Debates of April 29th, 2021

Immigration and Refugee Protection Act

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-291, An Act to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to introduce an act to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

I would like to thank my colleague, the honourable deputy leader of the NDP, for seconding this proposed legislation and for his tireless advocacy for families longing to reunite with their loved ones.

This NDP bill stipulates that loved ones with family sponsorship applications awaiting processing may not be refused entry into Canada as a temporary resident solely on the grounds that they may not have established that they will leave Canada by the end of their authorized stay, unless there is evidence of a history of non-compliance with requirements to leave Canada or any other country. It would further ensure that a foreign national who is the subject of a family sponsorship application may remain in Canada as a temporary resident until a final determination on their sponsorship application is made.

Far too many Canadians have been suffering silently and alone, and they face lengthy delays in the processing of their family sponsorship application. What is worse is that they cannot even have their loved ones visit, even before COVID-19. Their loved ones are regularly met with denials of the TRV application under section 179(b) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, because immigration officers routinely deem having strong ties to Canada would result in an overstay. My office has dealt with countless cases where people are still rejected even if they have a previous history of travelling without incident.

I am tabling my private member's bill so that we can restore fairness and humanity to the process. I call on all parliamentarians to support this bill.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

Oral Health

[Soraya Martinez Ferrada, Liberal, Hochelaga, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to present a petition on oral health on behalf of Denyse Bouvier, an engaged citizen from Hochelaga. This petition has been duly certified and is signed by 6,835 people.

We know that the high cost of oral health services in Quebec and Canada put low-income individuals and families, people experiencing homelessness and our seniors at a disadvantage. Dental health problems can also have an impact on the personal and social lives of Quebeckers and Canadians.

This petition calls on the government to implement a policy of providing free dental health care of all types.

Cross-Border Commerce

[Chris Lewis, Conservative, Essex, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is my honour to table a petition today signed by local business owners and their workers.

The petitioners wish bring to the attention of the House the urgent need for clarity and consistency at our borders. In 2020, this industry was deemed essential by the Ontario government, yet at the border they face many obstacles resulting in lost contracts and jobs. The petitioners are asking to be allowed entry into the U.S. and Canada with the same exemptions from quarantines and fines that apply to all essential workers engaged in cross-border commerce.

Foreign Affairs

[Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition, e-petition 3031, that I would like to present.

It is signed by almost 1,400 residents who note that Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory are unlawful under international law, that Israeli occupation authorities have issued a decision to forcibly evict hundreds of Palestinians from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of East Jerusalem and that forces have demolished many Palestinian homes in occupied Jerusalem since the beginning of this year.

They call upon the Government of Canada to call on Israel to stop its eviction of the Palestinian families in Sheik Jarrah and its carrying out of the announced land settlement of title and registration policy in occupied East Jerusalem, which will result in the permanent appropriation of Palestinian land by the State of Israel.

Questions on the Order Paper

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

Mr. Speaker, I ask that all questions be allowed to stand.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Is it agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

Opposition Motion—Access to COVID-19 vaccines

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

moved:

That, given that,

(i) only 2.7% of Canadians are fully vaccinated against COVID-19,

(ii) the federal government did not deliver adequate vaccine supply in January and February 2021,

(iii) the government extended the recommended interval for the second vaccine dose to four months against the recommendations of vaccine manufacturers,

(iv) Canadians are facing increased restrictions and lockdowns in multiple provinces from British Columbia to Nova Scotia,

the House call on the government to ensure that every Canadian adult has access to a vaccine by the May long weekend.

Mr. Speaker, I will be dividing my time with the member for Calgary Nose Hill.

All Canadians know that we are in the grips of the third wave of COVID-19. Cases are rising, hospitalization rates are up, younger people are tragically filling ICUs. Provinces are implementing new lockdowns and are so overwhelmed that they are calling again for the help of our brave men and women in the Canadian Armed Forces, the Red Cross, and even other provinces like Newfoundland and Labrador to help with a third wave that could have been avoided.

