Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday that he understands why there is a “tremendous amount of anxiety” among Canadians with the constant flow of bad news about the inoculation campaign, but he doubled down on his promise to deliver six million shots by the end of March.
Trudeau asked Canadians to tune out the “noise” from some circles about the sorry state of the country’s vaccine efforts, saying the temporary “ups and downs” may be frustrating to “some people,” but they’re just that — temporary.
Speaking to reporters outside Rideau Cottage, Trudeau said he has been in regular contact with executives at three of the pharmaceutical companies that are supplying Canada with shots.
The two principal suppliers, Moderna and Pfizer, have assured him that they will still meet their contractual obligations to send six million shots, combined, despite dramatic declines in shipments over the last month, Trudeau said.
“I want to reassure Canadians that we’re on track,” he said, adding that as many as 20 million more doses will start to arrive in the spring as the federal government keeps its sights on vaccinating all people who want a shot by the end of September.
WATCH: Trudeau tells Canadians COVID-19 vaccine target is still on track:
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the remarks during his opening address to Canadians about the state of the fight against the virus on Friday. 3:02
Asked if Canada had any legal recourse if the companies don’t meet their contractual obligations, Trudeau didn’t answer. Treasury Board President Jean-Yves Duclos also declined to comment Friday on the government’s legal options if the companies fail to meet delivery targets for the first quarter of this year.
The two companies are grappling with manufacturing issues at their plants in Europe that have severely disrupted deliveries to markets outside the U.S.
While Canada’s Moderna supply will be curtailed this month — public health officials have conceded that they have no idea just how much product will arrive.
Meanwhile shipments in the U.S. have increased by about 35 per cent in the last week as Moderna looks to fulfil its obligations to a government that partially funded vaccine development.
AstraZeneca awaits green light
Trudeau said the pending approval of other promising vaccine candidates will be a much-needed jolt to the stalled vaccination campaign — Canada now ranks 33rd worldwide for shots administered per capita — and he spoke with the CEO of AstraZeneca this week, who told him vaccines would follow shortly after Health Canada’s green light.
Canada passed on the domestic manufacturing rights to that product, so the shipments will come from the company’s factories abroad. Canada has ordered up to 20 million doses of that product, which is already in use in Europe and the United Kingdom.
Trudeau suggested those AstraZeneca shots would be delivered sometime this summer — “He very much assured me that we are on track to receiving the 20 million doses committed to by the end of June,” Trudeau said of the CEO, Pascal Soriot.
But a procurement official, speaking on background, later clarified that the entirety of the AstraZeneca order would not arrive until the end of the third quarter, in September.
Public Services and Procurement Minister Anita Anand told the Commons health committee Friday that some 500,000 AstraZeneca shots could arrive before the end of March now that Canada has chosen to tap supply from COVAX, a vaccine-sharing initiative funded by wealthier countries to ensure low- and middle-income countries have access to shots.
WATCH: Trudeau discusses the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine:
Dr. Theresa Tam responds to questions about at what point will Canada’s vaccination rate lead to lifting stay-at-home orders. 2:28
Amid production delays at plants in Europe, some observers, notably Ontario Premier Doug Ford, have suggested Canada should turn to the U.S. for a lifeline because manufacturing continues there unaffected.
Pfizer has a plant in Kalamazoo, Mich., which is only 220 kilometres from the Detroit-Windsor crossing, and Moderna is manufacturing vials in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
Anand said she recently spoke with Jeff Zients, a counsellor to U.S. President Joe Biden and the administration’s COVID-19 coordinator, and she was told all production from U.S. factories has been earmarked for Americans, at least for now.
“We continue to follow up with them to see if it’s a possibility for Canada, we’re still having this conversation. I wouldn’t classify it as ‘being turned down,'” Anand told MPs. “All doses, at the current time, are staying in the U.S.”
More than 1.2 million Moderna and Pfizer shots have already been delivered in Canada, with an estimated 1.3 million more shots slated to arrive this month.
That means more than 3.5 million shots have to be delivered in the month of March alone — some 885,000 a week — to meet the prime minister’s promised vaccination target, a daunting task for the country’s public health system. Trudeau said the country is preparing for the onslaught of hundreds of thousands of shots.
“Our plan is working,” Trudeau said in French. “Temporary shipment delays are a hurdle but one that we were ready for.”
WATCH: Dr. Tam is asked about vaccination rates and lifting lockdowns
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke with reporters about the Health Canada approval process for the AstraZeneca vaccine. 0:52
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
