Debates of Feb. 4th, 2021

Health

[Alain Therrien, Bloc, La Prairie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister says that everyone will be vaccinated by September. Experts from The Economist say it will not happen until the summer of 2022. Personally, I have a lot more confidence in foreign experts because they have no reason to lie. Obviously, these are projections, because the government is still hiding the information. All we are getting is endless bad news. Canada currently ranks 33rd in the world per capita, a trend that is only getting worse. The Liberals are not doing anything.

When will the Prime Minister present his plan and his contracts?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I want to assure the hon. member from the Bloc, for whom I have a great deal of respect, that our government shares his urgent concern over the vaccines. That is why Major-General Dany Fortin is sharing information with the provinces and territories and with all Canadians.

I want to note, once again, that vaccines will be available to every Canadian who wants one by the end of September.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I remember the vaccine announcements. People were encouraged. They had a bit of hope during a tough time.

The delays announced by the government mean that more people will get sick and more people will lose their lives. Now we do not know how many vaccines we will receive from Moderna next week or the following weeks.

Why did the government let people down?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, Canada has secured 10 vaccine doses per Canadian, and ours is the most comprehensive and diverse portfolio in the world.

Health Canada has approved the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. In addition, because of our advance purchase agreements, our regulators now have access to three vaccine candidates from AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and Novavax and are currently reviewing them. That will enable us to vaccinate all Canadians who want to be vaccinated by the end of September.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I remember, when the COVID-19 vaccines were announced, that people were encouraged. It was a little hope in a difficult time. Then the delays were announced by the government, which means more people will get sick and more people will lose their lives. On top of the delays, we are also learning that Canada is the only country in the G7 that is going to access COVAX, which is a vaccine supply meant for developing countries.

How did the Liberal government let things get so bad?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, our government will never apologize for doing everything in our power to get Canadians vaccinated as quickly as possible.

COVAX has always been part of Canada's procurement strategy, and the COVAX mechanism is working precisely as designed. We have been clear from the start: No one will be safe until everyone is. We are focused on getting Canadians vaccinated while making sure the rest of world is vaccinated too.

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

Mr. Speaker, the Deputy Prime Minister just said that the Liberals did everything in their power to get Canadians vaccines, but this morning the minister said that the Liberals failed to secure the right to produce Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines in Canada because they did not have the capacity to produce them here.

The U.K. was in the same boat we were in 10 months ago, but it has managed to secure domestic production capacity. If the Liberals did everything in their power to secure Canadians vaccines, why did they not do what the U.K. did instead of leaving us entirely dependent on other countries to produce vaccines for us?

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Services and Procurement]

Mr. Speaker, Canada pursued a strategy of pursuing the earliest possible vaccines that we could secure from among all of the vaccine candidates in the world.

That is why we have reached agreements with seven vaccine manufacturers, five of which we have of course received encouraging clinical data from, and two of which have already been approved and are being deployed on Canadian soil. Every Canadian who wishes to receive a vaccine from among those two approved vaccines will have access to one by the end of September.

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

Mr. Speaker, the member just said it: the Liberals pursued a strategy to get us the earliest vaccine possible, but it was behind every other country in the world. Was this as early as possible? We do not have any right now.

I think about the United States. It turned a convention centre into a hospital in a week. China built an entirely new hospital in 12 days. The United Kingdom built its vaccine capacity in 10 months.

The Liberals were sitting around talking with CanSino at a time when they should have been building our capacity. They admitted that this affected our right to produce vaccines at home.

Why the fail?

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Services and Procurement]

Mr. Speaker, while other countries were acting, Canada was also acting. We were securing PPE for our front-line medical workers and our provinces, working carefully on securing vaccine agreements with seven leading manufacturers around the world, working on building up our domestic ability to produce long-term vaccines, and working to get those vaccines into Canada and into Canadian arms at the earliest possible date.

That means that every Canadian who wishes to receive a vaccine will have access to one by the end of September.

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

Mr. Speaker, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit, the federal government's plan to vaccinate all Canadians who want the vaccine against COVID-19 by September is unrealistic. That will probably not happen before 2022.

Moreover, we found out yesterday that Canada is the only G7 country to have accessed COVAX vaccines.

When will the Prime Minister stop being dishonest with Canadians and tell the truth?

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Services and Procurement]

Mr. Speaker, obviously Canada acted quickly to get enough doses to vaccinate all Canadians multiple times. By the end of September, we will have enough approved doses so that every Canadian who wants to be vaccinated can be.