Yet, despite all of this, during the most challenging wave of this pandemic, the Prime Minister a few weeks ago said that he had no regrets about his management leadership throughout the pandemic. That is astonishing: No regrets for the closure of the world-renowned early warning pandemic system that had been world-class before the government shut it down a few months before it could have helped more than ever in its existence; no regrets for relying on Communist China for a vaccine for Canadians, which of course fell apart, causing further delays and now is a part of the reason we are in such a severe third wave. The Prime Minister has no regrets for failing to deliver a national system of rapid screening and testing with standards, which was one of the first promises he made over a year ago when he shut down Parliament; and no regrets for his portfolio of vaccines. Of course, the government will not release any of the contracts to show us the portfolio. The Prime Minister has no regrets for having us further behind many other developed countries in terms of total vaccinations and access to vaccination.

Perhaps it is easy for the Prime Minister to have no regrets when he has a parliamentary career and perhaps a lifetime of having other people clean up his mess for him. It is a hallmark of the Prime Minister. For Canadians watching, he is now on his third investigation of personal ethical misconduct. He told the Ethics Commissioner during the first ethics investigation that he views his role as prime minister as being “ceremonial in nature”. In a crisis, we do not need ceremony. We need action. We need leadership and that is what has been absent from the government.

The Prime Minister has no regrets about the millions of Canadians affected by the third wave of COVID-19, his inability to procure a sufficient number of vaccines or his slow approach. That is arrogance.

While the Prime Minister is patting himself on the back, Canadians are losing hope because the the virus and dangerous variants are spreading.

For more than a year, we have been calling for greater border measures to protect against COVID-19. For a year, we have been calling for a national system of rapid screening, testing and national standards. We have been calling for a vaccine procurement and distribution plan with domestic capacity. However, here we are in the third wave of a pandemic waiting for the Prime Minister to deliver on commitments he made to Canadians in the first wave.

The Liberal government has categorically failed to keep COVID-19 variants, dangerous ones, out of Canada; failed to secure our border properly for over a year; failed to secure vaccines in January and February to have vaccination rates at a level that would have prevented community spread of dangerous variants, letting us down when it was most critical that he step up.

The Prime Minister did not succeed in stopping variants from entering Canada. Under the Liberals, our borders are out of control.

It has been a year and the Prime Minister has still not managed to protect the country.

Now doctors are seeing patients arrive in the ICU, who have had their first shot in some cases, and are well into the extended wait period for the second shot that the Prime Minister has approved to cover up his inability to deliver vaccines earlier, a four-month wait time between doses that is longer than any other country in the world and contrary to the advice of the developer and manufacturer of the vaccine. The Liberal government has forced an off-label usage of this vaccine only because there was insufficient supply. Its NACI board has acknowledged it would not be recommending a four-month delay if there was supply. This is leading to erosion of public confidence.

Front-line health care workers were left to fend for themselves. Meanwhile, public health directives were controlled or blocked. The Liberals let the virus spread. That made people more fearful and anxious. It also led to lockdowns and the tragic death of thousands of Canadians.

Canadians are beyond frustrated. Other countries are reopening. Our neighbours to the south are filling stadiums. Others are being spared from this serious risk of variants and this third wave.

Last spring, when it was clear that vaccines would be the key tool to turn the page in this crisis, the Prime Minister dropped the ball completely. While we have citizens in prison in China, disruption of trade, gross human rights violations, including genocide against Uighurs, the Prime Minister of Canada picked Communist China to partner for a vaccine to protect Canadians. I believe that in the future will be looked as one of the most negligent decisions by a Canadian prime minister in our history.

This situation is unacceptable, particularly for a G7 country like Canada. Things should not have happened this way. We are at this point because the Liberals were slow to respond every step of the way.

We are here because the response of the Liberal government throughout this pandemic has been confused and slow at every step. We are always scrambling to catch up and keep up. Because the federal government did not deliver adequate vaccine supply to the provinces in January and February, and because over the last few months we have been operating only at 50% or so of the delivery capacity the country has ready and we just do not have supply, that is why we have only 2.7% of Canadians fully vaccinated. That is why we are slower and having more lockdowns than other countries.

The government's own modelling said we would need 20% full vaccination and 75% first dose vaccination before it recommends a safe and effective reopening. The supplies we are receiving are so insufficient that it means more lockdowns, more small businesses in crisis and a slower reopening of our economy. We are going to miss summer because the government missed the mark in January and February, especially given the situation in the U.S., where we see how better management of that vaccine supply led to a faster reopening.

