I think there would be unanimous agreement in the House to say, heaven forbid, that if we ever went through this again in my lifetime, we would be more prepared in making sure we could produce vaccines domestically. We have to ask ourselves what the end game is. The Prime Minister has said several times that the buck stops here, and he is right. It stops with the government.

Over the Christmas holidays, I remember the outrage from certain members on the other side when Premier Ford and the Ontario government said they were not going to do vaccinations on December 25 and 26. There were issues perhaps with balancing health care workers who were working their regular shifts at hospitals and long-term care facilities, and not wanting to overwhelm the workforce. The government was attacked and ridiculed for saying it was slowing down. This week, there are zero vaccines coming into the country. Next week, there will only be 86%. We lose track because the numbers keep getting worse. Over the course of the next months, the government has no idea how many vaccines we are going to get.

I often get asked what I would do differently. What bothers me, and part of the reason for this being an emergency, is that the work should have been done months ago. Back in the summer, when other countries were finalizing and signing deals, getting themselves in the priority queue and organizing their logistics, we had a government that was embroiled in scandal. The finance minister resigned, we had the WE Charity scandal and the Liberals prorogued Parliament, trying to shift attention away from the issues. They started talking about beginning to sign deals much later than other countries did. We see what that is causing here at home now.

Last week, tens of thousands of vaccines were received by a wide variety of countries. We are getting nothing. I follow many world leaders on social media. Under Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the United Kingdom last week alone gave the first dose to 2.3 million people. Between 6.2 million and 6.5 million U.K. citizens have received their first dose. They are well on their way. They are ramping up every single week and getting more vaccines. We find ourselves having none this week, barely any next week and we are not sure what the next few weeks are going to bring.

President Biden has said the U.S. vaccines are going up 15% and the government is going to be able to tell the states three weeks in advance how many they can expect and when they are going to be delivered. What did our government do? It took down the website with the number of expected doses, going backward, not forward and ramping things up.

I wish we did not have to have this emergency debate tonight. I had hoped we would have had ourselves organized like other countries are showing we could be. I want the government to do well, because it means Canadians do well and fewer lives are lost. The government's success is Canadians' success, and we need to make sure we get answers about what has gone wrong and do everything in our power to get the vaccination program back on track and get back to normalcy.

[Arif Virani, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Madam Speaker, the member opposite raised the example of Ontario a couple of times in his speech. My constituents in Parkdale—High Park have commented on the need for vaccines and rapid arrival, but they have also noted that when they are arriving, in some instances we have actually exceeded targets. I am referring to the Ontario government setting a short-term goal for long-term care homes. At homes in “hotspot” areas, such as Toronto, York and Ottawa, vaccinations were given to all of the residents and the professionals who worked in those residences ahead of schedule. When vaccines are delivered on a timely basis, we are able to meet those targets.

Does the member opposite agree with that, and agree to look at this from a long-term perspective, such as after Q1 and Q3, and does he agree with those targets not being jeopardized?

[Eric Duncan, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

Madam Speaker, we are taking a long-term look at this because it is not just starting now. The plans for this should have been done several months ago. Israel has been a fantastic example. The United Kingdom is ramping up. The U.S. is ramping up its planning. This has been months and months in the making. We are seeing them accelerate their plans and grow by the week.

The provinces have had to hit the brakes on their plans, and they are struggling. I mentioned the first doses, but the provinces have had to stretch them out. I have been reading reports that appointments have been cancelled in hot spots like Toronto because we are not sure when we are going to get the vaccines.

At this point, I do not share the optimism, because I think the provinces are in disarray. They do not know when they are going to get the vaccines, they do not know when they are going to get the second doses and they are trying to keep all that going. We are not getting the answers that we should be getting at this point in the game.

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech.

Regions like mine, the Lower St. Lawrence and the Gaspé, administered the doses of the vaccine they had. They primarily vaccinated people in long-term care homes, the CHSLDs. However, as a result of procurement problems, there are no more doses of the vaccine left for people in private seniors' residences.

What is rather unbelievable is that people are not necessarily following the rules and are choosing to travel abroad. I am thinking of those who winter in the United States and who are able to get the vaccine there. The United States has so many doses available that it is able to vaccinate people who are not from there. That country is vaccinating everyone aged 65 years and up who wants to be vaccinated.