As for COVAX, Canada can be proud of its participation in that program, which seeks to provide vaccines to developing countries. COVAX's very purpose is to ensure that Canada gets vaccines through the program. That is what makes the program work.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am not proud to be forced to put my hand in the COVAX cookie jar to solve Canada's problems.

The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have been approved, but every week, we are told that fewer doses are going to be delivered and that is why we are dipping into COVAX. It is not right.

Can the Prime Minister cut the rhetoric and tell us the truth. If there is a problem with the vaccines and we will not be getting them for six months, then we need to know.

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Minister of International Development]

Mr. Speaker, COVAX's goal is to ensure that everyone has access to the vaccine at the same time, whether it be richer countries that can buy doses or poorer countries that need donations.

Canada was one of the first countries to make a donation to COVAX. We can be proud of what we have done and of what we are doing to ensure that everyone receives the vaccine.

International Trade

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the government is seeking an exemption agreement to protect Canadian jobs from the Biden administration's buy American policy. As the government pointed out the other day, Canada is the number one customer of 32 American states.

Has the government reached out to any of these 32 state governors to seek their support to oppose these buy American policies? Has the government asked Canada's premiers to reach out to their gubernatorial counterparts?

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Minister of Small Business]

Mr. Speaker, we are taking a team Canada approach, as we have done over the last five years. The Prime Minister has spoken to the President. He has also spoken to the Vice President. Our terrific ambassador in the U.S. is having discussions at all levels. I am looking forward to speaking to my counterpart, once that confirmation process has taken place.

Members can be assured that this is absolutely a team Canada approach, as we work with businesses, exporters, officials and colleagues—

[The Speaker, Anthony Rota]

The hon. member for Wellington—Halton Hills.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in 2009, when faced with the buy American policies of the Obama administration, the previous government worked with the 10 provincial premiers to present a united front to secure an exemption agreement.

Is the current government going to do the same thing? Is it going to convene a first ministers' meeting on this issue?

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Minister of Small Business]

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to work with my provincial and territorial colleagues. It was just very recently that we had a very good meeting at the provincial, territorial and federal level to talk about trade, that road to recovery, and indeed, how we will work together with provinces and territories on this road to recovery to ensure that Canadian businesses and our workers have the full support of all of us, working as team Canada.

[The Speaker, Anthony Rota]

Before continuing, I would like to make sure it is clear for all the members who are joining us virtually to please think, almost as a paranoid way of looking at things, that their microphone is always on. If they are going to speak, whether to the microphone or to someone else, they can just check to see if the mute signal is on, and it will be much better for everyone involved.

The hon. member for Beauport—Limoilou.

Health

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Mr. Speaker, despite the bad news that keeps piling up, the government keeps insisting that we will receive six million doses by the end of March. I hope so, but the government needs to share whatever information it has to support that claim. At this point, halfway through, we have received just over one million doses. We know that Moderna is going to announce a reduction in shipments for the week of February 22. The shortage will therefore continue for most of February. To reach the six million doses promised by the end of March, the Prime Minister will have to find at least one million doses per week.

Could he share his detailed plan?

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Services and Procurement]

Mr. Speaker, Canada has entered into seven vaccine procurement agreements including five vaccine candidates that offer encouraging news. Of the two already approved, we will receive six million doses by the end of March, as the member just mentioned. Canada will continue to increase its vaccine supply so that every Canadian who wants one will have access to it by the end of September.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the people need to be able to have confidence in this government, but this is difficult, since the government is not transparent and everything we do find out is worrisome. The people are not reassured to hear that the government is taking vaccines from the COVAX program.

It is not reassuring to see that courteous Canada has to dip into the reserve of vaccines set aside for developing countries in an attempt to make up for its own delays. The public deserves to know the truth about this situation.

When will the government disclose its contracts and its vaccine procurement schedule?

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Services and Procurement]

Mr. Speaker, we regularly disclose the number of vaccines we expect to receive. We are experiencing temporary delays with the two approved vaccines, but we will receive six million doses by the end of the first quarter.

COVAX was specifically designed so that Canada and other developed countries would receive vaccines during the first phase of the program, and then developing countries would receive vaccines in the second phase. Canada can be proud of its participation in COVAX.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we are the only G7 country to take what is meant for the least fortunate and then eventually give it back to the least fortunate. We are the only ones.

The government needs to be transparent. On December 7, the Prime Minister said that we had a head start on vaccination. Now we are behind. We are ranking last among all countries. The Prime Minister has not proven trustworthy, as much as we would hope otherwise.

Why does he not table his entire procurement plan? He should table the plan and not just the objectives.