Pierre Paul-Hus

[Health, December 1st, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister had a hard time managing crises before COVID-19. His management of the COVID-19 crisis is yet another example of his poor management skills. Last Friday, the Prime Minister told everyone that the majority of Canadians would be vaccinated by September. I asked the minister yesterday whether that meant 51%. She told me that 70% of Canadians would be vaccinated.

Can the minister provide specific documentation to back up this figure, or did she make it up during question period?

[Health, November 30th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, how can the government claim to have the best portfolio of vaccines and say there will be 10 doses per Canadian when it has not yet brought a single dose into the country? It is ridiculous.

Can the minister also explain to me why her government signed an agreement with a company owned by the Chinese communist regime? An agreement was signed with CanSino Biologics, but it fell apart.

Why was her government forced to renegotiate all kinds of contracts at the last minute back in August, and how can she now say that there will be 10 doses per person when nobody even knows when the first dose will get here?

[Health, November 30th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, it is obviously not working because on Friday, the Prime Minister told everyone that the majority of Canadians would be vaccinated by September 2021.

The minister just told us that we cannot make a plan because we do not know when the vaccine will be approved.

Can the government make a decision, be honest with Canadians, come up with guidelines and develop a clear, precise plan? At this point, everyone is waiting, businesses are closing and people are dying.

[Health, November 30th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, on Friday, the Prime Minister stated that the majority of Canadians would be vaccinated by September 2021. Does that mean 51% of the population? If so, that is not enough. We will not have herd immunity, we will not be able to get back to normal, and more lives will be lost along the way.

Can the Prime Minister give us an actual clear plan?

[Business of Supply, November 26th, 2020]

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

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

[Business of Supply, November 26th, 2020]

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

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

Can she give us a date?

[Business of Supply, November 26th, 2020]

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

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

Can the government tell us whether contracts have been awarded?

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

When will we be getting them?

[Business of Supply, November 26th, 2020]

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

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

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

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

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

[Business of Supply, November 26th, 2020]

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

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

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

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

I think we have spent enough time fooling around.

[Business of Supply, November 26th, 2020]

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

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

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

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