Canadians deserve better. They deserve better than a government that is always several steps behind, a government that is always refusing to explain its decisions, whether it is about partnering with CanSino or how many of its contracts are options or timelines to buy over many years, refusing to release contractual information, refusing to answer questions, and taking vaccine supply from the developing world through COVAX.

The only way the government made its objectives was from some charity from the United States, some extra supply, and by taking from the developing world. We are the only G7 country to do that, a recognition that the only G7 country that failed to deliver adequate vaccines was Canada. Canadians deserve better, and that is why we are bringing this debate to the House today.

Canadians deserve better, particularly in the midst of a pandemic. We need a sufficient supply of vaccines and a national testing approach to be able to reopen safely.

We need a national system of standards and screening for rapid tests so we can reopen safely and swiftly, because insufficient vaccine levels and variants mean we will need these tools.

I will review the tape for Canadians. A year ago, at one of the press conferences, the Prime Minister stood on his front step and said he would deliver rapid tests and tracing. All of these things he promised early he still has not delivered. We do not hear him talking about the app anymore, which was never fully adopted nationally. He has never rolled out a national system of screening and testing, and we now have a patchwork popping up. There is no consistency where we need it.

Last night, the President of the United States said the country had “an arsenal of vaccines” in storage to help others. Let us get them here. Let us get people vaccinated by May. Let us save our summer and let us have a safe, data-driven and effective reopening. Canadians deserve better.

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

Mr. Speaker, we have certainly come a long way since the member for Calgary Nose Hill stood right over there and said that we would not be getting vaccines until 2030.

The reality here is that the Conservatives are just out of touch. They do not understand, or at least are choosing not to understand, the reality of the situation. We are currently third in the G7 and the G20 in delivering vaccines into arms, per capita. Our plan is exceeding the targets that were given to provinces when developing the administration plans back in the fall.

The Leader of the Opposition referenced rapid tests. Millions of rapid tests have been delivered to provinces in this country. This government has been performing better than what was promised and vaccines are getting into people's arms.

The reality of the situation is that if this motion could make a difference, I do not see why anybody would vote against it.

[Erin O'Toole, Conservative, Durham, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the chief spokesperson of the Liberal Party for his question. I would like to address this argument that we are third in the G7 and we are doing well. It is an absolute farce.

The only reason we have the level of vaccination at the first level we have is that the government actually violated the directions of the pharmaceutical developer of the vaccines. We are the only country in the world stretching four months between doses. I know the Liberals will change that when they finally get sufficient doses here. They will change it because they know there is a risk to it. They are willing to take risks with Canadians to cover up their incompetence. I would rather just see competence.

The other reason the Liberals say they exceeded their objectives is that they stole from the third world. That is shameful. They took from COVAX, a fund that Canada, as a G7 country, should have never been pulling from, and they have. We deserve better.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his intervention. It was an excellent way to start our Thursday morning. He spoke about the embarrassment of Canada taking vaccines from developing countries, from low- and middle-income countries. I have a lot of concerns. I have stood in this House many times and spoken about my concern about what will happen if we do not deal with COVID-19 as the global pandemic it is and ensure that people around the world are vaccinated and that we get to COVID zero.

From his perspective, would the member be supportive of waiving intellectual property rights so that countries like India and South Africa could access the vaccines and make sure their citizens are vaccinated, to protect Canadians and our global economy?

[Erin O'Toole, Conservative, Durham, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the member's question is an important one. In fact, part of the reason COVAX was established by the G7 and other developed countries was to make sure that there could be an approach that respected global intellectual property but used the wealth of the developed world to provide sufficient quantities of vaccines for countries that would likely have trouble accessing them because of cost restrictions and lack of domestic capacity. That is why Canada, as a global player and as a leader, traditionally, should participate in COVAX. The fact that we are the only G7 country drawing from it is a sad testament to the Prime Minister's failure. We need as many vaccines as possible at home quickly, and then we should play our role internationally.

The President of the United States talked about the “arsenal of vaccines” that the U.S. will deploy. When he includes countries like Canada and Central America, we should be with the United States helping Central America, not having to rely on other countries, whether it is China or even our allies. Canadians deserve better. That is why we are bringing the debate today. That is why we have a plan to secure our country as part of the Canada recovery plan.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am looking at the calendar. It is April 29 today. It has been over a year since the start of the pandemic, and we are watching countries around the world have benchmarks and advice for reopening. We are watching them emerge from the pandemic. On April 29, 2021 in Canada, no Canadian has a line of sight on when restrictions will be safely and permanently lifted. Not a single person in this country has a line of sight on that. That lack of understanding of when things are going to be back to some level of hope has precipitated a third wave. Instead of having vaccines in January and February of this year, we are sitting in a third wave. That is the reality. If we had received more vaccines in January and February, we would not be sitting in a third wave that is this severe. That is a fact.

