QUESTION PERIOD — Finance
Economic Update--COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout
December 1, 2020
Honourable senators, my question is for the government leader in the Senate.
Senator Gold, safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines offer hope for the future for all Canadians. However, yesterday’s fall economic statement failed to provide any details on how and when vaccines will be rolled out across our country. This is despite the fact that the economic statement acknowledges that Canada’s economy cannot reopen until a vaccine is widely available.
The only thing we learned yesterday about the vaccine rollout is that the government plans to spend $125 million to ship and store the vaccines. This work, quite frankly, should have been completed months ago, senator.
Leader, the United Kingdom has said its vaccine rollout will begin within days. The United States has given its states until Friday to order doses of the Pfizer vaccine. Why can’t the Trudeau government give us details of Canada’s vaccine rollout?
Thank you for your question. I think everyone in the chamber would agree that the distribution of vaccines and its rollout are important steps for us to combat the pandemic and to help us return to a more robust and normal economic life.
The government has been working on preparations for obtaining the necessary vaccines and their distribution for many months now. It has been working with the territories and the provinces who have the primary responsibility to make decisions within their borders on how those vaccines will be distributed.
The government is now nearing the final stages of finalizing the third-party logistical support that it needs, so that vaccine distribution can begin early next year. As we know, most recently the government has tasked Major-General Dany Fortin to oversee the logistical operations. The government remains committed to providing information as it is rolled out, and more importantly, to roll out vaccines for the benefit of Canadians in a timely fashion.
The most true and most significant part of that answer was that everybody in this chamber understands the importance. It’s unfortunate that the Prime Minister, who spends most of his time in his cottage, does not have the same feelings that you and I do.
We have no specifics on the vaccine rollout, no widely available rapid tests, no details on the upcoming fiscal stimulus and no long-term fiscal anchor, only a hazy reference to — listen to this; they found a new word — fiscal guardrails. What the fall economic statement clearly did show, however, is that we are in debt to the tune of $1.1 trillion, and with a debt-to-GDP ratio of well over 50% for years to come, no matter which of the four proposed stimulus scenarios the government ultimately chooses.
Leader, how are the so-called fiscal guardrails going to rein in your government when you can’t even tell us what they are? Do you commit to lay out these guardrails in — my notes say next year’s federal budget, but we have no guarantee that this government will ever bring down a budget, so let me say — whenever the government decides to present a budget?
Thank you for your question, but the question betrays a certain assumption that this government does not share. This is not the time to be reining in the investment this government is making in the well-being of Canadians and their health and safety, and in maintaining their economic well-being. Its priority remains, and must remain, focused on the well-being of Canadians and businesses.
History teaches us there is wisdom in continuing to provide this kind of support to Canadians. The fiscal update that was provided yesterday was clear with regard to the government’s intentions, and this government’s commitment, to not only continue to invest in Canadians, but also to keep a very close eye on its spending to make sure that we continue to be able to spend in a responsible way.
In this regard, colleagues, it is important to remind ourselves not simply that we have the continuing fiscal capacity to do so, but that even after all this spending, which this chamber and the other place approved to help Canadians, and notwithstanding the hundreds of billions of dollars that we have spent in order to combat the health and economic crisis with which we are confronted, Canada remains in a strong economic position. Our debt-to-GDP ratio, which has climbed inevitably by virtue of the increased expenditures and the loss of revenues as a result of the economic crisis we are in, still remains the strongest, and is projected to remain the strongest, in the G7. As well, our credit rating from Moody’s has been reaffirmed, recently, in AAA terms.