Does my colleague agree that, despite everything that can be said about the United States, that country is being more transparent than Canada about how it is managing vaccine procurement?

[Eric Duncan, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

Madam Speaker, I agree with my colleague from Quebec. She faces the same situations in her beautiful part of the country. I look forward to seeing the Gaspésie region when this pandemic is all said and done, but it sounds like the situation in eastern Quebec is the same as in eastern Ontario and out west.

The provinces are not sure when they are going to get the first and second doses. They want to get the vaccinations in a certain time frame, and they cannot get them. People are trying to book appointments, but they are getting cancelled because the vaccines are not showing up. The provinces also cannot ramp up, because they do not know anything and do not have confidence.

The government said there would be six million doses by the end of the quarter. Well, the government had a website as of last week that said x number of them were coming in, but it took the website down because the numbers are completely shot.

I go back to the same thing at the end of day. Florida is an example, just as the United States is generally. The United Kingdom and Romania are too. There are countries around the world that we are watching with envy given what they are able to organize and achieve. We are certainly not getting that here in Canada.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Madam Speaker, like my hon. colleague, I too am losing faith in the government.

However, he spoke about indigenous communities, and I just want to remind him part of the reason we are in this crisis in indigenous communities is because of willful human rights violations, lack of access to clean drinking water and housing. Every time the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is put forward, including with Bill C-262, Conservatives vote against it.

If Conservative members are concerned about the health and welfare of all people living on Turtle Island, I am wondering if the member will support Bill C-15 and fully support the adoption and implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

[Eric Duncan, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

Madam Speaker, I share my NPD colleague from Manitoba's concern about the fate of what is going on with COVID-19 in first nations communities. As I mentioned in my comments, the long-term care home on Akwesasne has had an outbreak, and there have been several cases on Akwesasne, on the island and in the region.

I share her concern, and her desire for reconciliation and a better quality of life. The fact we have boil water advisories and no access to clean water in any community, let alone first nations communities, in the 21st century is concerning. I share her commitment. We are going to get back to discussing that, but I think we are all on the same page with the same goal. We must do better. We can do better, and we will do better with first nations communities in this country.

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Madam Speaker, it is a real honour to join this very important debate tonight. As we were heading into the Christmas period, I think many were optimistic. There was a light. We could see the vaccine development that we were so pleased about. What has happened since then has been a real concern.

In the riding I represent, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, we have come off relatively lightly in terms of actual cases. Certainly people were struggling with some of the restrictions, but we have seen a real escalation in our communities. One of the first nation communities now has 25% of the population struggling with COVID infections. An elder died just recently, and the children are locked down in their homes with no Internet to even do their schooling. Our local hospital also has recently announced that it has an outbreak.

We all know that vaccinations have made the greatest contribution to global health of any human intervention, arguably with the exception of clean water and sanitation. Many have noted today that we thought the vaccination for COVID might have taken longer, and we are so glad that modern science was able to move forward in such an effective way so quickly. This vaccine is critical for the health of Canadians, morbidity and mortality, and it is absolutely critical for our economy in terms of getting back up and getting going.

Canadians are very forgiving. They have forgiven the government for a lot of mistakes. They recognize that it was a very unique and unusual circumstance, but the mistakes are starting to add up. I have to start with pre-pandemic. They got rid of our surveillance system, which was world-class. Liberals never even told anyone it was shuttered down, so we did not have that surveillance system. They also got rid of warehouse space that housed our PPE and threw it into the dumpster.

In January, we were worried about what was happening, and the Liberals continually insisted the risk was low. They did not take into account some of the reactions of other countries. Even when our military intelligence reports were saying so, we left our borders open. I find it stunning, even to this day, that people could come in internationally and hop on a domestic flight with nothing in terms of any reasonable kind of surveillance.

There was no rapid testing. Finally, there is a little pilot project in Calgary. We were told we did not need to bother with masks, and now we are told that masks are important. There has been some pretty compelling evidence that the rapid testing is an effective tool. It is not perfect, but it is an effective tool.