Every week, somebody from the federal government is standing up saying that the government is not getting the Moderna shipments this week, or something has changed with AstraZeneca, or it is not sure about Pfizer. Every week there is another announcement that has some level of uncertainty about vaccines. It has to stop. We need some hope going forward. We need certainty.

We have raised motions in this House asking the government to start looking at benchmarks for a safe reopening. Looking back, I think the reason why the government is so reticent to do this is that it does not have a line of sight on the vaccination status. It keeps reiterating these talking points, but fewer than 3% of Canadians are fully vaccinated. That is a remarkable failure.

Papers and academic journals have emerged showing that, particularly with the Pfizer vaccine, immunity may wane significantly if the second dose is delayed beyond the recommended 21 days. Will we be having another opposition day motion or debate in a month or a month and a half on a fourth wave because we are seeing that immunity is waning in people who had the first Pfizer shot, some of the most vulnerable in our country, such as frontline workers, long-term care residents and others, and COVID is spreading among them? That is a question the government cannot answer. It has not received enough supply to deal with this question. This is why it is so imperative for the government to get us more vaccines.

Let us talk about something I have tried to raise in question period, which is the ethics of how the government is getting us vaccines. Rather than scouring the country and doing everything possible to build up manufacturing capacity over the last year, we still do not have a line of sight on when the first dose of a Canadian-manufactured COVID vaccine will be administered in Canada. We do not have an answer to that. Instead of doing that, we are completely reliant on other countries.

Let us look at a country like India, which has supplied vaccines to the world and is one of the world's largest producers of vaccines, and it is going through an enormous third wave right now. We are a G7 country. Why have the Liberals not done more to address this in the last year? Why do we not have the answer to the question of when the first dose of Canadian-produced vaccine is going to be administered in Canada? Why are we guessing about when immunity might wane with Pfizer when people who have had their first dose do not know when they will get their second dose? This is a real problem.

Canadians, regardless of political stripe, are tired of this guessing game. They are tired of the uncertainty. How can provincial governments plan their vaccine strategies when the targets move every week? We have to start setting aspirational targets. Every party in the House, except for the Liberals, is doing that. Why can we not have enough vaccine that every Canadian can have an available dose by the end of May? Why is that not possible? Our peer countries, like the U.S. and the U.K., have been able to do that. If the government has the most efficient, effective portfolio of vaccines, why is this an issue?

I could reiterate for colleagues in the House things that everybody knows. We know that the government paid a higher amount for the AstraZeneca vaccine than other countries did. However, I do not think we have received a single doze of the AstraZeneca vaccine from our contract with AstraZeneca. We have only received the AstraZeneca vaccine from the COVAX fund and on loan from the United States. We paid double for something we have not even received, yet other countries have received it. How did that happen?

What recourse do we have with these manufacturers? What is in those contracts? The EU is considering litigating AstraZeneca over this issue. Why are we not? We need to set a target. We need certainty going forward, and that is why this motion is in front of the House today. We cannot just keep moving the goal post for Canadians who need to reopen their business, who are worried about getting sick, for ICU employees and front-line workers who do not know how they will manage. We cannot keep doing this. We have to set firm targets. We have to move hell and high water in the bureaucracy to get those targets met. We need to have a plan to get out of this.

This morning, I saw an advertisement, and I think it was in a British newspaper, essentially saying that the UK was moving out of the pandemic. Citizens in the United Kingdom have a line of sight on when they will move out of this, because of its ability to produce vaccines and because it has been able to set benchmarks. The Liberal government cannot do that. It will not even talk about these types of benchmarks because it does not have supply.

When an inquiry happens on this in a future Parliament, people are going to ask about the ethical decision of the Liberal government to delay dosing significantly beyond what manufacturers are recommending. It is because we have a shortage of vaccines. The Liberal talking points keep trying to muddy the waters on where Canada is on vaccination.

