OTTAWA —
Canada’s relationships with companies supplying protective gear and possible COVID-19 vaccines will be endangered if the latest Conservative request for what could be thousands of pages of pandemic documents is passed, says Public Services and Procurement Minister Anita Anand.
However, the federal Conservatives were quick to balk at this assertion, insisting their demands are entirely legitimate and necessary.
If this latest Conservative opposition day motion passes, Canadians could have access to hundreds if not thousands of pages of internal health-focused policy documents related to the federal government’s COVID-19 response so far, as part of a health committee study on the Liberals’ response to the pandemic to-date.
In a Monday morning press conference Anand argued that passing the motion as drafted would undermine ongoing contract negotiations and threaten Canada’s ability to procure future COVID-19 supplies and could dissuade leading medical firms from doing business in this country, in a final attempt to convince opposition parties to vote down the motion.
“If this motion passes, it is my grave concern that those contracts are at risk, those negotiations are at risk, and suppliers will then as a result be hesitant to contract with the federal government. And that chill on our supplier relationships then undermines and perhaps negates our ability to procure additional PPE, buy additional vaccines, and additional rapid test kits,” Anand said.
“What is on the table here is the lives of Canadians. That’s the end goal of our procurements, that is what we are trying to protect… These procurements did not happen overnight. They were not easy. It was an incredibly difficult summer, and we managed to come through it with these procurements for Canadians. It hurts my heart to think that they would be jeopardized if this motion passes,” Anand said.
On the heels of Anand’s press conference, sponsor of the motion Conservative MP and health critic Michelle Rempel Garner called the minister’s remarks “hyperbolic” and “fear-mongering,” and said if the Liberals have genuine concerns there are parliamentary avenues to pursue changes to the proposal.
“These are pieces of information that the Canadian public needs to know to have stability, these are reasonable questions for Parliament to ask,” Rempel Garner said. “When you’re seeing the numbers of COVID cases this weekend, this motion needs to pass. I mean that’s even more evidence to me that Parliament needs to be looking at a calm, rational questioning of the government’s approach to this pandemic which is what this motion is designed to do.”
From the moment it was proposed, the Liberals have rejected the motion, stating that not only was it a cumbersome request, but it would take department resources off the day-to-day response to the still-surging COVID-19 pandemic. The Liberals have also said that they feel they have been transparent in regularly updating Canadians on progress with procurements and on pursuing new testing and treatment options.
“This is not about politics. As we are in the middle of the second wave, and the number of COVID cases continues to increase, this is not the time for this motion to be passed. This is not the time to threaten and weaken our relationships with our suppliers, on whom Canadians’ health and safety depends,” she said, adding that she agrees that MPs should study the federal COVID-19 response but it shouldn’t include this level of disclosure.
If the vote on Monday afternoon goes as anticipated, it’s set to pass despite the Liberals’ objections as the Bloc Quebecois and the New Democrats have voiced their support for the motion. However, it’s possible these recent concerns could prompt a change of position or, at least, spark a push for amendments to the motion.
STAKEHOLDERS ‘VERY’ CONCERNED
Over the last few days stakeholders have been speaking out about concerns they have with the release of the information the Conservatives are calling for.
On Friday, in letters to the government from the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters (CME) and the federal vaccine task force voiced their fears that if the disclosures include confidential, proprietary, or sensitive business information is made public it will have “very” serious negative impacts on the work and procurements currently underway.
In one letter, CME President Dennis Darby said many Canadian producers who re-tooled to help supply the country with much-needed personal protective equipment did so “under the assumption that any shared sensitive business information would be kept confidential.”
“The desire to now publish this information undermines the efforts put into the response by manufacturers and could do irreparable harm to Canada’s manufacturing businesses and international reputation as a good place to do business. Simply put, if companies cannot trust that their information will be kept confidential, a chill will set in on private enterprise seeking out government procurement contracts generally. We must avoid this scenario at all costs,” Darby said in a letter that was also sent to Conservative and NDP critics.
Major pharmaceutical company Pfizer has also joined the list of those speaking out against the Conservative motion. In a letter to Health Canada officials sent over the weekend, Pfizer Canada President Cole Pinnow said he is “deeply concerned with the implications and likely unintended consequences should this motion receive the support of enough parliamentarians.”
Pinnow said that the vetting process to release these documents “could interfere with contractual negotiations.”
Pfizer Canada is calling on MPs to consider amending the motion to include stronger language to safeguard scientific and commercially-sensitive information, and to explicitly direct the parliamentary law clerk who would be doing any redactions, to consult any impacted third parties about the information being released, as is standard under current access to information procedures.
WHAT’S BEING REQUESTED?
Among the information the motion would compel departments to turn over:
- The approval process, procurement plans and protocol for distribution related to rapid and at-home testing as well as vaccines;
- federal public health guidelines and the data being used to inform them, including current long-term care facility COVID-19 protocols as well as the Public Health Agency of Canada’s communication strategy;
- the availability of therapeutics and treatment devices for Canadians diagnosed with COVID-19 as well as the availability of personal protective equipment;
- the government’s progress in evaluating pre- and post-arrival rapid testing for travellers as well as the impact of delaying the closure of Canada’s borders;
- the development, efficacy and use of data related to the government’s COVID Alert application as well as the government’s contact tracing protocol; and
- Canada’s level of preparedness to respond to another pandemic.
The motion calls on the government to disclose a host of emails, documents, notes, and other records from the Prime Minister’s Office, the Privy Council Office, Health Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada, as well as from cabinet ministers’ offices since mid-March related to the COVID-19 response as well as related to discussions with the World Health Organization.
The current limitation on the request only excludes personal privacy information and national security concerns.
Further, the Conservatives want the study to start within a week and the government to provide “comprehensive” responses to all of the above issues within a month, a compromise from the initial 15-day window proposed.
And, once the documents are submitted, the committee would have the ability to call a slate of cabinet ministers to testify, for three hours each.
Source: – CTV News
Source link
Related