Now we have the vaccines, and it would be important at this point to compare what is happening in Canada with a few other countries. The Biden administration in the U.S. has 5.2% of the population vaccinated. We are at 1.1%. President Biden has committed to doing a million a day for 100 days, and people are saying that this is feasible for him to do. While he is ramping up to a million a day, we are ramping down to almost zero for the next who knows how long, with a very uncertain future ahead.

In May, the U.K. decided to contribute £93 million to build a super vaccine facility. It is going to be open in the summer of 2021, a year ahead of schedule. They put significant dollars into it. They will open the facility, and it will have the capacity, which will probably not be needed this time, but it will have the capacity to produce all the vaccinations needed for the whole population in six months. I ask members to compare that to $4.5 million that Canada has put into a few projects here and there.

Certainly, if anyone was listening today to some of the experts in vaccines, some of the CEOs of companies in Canada, in spite of what the Prime Minister said, they said that Canada does have the capacity and the ability. With support we could have been ramping up and perhaps producing our own vaccines here in Canada.

Israel has 25% of its population vaccinated. They started their work, apparently, way back in March with their prime minister phoning regularly Pfizer and making sure that they were at the top of the line. They put a huge priority on this many months ago, both recognizing the importance of vaccines for their population and making sure that they were going to move ahead.

What about Canada? We know that in May the Prime Minister probably talked about his deal with China. He signed a deal and, of course, we all know the challenges in our relationship with China over the last number of years, so certainly at the time I think many people were a little leery. As has been reported, it turns out that four days later China backed out of the deal and refused to ship the necessary items to Canada. The government, for all of its talk about transparency, did not reveal that to Canadians for a long time.

Then, late last summer the government finally got around to signing a few contracts. If members recall, at the time there was the WE scandal and Liberals prorogued Parliament and delivered a Speech from the Throne, and members have to wonder how distracted the government was from doing what it needed to do. Dealing with the WE scandal was consuming all of its energy and oxygen and the government was unable to do the job it needed to do for Canadians, because it was too busy taking care of its own self interests, moving money toward an organization that really was deeply in bed with it and busy trying to thwart the health committee from getting the information the committee needed.

Here we are in Canada, and, as our leader said, everyone wants the government to be successful. Hopefully this debate tonight will make the government sit up and look inside and say that it could have done better, that it needs need to do better for Canadians and needs to be more transparent to Canadians. We can look at contracts from Australia. We can look at contracts from many countries, and we can know what is happening in those countries. In Canada the government that promised that sunlight was the best disinfectant and that it was going to be open and transparent by default is probably the most closed government we have ever encountered.

We have a crisis. The Liberals talk about doses per capita. Doses per capita do not matter if those doses are not going to come for six months or a year. What matters is when we get these doses, when they are delivered and how they are going to make sure that Canadians can move forward. I say this because members can only imagine that if they were sitting in Canim Lake and their six-year-old or 10-year-old cannot go to school, they would have some problems.

We are being critical of the government tonight, because it deserves some criticism on this. The Liberals have not been transparent with Canadians. They need to look in their hearts and figure out how they can do a better job for all of us. Our economy depends on it. Our seniors depend on it. Our health depends on it.

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Madam Speaker, in this whole affair, we understand that it is not the government's fault that Pfizer decided to do renovations. However, it is certainly the government's responsibility to explain why Canada will have to wait longer than other countries and why Europe is getting the vaccine out so much faster. The Prime Minister failed to explain that to us. I think we would understand the situation better if we were able to see the details of the agreements that the government signed with the companies.

Does the member agree with me that there is a lack of transparency on the part of the federal government in all of this?

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Madam Speaker, it is absolutely a lack of transparency. There are many countries that know exactly how much they paid per dose and that have full transparency in their contracts.

The current government has not been transparent. Even when the health committee asked for specific details, the government blocked them. Again, with a Prime Minister who said they would be transparent by default and that sunshine is the best disinfectant, the Liberals sure do not live by their words.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for her speech and for her advocacy around the opioid crisis.