Less than 3% of Canadians are fully vaccinated. What happens in two or three months if further data emerges that shows there is actually a significant immunity problem or that immunity has waned so much, especially with the Pfizer vaccine, that people catch COVID again even though they have had their shot. This is a serious problem. We need that supply and we need it now.

The other thing this motion calls upon the government to do is to figure out the border. The government could have done so many things with regard to border restrictions. For colleagues who are listening and who might not realize this, the Indian double variant was identified in October of last year. How did that not get flagged by the Canadian government? How did that not translate into some level of action? Why are we not rapid testing even domestic passengers at airports? Why are we not prioritizing vaccination for essential workers going across the border, like truck drivers? Why is it that some people who travel across the border are exempted? There is a very spurious definition of essential worker.

These are things the government could be doing in the short term, while it is sorting out the vaccination issue, but it is not. The horses are out of the barn and every single time the government closes the gate behind them. It has been over a year. I think it is fair to call it gross incompetence at this point.

That is why these types of motions are needed. It is for the House to give the government direction when it refuses to give that direction to itself. That is what Parliament is for. We need firm targets, firm benchmarks that the government can be held to account for by the Canadian public, both on vaccine acquisition and administration as well as on reopening. Anything less than that just will not do.

Less than 3% of the country is fully vaccinated. We are stealing vaccines from Third World countries, because the government has not been able to figure this out. It has not taken recourse with these manufacturers. It is beyond the pale at this point.

I hope colleagues from other parties and the Liberal backbench will agree that this is something for which they should be holding the government to account. It is a firm timeline on vaccines so then there is direction to the executive to say that it will have to litigate these companies, that it will to have to get written confirmation from other countries to ensure there will not be export restrictions. This is the type of political will that is needed to get out of this crisis. If it is going to take the Conservative Party putting motion after motion in the House of Commons to get the government to do this, then so be it.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am very disappointed, but not surprised. I am disappointed in the sense that the Conservatives, whether it is the leader of the Conservative Party or the health critic of the party, continue to spread statistical information to their political advantage. The absolute reality that needs to sink into the minds of the Conservatives, and they need to start focusing on it, is that Canadians from day one have been served in every capacity, with the need, of course, of making some changes.

The reality is that we will have over 40 million doses of vaccine before the end of June. We are number three in the G20 with respect to that single dose. The member will take steps—

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

We will have to leave it there. There is quite a list of people who want to ask questions.

The hon. member for Calgary Nose Hill.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am disappointed that many Canadians are asking when are they getting their second dose or when are they getting their first dose to begin with. I am disappointed that front-line ICU workers are facing a third wave and shortage of staff because we did not have vaccines in January and February. I am disappointed that small businesses, that employees across the country have no line of sight on reopening. I am disappointed that people who have been separated from loved ones for over a year cannot see each other because they do not have a line of sight on vaccines.

I am disappointed in the government. Actually, that does not go far enough. I am ashamed of the government. I am ashamed that the Liberals do not have the courage to set stronger benchmarks and to give Canadians a path forward. They deflect, but they do not take actions, and that is what is disappointing.

[Louise Charbonneau, Bloc, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Calgary Nose Hill.

She expressed her demands, but I want to point out that vaccination is going well in Quebec. We are sorry to see that it is proceeding more slowly in the rest of Canada.

Given the vaccine shortage, does she believe we need to maintain social distancing measures to stop the spread of this epidemic?

We need even stricter border measures. The numbers do not lie. What are her thoughts on that?

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

Mr. Speaker, the way out of this pandemic is the amazing tools that have been developed by the world in a very short period of time, tools such as vaccines, rapid testing, therapeutics and data around transmission rates. On the blunt instrument of restrictions, of course, we need to abide by them now, but why? Because we do not have those tools deployed across the country. That is just the reality.

Over a year into the pandemic, when the CDC is releasing guidelines on what fully vaccinated persons can do or is talking about how lockdowns are going to be permanently restricted, we are having to enact more because we have not deployed those tools. We need to shift the narrative. People need to know that when they are complying with these blunt instruments of lockdowns, there is an end in sight to get that more durable solution. The narrative needs to be focused on that.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the reality is that we are in this probably most brutal of all the waves because of the virulent new strains, yet the Liberal government was the only G7 country to raid the COVAX fund that was supposed to be helping in the Third World. The Liberal government is refusing the WTO waiver to allow third world countries to get their vaccines up to par.

