Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you. I would say two things, the one is there isn't a waiver proposal yet on the table but it's also very important to understand how the TRIPS waiver operates. The TRIPS waiver only allows a WTO member to enact domestic measures so as not to implement various provisions

Foreign Affairs committee  With all due respect, please be aware that some of this is surmising since I am not an intellectual property expert, but the issue seems to be around timing, and particularly around the timing of the production of these vaccines. I mentioned earlier that the director general of

Foreign Affairs committee  First of all, you're asking me to divine what the U.K. or Norway are thinking, for example. I think those are the two countries you mentioned. Let me say this. There have been criticisms of the waiver proposal because it may not actually achieve the result, which is to increase

Foreign Affairs committee  It's not at all clear, as I said earlier, that the India and South Africa proposal will continue to be viable, because we have heard that the quadrilateral discussions with the U.S., EU, India and South Africa may have reached another result. It's too early to tell, because we do

Foreign Affairs committee  I'm working in the trade policy sphere, not in the procurement of goods, such as syringes. Let me tell you, and perhaps all honourable members will recall this as well, that at the beginning of the pandemic we had issues as significant as trying to get masks, for example. The Ot

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, that is correct.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, but I would say that Canada has signalled all along that we are ready to join a consensus on the waiver issue. We will actively engage in discussions should a text come forward, for example, with a view to reaching a compromise and reaching a solution on this issue.

Foreign Affairs committee  What Canada did was mostly through the work of the Ottawa Group that Canada has convened within the WTO. Much of the Ottawa Group's work was animated by the DG and a process that she engaged in called the “third way”, where she looked at some of the trade impediments with respect

Foreign Affairs committee  I want to be very clear. There is no TRIPS waiver at this point. There was a proposal, as I mentioned to Mr. Ehsassi. There is now a process by which—

Foreign Affairs committee  That's fair enough. That is not an official waiver text either. We don't have that text. As we understand it, a compromise was reached among the four and they have gone back to capitals to consult. The text has not been shared by the quadrilateral members with Canada or any WTO

Foreign Affairs committee  I'm not sure why I would know the intention when this text has not been confirmed by the four quadrilateral members.

Foreign Affairs committee  Sure.

Foreign Affairs committee  I'm not sure who you—

Foreign Affairs committee  I think what you're referring to are two processes. There is a proposal that was put forward by a number of countries led by India and South Africa. It was presented to the TRIPS council quite a while ago—I believe it was in October 2020—and it has been an ongoing discussion. T

Foreign Affairs committee  It's not clear. There are stories that there is a compromise that has now been reached, but that compromise has not been approved by the quadrilateral. My assumption is that if a compromise were reached, that would go to the TRIPS council for discussion, rather than the earlier p