I was just talking to Deb Hamilton, the executive director of the Alberni Valley Drug and Alcohol Prevention Service in Port Alberni. She is deeply concerned about the delay in the vaccine rollout and what the government is doing to ensure not only that the vaccine rollout is timely but also that there is critical access for vulnerable populations who have complex issues, including impacts of the opioid catastrophe. Further, she is concerned about how this delay will impact the front-line service providers who give non-medical support and intervention to these vulnerable people. She cites that the COVID restrictions have impacted face-to-face service and the social services that are left on the ground, and they are burning out in the face of the dual public health emergencies of COVID and opioid deaths. She cites that the collective burdens on these vulnerable populations and the workers supporting them are indescribable.

Does the member agree how important it is that the vaccine rollout happens, so that we can protect these vulnerable populations and their workers? Maybe she can speak a bit about what is happening in her communities.

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Madam Speaker, this vaccine is so critical. It is critical for our vulnerable populations and it is critical for everyone. Regardless of how fortunate one's circumstances are, this is taking a toll on everyone, but in particular, if we look at the opioid crisis and the increase in deaths, we see that we have a dual crisis here, and we need to provide a relief valve, especially for the workers. We all have front-line workers in our communities who are dealing with vulnerable populations. They are working in the long-term care residences. It is a real challenge for them, and they need to have that relief in sight.

[Robert Gordon Kitchen, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Madam Speaker, my colleague from Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo's speech was well received and very well presented.

I am sure she has heard from her constituents, as many of us have, in particular in my riding about the confusion that is out there and the challenges they have when they try to listen to what the government is saying.

On the one hand, we have a minister who says we are going to have six million vaccines, and then another one turns around and says we are actually going to have four million. They turn around then and say they are guaranteeing we will have six million by the end of March. The other night we had a parliamentary secretary who said something that totally had to be contradicted by the minister after the fact. These things throw total confusion to constituents.

How does that impact on the assurances that we might want from the government that this is actually going to get accomplished?

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Madam Speaker, if there were ever a time for the government to throw away the talking points and have a real conversation with Canadians, now is the time. It is the time to say that this is our reality and be up front. If things are a real risk with Pfizer, what is our backup plan? Where are we going to go next?

It is time to throw away the talking points, be honest with Canadians, be honest with Parliament and let us move forward in a way that is more together.

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Labour]

Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time, to the extent I can, with the hon. member for Parkdale—High Park. If he has a chance to speak tonight, he will be superb.

I want to start by thanking the incredible health care workers in my riding, at the Jewish General Hospital, Mount Sinai Hospital and all of the long-term care centres in my riding, which have been at the centre of the COVID epidemic. They have done a wonderful job.

Let us be clear. We all want vaccines as soon as possible. Tomorrow is not soon enough for any of us. This is not a Liberal issue, a Conservative issue, a New Democratic issue or a Bloc issue. We all want vaccines. Everybody is doing their best. Provinces are doing their best and the federal government is doing its best. We should not be blaming one another.

There will be times that provinces will have vaccines in freezers because they were not able to distribute it fast enough. There will be times that provinces are short in vaccines because our supply chain is not working as effectively as we would like. In the end, let us try to accept that everybody is being professional and doing their absolute best.

That is why, before I start talking about vaccines, I want to talk about disinformation. We have a responsibility to not exaggerate. We have a responsibility to look at what happened in Washington a couple of weeks ago and to recognize that the words of politicians have great weight. I penned an op-ed with my friend from Parry Sound—Muskoka about the dangers of politicians spreading disinformation, and I think it is an apt lesson.

Whenever we have an evolution in technology, whether it is the printing press, radio, motion pictures or social media, it gives an opportunity to those who would want to spread disinformation a much greater breadth to do so.

In the United States, we had groups such as QAnon touting conspiracy theories that fed into a president who denied he had lost an election. There were people tweeting that Dominion voting machines had switched votes from Trump to Biden, and that was retweeted by the president, members of the Senate, members of the House and those whom the public trusted. When those whom the public trusts spread disinformation and fear, and make people believe an election was not legitimate, we have events like we did where democracy itself was attacked at the Capitol.