How does Canada even imagine that we are going to get through this in the long term if new virulent strains are happening because Canada is blocking at the WTO the ability of third world countries to get vaccines?

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

Mr. Speaker, the situation is dire. I agree with my colleague. We need to look at every innovative solution on the table to address this crisis, and we do need to look at vaccine equity. The Prime Minister is going to some sort of charity rock star concert. Of course he is. He is going to get his photo op while he is raiding the COVAX fund.

I hope the organizers of that concert, if they are listening today, give a hard think about allowing the Prime Minister of Canada to speak on vaccine equity. We do not even have vaccine equity at home and he is talking about it internationally, virtue signalling to get some sort of photo op. It is like rubbing salt in the wound. It is disgusting.

Yes, of course, we need to be doing everything possible as a country to ensure there is vaccine equity around the world, but we also need to be getting it at home. The Prime Minister has failed on both fronts, and that is very disappointing.

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Minister of Public Services and Procurement]

Mr. Speaker, let me begin by acknowledging that I am speaking from the territory of many first nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishinabe, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wyandot peoples.

I will be splitting my time today with my parliamentary secretary.

I will address the motion before the House today point by point, as I believe, and I am sure everyone agrees, that we have to remain factual and clear when debating such important matters as Canada's vaccine strategy. Unfortunately the motion before us contains significant areas of incomplete and incorrect information before it reaches a disingenuous and misleading conclusion.

First, the motion's preamble states that 2.7% of Canadians are fully vaccinated, which means they have received two doses of one of the vaccines that is currently approved for use in this country.

I am not disputing that figure, but it ignores the fact that 31% of all Canadians have received at least one dose of the vaccine, which puts us in third place in the G20.

I will speak more to the overall picture of where Canada stands in our vaccine efforts in a moment.

Next, the opposition would have us believe that our entire vaccine campaign should be defined by a three-week period during which suppliers were retooling and ramping up production in the early part of this year. It is true that Canada experienced disruptions in the early days relating to supply chain issues, which I communicated to Canadians immediately upon receiving the information from one of our suppliers.

However, even as the opposition kept saying that Canada would never recover from that temporary delay, my team and I continued to apply pressure and work hard every day to make our suppliers honour their contracts. Let us take some time to look at where that hard work has gotten us.

At the time, we said we were on track to meet our quarterly objective of six million doses. We actually exceeded that objective by over 50% and received 9.5 million doses during the first part of this year.

To date, nearly 15 million doses of vaccines have been delivered to Canada, and nearly 13 million of those have been administered by provinces and territories. Through our relationships with vaccine suppliers, we have advanced the delivery dates of 28 million doses. Canada is solidly in the top three among G20 nations for total number of doses administered per capita, average daily doses administered and percentage of our population with at least one dose. This is despite the opposition's continued claims that we would not have any doses until 2030.

From our solid base of procurements, we will continue to build. Starting next week, Pfizer alone will be delivering two million doses a week for every week in May before moving to 2.4 million doses a week for all of June. Those are benchmarks. In total, Canada will receive between 48 million and 50 million doses by the end of June, with tens of millions more coming before the end of September.

The next point of the motion I would like to address is one concerning the timing of administration of doses. The Conservatives, while in government, muzzled scientists. Now, in opposition, they seem to have gone a step further by trying to deny that scientists exist.

Let us be very clear about the misinformation included in the motion we are debating. The federal government does not decide to whom vaccine doses are administered or when they are administered. Qualified doctors and immunologists, acting on the best scientific data available, make recommendations on how to achieve the best public health outcomes possible, and even with that, the guidance provided by the independent National Advisory Committee on Immunization is exactly that: guidance.

Each province and each territory is responsible for making its own decisions in terms of the rollout and the administration of vaccines. That is part of our constitutional framework. Most public health experts say it is far better to have two people with 80% protection than it is to have one person with 90% protection and another with absolutely no protection at all. It is similar to the approach that was followed in the U.K., among other countries. Personally, I find that argument compelling.

However, to put it bluntly, my opinion on the matter of dosing intervals is irrelevant. This is not a political decision. This is medical advice provided by medical professionals and experts in the field of immunization and public health, and it is based in fact and in science. Our government did not order doctors to draw any conclusions, and we most certainly did not order them to change their advice for political reasons. Frankly, I find it troubling, given everything we have seen during this pandemic, that the opposition would suggest that doctors had been ignored and overruled for partisan reasons.

