QUESTION PERIOD — Public Services and Procurement
COVID-19 Vaccine Procurement
February 9, 2021
Honourable senators, my question today is again for the Honourable Senator Gold.
Senator, a good leader and a good prime minister always has a backup plan in place, and a backup for that as well — plan A, B and C. When it comes to Canada’s vaccine procurement, these plans don’t exist.
In an interview with CTV last week, Minister Anand’s parliamentary secretary admitted that the Trudeau government chose the second-best option in vaccine procurement, opting to rely solely on vaccines manufactured overseas. The U.K. was in the same position we were last year, with limited domestic manufacturing for vaccines. Their government focused on improving domestic vaccine production, and now over 12 million of their citizens have received the first dose.
Leader, our deliveries have been cut for weeks now. We have no domestic supply. What is our backup plan?
Thank you for your question and for raising an issue that is of great importance to all Canadians. This government has a plan, and it is a comprehensive plan.
With regard to your observation about manufacturing capacity — and this is just a sad fact — our underinvestment in vaccine production capacity began many decades ago. Publicly owned Connaught Laboratories was sold off by a previous government, and further cuts were made as well by a successive government. As a result, our domestic manufacturing industry declined from a situation where we were importing less than 20% of our vaccines from the international market to nearly 85% today. Since 2016, the government that I represent has provided more than $10 billion for science and research, including a 2018 investment, the largest single investment in fundamental research in Canadian history, responding to many years of budget cuts in science.
The plan, as has been announced many times, involves diversifying our source of supply to seven different international providers and, more recently, entering into an agreement with Novavax, a major investment of over $125 million to manufacture a vaccine at the new National Research Council Royalmount facility in Montreal, which will begin production toward the end of the year. I can go on, colleagues.
All Canadians are concerned. We are at the beginning of this first quarter and the government remains committed to providing vaccines to all Canadians who want it by the end of September, and remains convinced that it is on track to deliver on that promise.
Well, leader, you made one very correct statement: It is a sad fact. Now we are blaming previous governments. That is the ultimate, blaming previous governments. This government has been in power for six years. Canadian vaccine manufacturers needed your government’s support last year, leader. Your government. But your government had no plan B or a plan C.
Providence Therapeutics is currently conducting human trials with its vaccine. The Trudeau government did not give this company the support it sought last year. Who knows how much further along we would be if that support had been given? PnuVax in Montreal is another Canadian manufacturing facility that your government — not the previous government, leader — ignored.
Leader, what possible reason do you have for the Trudeau government — not previous governments — not supporting COVID-19 vaccine development with Canadian companies? You can’t go back in time, you can’t blame other governments, but you can stop making the same mistake going forward. Will you engage with these companies now on vaccine development?
Thank you for your question. I was very careful in my words. I spoke of previous governments, and there have been many governments of different political parties. I did not single out the Mulroney government for its privatization program, or the Harper government. I’m not blaming previous governments; I’m simply stating facts.
With regard to your question, this government is engaged with companies and manufacturing facilities in Canada, assessing their capacity to ramp up and it is making investments appropriately. The fact remains that, faced with a pandemic that came upon the world, this government took the view that it was in the best interest of Canadians to seek supplies from well-established pharmaceutical companies with well-established manufacturing capabilities across the globe so as to mitigate the risk that delays in one would not compromise the overall success of the plan. It remains the position of the government that this will bear fruit for the benefit of Canadians.