My plea to all my fellow members of Parliament is that they can be dissatisfied with what the government is doing, but let us all not exaggerate. Let us try to be accurate in what we are saying. For example, it is not accurate to say that the government has no plan on vaccines. People can argue they are not satisfied with the plan, but there is a plan. There is a plan that people have heard over and over. It is a plan that is up on a website.

It is a plan that has 80 million doses coming in from Pfizer and Moderna by September. Every member of the Canadian population who wants to be vaccinated will have a dose in Canada to vaccinate them by the end of September. We know that we will get six million doses, four million of Pfizer and two million of Moderna, by the end of March. We know that starting in April, there will be a great ramp-up where millions of doses will be coming into Canada. We will need to be ready for that.

We know that the vaccine is not everything. We know that even Israel, the country that has been the most successful in rolling out the vaccine, still has many thousands being infected on a daily basis. We still need to continue with social distancing, washing our hands and following provincial government public health measures.

The federal government is absolutely rolling out a plan, and it is a plan that is actually doing better than we even said at the beginning. The Prime Minister originally said he did not expect doses to come in until January. We had almost half a million doses in the hands of Canadians right after the end of December. There are more than a million doses in Canada today. We are fifth in the G20. We are not last; we are fifth. Out of all of the EU nations, as of yesterday, we are doing better than 21, and we are doing worse than six. To argue that somehow we are the worst in the world is completely unfair and untrue. Someone can say we should be first, we should be the best and we should be like Israel. That is fair enough, but let us not exaggerate.

There are professional purchasers who have been out there since last spring preparing for this moment. Originally, Canada did not have PPE. We had to source all our PPE from abroad. Now more than half of our PPE is made in Canada.

In the same way we sourced PPE and managed to domestically manufacture PPE, we have professional purchasers in the department of procurement who have worked for months and months and months to sign contracts with seven vaccine providers. I heard tonight that because of a deal with the Communist Chinese, somehow we were not preparing to sign with anybody else, but this is utterly false. Moderna has stated that we were one of the first countries to sign with Moderna. We were not one of the last; we were one of the first. The spokesperson for Pfizer, Christina Antoniou, said we were the fourth country to sign an agreement with Pfizer. We were not one of the last; we were one of the first. Again, please let us not spread that type of disinformation.

When it comes to the very, very disappointing shortfall of Pfizer, let us recognize Pfizer has told the world that to ramp up production in Belgium, there will be a four-week shortfall among all the countries being supplied by the Belgian plant.

It is true we received none this week, and everybody is making hay of it. Last week we received 83% of our doses, and some of the European countries that are getting more of their doses this week received almost none.

The Minister of Procurement has clearly stated that over the course of four weeks, as Pfizer has assured her, there will be an equitable distribution of what comes out of Belgium to all the countries served by Belgium. It is clear; she said it. Pfizer said it. If members want to blame Pfizer for retooling its Belgian plant and not having thought in advance that it would need more doses, then fine. However, it is unfair and untrue to claim that because European countries are getting more than Canada this week, Canada is being treated inequitably by Pfizer. We do not have those stats.

I also heard today that the website came down. The website with our plan did not come down. The website is still there. The only part that came down was Pfizer's forecasts, because we do not have the Pfizer forecasts going forward for the next couple of weeks. We want to be accurate. The Moderna forecasts are still there.

I want to make sure that when it comes to these issues, we understand that while it is fair to be critical, it is not at all fair to exaggerate. We need to be calm and prudent and understand that Canadians are looking to us for leadership on this and many other issues. The more we show that we are being rational and clear-headed and the more we are able to show that we can get along and work together as team Canada, the better we will do in rolling out vaccines, keeping Canadians safe and hopefully finding our way out of COVID-19 by the end of September.

I will be very glad to take questions from my colleagues now.

[Eric Duncan, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

Madam Speaker, I am quite disappointed with the conclusion the member for Mount Royal drew at the end about being calm and rational. The beginning and end of his speech were totally opposite. In my comments a few moments ago, and in those of my colleagues from the Bloc, the NDP and the member from the Green Party, we called the government out for certain things. I do not think trying to equate our criticism with the Capitol Hill riots is a calm, cool and collected response from the government.