The opposition does not appear to understand how our country works. On the advice of the vaccine task force and Health Canada, Public Services and Procurement Canada has pursued an aggressive procurement strategy to ensure that we have a diverse portfolio of vaccines, as well as the syringes, needles and other products that are also needed, all with the goal of ensuring that Canada is very well positioned to fight COVID-19.

Health Canada confirms that vaccines are properly tested to ensure their safety and effectiveness. The National Advisory Committee on Immunization reviews the actual data, in Canada and elsewhere, and provides advice on best practices and uses for the various vaccines. Major-General Dany Fortin and his team at the national operations centre continue to ensure the timely distribution of vaccines and immunization supplies to the provinces and territories.

Once those doses are delivered, it is then up to the provinces and territories to make their own decisions concerning the administration of vaccines and to make decisions when it comes to prioritizing populations, administration locations and timing. It is my understanding that the Conservatives are close with some of these premiers, so I would respectively suggest, if they disagree with the way the vaccines are being administered, to perhaps take it up with the premiers themselves.

Point (iv) of the motion, and the final point in the preamble, states that Canadians from British Columbia to my home province of Nova Scotia are facing increasing restrictions due to the third wave. On this point, I do agree. It is factual and relevant. We must all remember that, at the end of the day, the decisions governments make, the promises we make and the messages we send have real impacts on real people, which is why we must remain factual, realistic and forthright. Sadly, the conclusion of the motion does not live up to that test.

Given its demonstrated misunderstanding of the current global situation around vaccine production, supply chains, the science guiding the administration of doses, and federal and provincial roles, it comes as no surprise that the opposition concludes this motion by saying that the government should complete the largest mass-vaccination program in Canadian history by its arbitrarily set deadline of the May long weekend.

Let us take a moment to think about the real-world implications of what is being proposed. At a time when COVID vaccines are the single most sought after commodity in the world, and Canada is among the leading nations in the procurement of these vaccines, and with no suggestions on how to accomplish this goal, the Conservatives are proposing that Canada complete the procurement portion of the largest mass-immunization campaign in Canadian history in the next three weeks.

I have worked on procuring vaccines for Canadians and accelerating the delivery of doses every single day since last spring without exception. I have spoken with the top executives of nearly every major vaccine supplier in the world. Our team across government has reached out to international and domestic partners in search of vaccines.

To say that this motion is nothing more than political theatre is an understatement. It is detached from reality and, frankly, irresponsible.

[Dan Albas, Conservative, Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the minister engaging in debate.

In British Columbia, we have the highest recorded number of people with COVID-19 in our hospitals. People in Kelowna in long-term care, seniors who have received their first shot, are getting sick. Outbreaks are continuing.

By the way, there is a big difference between a benchmark and a target. This government has set targets that it is attempting to make. A benchmark is when we actually compare our targets with someone else's. I think that my constituents would say that the U.S., the U.K. and Israel have much different benchmarks than what this government considers.

At our borders we are seeing the transmission of variants from other countries. Once they have entered the country, community transmission becomes exponential. My point is this: Does this minister understand that, when she fails to get Canadians the supplies they need to fight this virus, she will not be able to catch up to the variants her government allowed into this country? Will she be accountable for that?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I do appreciate the question from the member opposite, but I will say that the word “fails” is an exaggeration.

We have received 14.7 million doses in this country, and 12.8 million doses have been administered. The percentage of the Canadian population vaccinated with at least one dose is 31%, and we are third in the G20 for cumulative doses administered. Two million doses of Pfizer alone are coming for the next four weeks in May, and we will be receiving 2.5 million doses for five weeks in June.

These are numbers that are going to continue to drive the number of Canadians with access to vaccines increasingly higher, and 48 million to 50 million doses will be here prior to the end of June.

We are working—

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

We will continue with questions and comments.

The hon. member for Lac-Saint-Jean.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her speech.

I think she will agree that this motion is typical of the Conservatives. It is ideological, partisan and unrealistic. Still, it does spark debate.

My colleague must admit that the government has failed miserably. The vaccine could have been created here in Canada. I do agree with my friends in the Conservative Party that this has been an abject failure.

Will my hon. colleague admit that the vaccine could have been created in Canada?