Industry committee  We provided our advice based on the best advice available. While some of the companies would talk about the financial considerations during presentations, that was not taken into consideration when we provided our advice.

Industry committee  I think in the short run the decisions that were taken made sense. There clearly is an issue to be addressed going forward, and that is under way. Through recommendations of the joint biomanufacturing subcommittee to the government, some announcements have been made, as you know, for Canadian domestic production capability.

Industry committee  Joanne and, I believe, Roger spoke to that earlier, so I will just add my comments as well. While CanSino was very much part of what was talked about, it was kind of early on and later on. Any discussions we had were done in parallel. All the other vaccine candidates that we looked at were considered at the same time.

Industry committee  We had a process to review the strategic investment fund proposals that looked at all companies equally. We've talked about the criteria we used to assess those proposals. We provided advice to the government, and some funding announcements have been made under strategic investment fund proposals.

Industry committee  I would add only that the advice we give is confidential, so what the government has done or not done with that advice is up to them. I would leave it at that.

Industry committee  If you take a step back in time to June, July and August when we were getting going, it's a bit of a mind-boggling task that we were given to recommend.... Our mandate was to provide advice to secure safe and efficacious vaccines for Canadians as soon as possible. At that time, there were no vaccines licensed or developed; they were under way for being developed.

Industry committee  I could maybe comment on a couple things, based on my experience in the vaccine industry. The vaccines are coming. We've seen them. The delivery schedules and what's been happening this week versus delay until next week...I don't think anybody in the industry ever thought they would see that on the national news like it's happening with the pandemic, which is understandable.

Industry committee  You could put RNA technology into an existing manufacturing site. It would likely be a new building, new equipment, renovating a new room. It would be different equipment.

Industry committee  The mRNA technology is new. It's been around for 10 years in terms of the science, but there's never, until now, been a product commercialized using RNA technology, so this is a great breakthrough. As a world, I think we're very fortunate that the RNA technology was there and we could take advantage of that.

Industry committee  Right now, Connaught/Sanofi Pasteur does not have RNA technology in place for their manufacturing, so they would have to gear that up and start to build a facility that could do that manufacturing. To your earlier point, there are other candidate vaccines in Canada that are working with RNA technology, and they're at an earlier stage.

Industry committee  Well, it's different bulk manufacturing equipment. It's a different way of utilizing it, so it's a different manufacturing technique for the bulk product.

Industry committee  Sure. If we're talking about the approvals of the licences for products that are licensed in different places around the world, one of the things Joanne talked about and that has been paramount to everything we've done is that science should rule the day. While great progress has been made in compressing regulatory approval timelines from 10-plus years to four to five years to 12 to 18 months, none of the steps have been skipped.

Industry committee  My understanding is that they had considered making some investments before the pandemic. This is something they had thought about and had plans in place for and designs under way for. They were able to hit the ground floor running, so to speak, in making those investments. They were fortunate that they had some domestic candidates available and ready to go.

Industry committee  I was with Connaught and Sanofi Pasteur for 33 years. I retired from that organization in December 2016, having served the last 17 years as president. The campus that you're referring to is over 50 acres at Dufferin and Steeles. It has over a million square feet of space. It is still alive and well, manufacturing diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus and polio vaccines in combination for Canada and the world.

Industry committee  Yes. Over the years, the quality assurance, the desire to assure vaccine quality as opposed to the testing, has risen dramatically. There are all sorts of efforts around not just getting regulatory approval for the vaccines but also for the site itself, for all the compliance procedures.