Earlier, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health said the Liberals have been the most transparent government when it comes to contracts, yet we do not know the details in them. The government took the information off the website. What it should have done is kept the projections and the actuals so Canadians can track the results.

My point is that the opposition is standing up and asking questions we have been asking for months, and the government's true plans and accuracies are now coming out.

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

Madam Speaker, my colleague said the website came down. He did not say that forecast information related to Pfizer came down and should go back up. There is a big difference between one small section of the website dealing with forecasts from Pfizer and the entire website coming down.

It is fair to criticize, and I have no problem with criticism. However, the point is that when criticism is made, it needs to be accurate and fair. It cannot be exaggerated, because with vaccines, passions are inflamed and people are really worried. While it is fair to criticize, we need to do so accurately.

[Luc Thériault, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

Madam Speaker, to say that my colleague is not leading by example would be an understatement. I think he could have left out the analogy he used at the beginning of his speech involving the events at the U.S. Capitol.

That being said, neither the opposition parties nor I know what the government knows, or why it is so optimistic. Tonight's debate has only highlighted the government's lack of transparency and lack of proactive measures.

My colleague from Beauport—Limoilou has been doing the math since earlier this evening. Let us assume that the six million doses that were promised will be delivered by the end of March. If we really want vaccines to be administered safely to achieve herd immunity, how are we going to vaccinate 1.9 million people each week? The math is a little shaky, especially considering the threat of reduced vaccine exports from Europe.

Does the government have a plan B? Does it have any solutions to address the problem right away? The objectives must be met. By the end of September, everyone—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

Order. The hon. parliamentary secretary.

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

Madam Speaker, I want to assure the hon. member for Montcalm that the message at the beginning of my speech was meant just as much for me as anyone else. We must all be careful with our words because the public is nervous and afraid. Misinformation can hinder our collective effort to beat COVID-19.

To come back to our plan, we know that we are receiving six million doses in the first three months of 2021. After that, the number of doses entering Canada will increase; we will be getting millions of doses each week. We have to be ready to distribute these vaccines. I hope that we will be able to administer the vaccines within 42 days, as recommended by the national task force.

[Arif Virani, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Madam Speaker, I am going to start at the end of my prepared comments in terms of what I have listened to during this debate.

I am going to speak directly to my constituents and to Canadians. What I would say is this. For those watching at home tonight, I understand their anxiety, and our government understands their anxiety. They want to be done with this pandemic as quickly as possible. We want the exact same thing. That is precisely why we are working so hard on the issue of vaccines, because vaccines are the light at the end of the tunnel. We are using every tool available to us to ensure that the contracts we have already signed with companies like Pfizer are respected and honoured. We are also ensuring that the path to getting the Moderna vaccine continues unabated. As well, we are ensuring that a diverse set of vaccines, as many as five others that we have lined up and procured in advance, will be available should we require them.

The temporary delay in accessing the Pfizer vaccine is exactly that: It is a temporary delay. That has to be underscored and it has to be understood by Canadians watching this evening, including my constituents in Parkdale—High Park. This temporary delay does not and will not detract from our objective of vaccinating three million Canadians by the end of March and vaccinating every single Canadian who wants a vaccine by the end of September.

I would add that we had Canadians' backs when there was concern about securing PPE. We had Canadians' backs when there was concern about vulnerabilities in their income security. We had Canadians' backs when they were concerned about their small businesses, and what kind of supports would be available to help them continue to not only survive but thrive. We will continue to have Canadians' backs on the issue that is most pressing right now, which is how we can get enough vaccines into the country quickly so that we can continue to vaccinate people quickly.

We have heard others comment about where we stand. I would reiterate what we know to be the facts. The fact is that over a million doses have already arrived in this country. The fact is that Canada stands fifth among G20 nations in this rollout. We will continue to keep up that pace because that is what Canadians expect of their parliamentarians from all sides of the House.

On that note I will conclude my remarks. If there is any time for questions, I will be happy to take them.

I thank all of the parliamentarians for participating until this late hour in such a pressing debate for this country.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

It being midnight, the motion to adjourn the House is now deemed to have been adopted.

Accordingly the House stands adjourned until later this day at 2 p.m. pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).

(The House adjourned at 12 a.m.)