Liberals must reveal pandemic documents
Vaccines, PPE, rapid testing on opposition list
OTTAWA • The Conservatives pushed a motion through Parliament Monday that will require the Liberals to disclose documents on vaccines, personal protective equipment and rapid testing, over government objections that the move could pose a risk to the country's supplies.
The Conservatives won the vote with support from the Bloc Québécois, NDP and the Green Party, requiring the government to deliver the documents to the Health Committee within 30 days.
In addition to covering PPE and vaccines, the motion will also examine every aspect of the federal response, including the government's decision to shut down a vital public health surveillance tool, the provision of paid sick leave, the adequacy of provincial health transfers and decisions around border closures and travel restrictions.
Prior to the vote, Procurement Minister Anita Anand said the motion would put ongoing negotiations for essential supplies during the pandemic at risk.
“We are in the middle of negotiation for vaccine, PPE and rapid test kits. Extensive disclosure as contemplated will threaten our ability to procure these goods,” she said.
“We are in the middle of a second wave, we are in the middle of negotiations, and we are in the middle of our contracting.”
Anand was joined by drug companies, manufacturers and the co-chairs of Canada's vaccine task force in calling for some secrecy to be maintained in the contracts until after the crisis.
In a letter to all party leaders, the co-chairs of the vaccine task force offered to brief MPs from all parties, but worried that doing so publicly would jeopardize confidentiality contracts they signed with the companies developing the vaccine.
“Without this guarantee of commercial confidentiality, it would not have been possible for us to meaningful engage with these firms nor to obtain the data needed to make evidence-based, informed recommendations,” reads the letter.
The motion allows for certain redactions for commercial confidentiality along with national security, but they would be performed by the House of Commons law clerk, rather than public servants in the Privy Council Office as the Liberals were suggesting.
Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner said the government was fear-mongering and the experience they had during the WE Charity scandal suggests the government cannot be trusted to censor the documents.
“The Privy Council office is an arm of the government,” she said. “I don't believe that the government should be redacting its own documents.”
Rempel Garner said the government should welcome scrutiny, which is Parliament's responsibility, to ensure the country is on the right track in its response.
“There is no shame. In fact, it is the job of Parliament to ask these questions, we need to understand where we're going.”
Anand said the government was willing to release details on contracts when the risk was over and pointed to $6 billion in contracts that had already been disclosed with more to come. She said the government wanted to protect its ability to negotiate while some supplies like vaccines were still in high demand.
She warned that without the promise of confidentiality, the government could struggle to secure confidentiality.
“I do not want to be back here to explain to Canadians that because of the disclosure that we were forced to make, we were not able to secure vaccines or PPE for Canadians because our suppliers chose to walk away.”
After the vote, Liberal House leader Pablo Rodriguez said he was disappointed, but said the government would work to meet the demands the House of Commons.
“I am disappointed that the opposition parties didn't listen to our health experts, to people from the private sector, from the companies producing the vaccine,” he said.
“The public servants will do their best. They are asking for tons of documents from the same public sectors workers who are delivering for Canadians.”
Conservative leader Erin O'Toole said the questions his party was asking were non-partisan and straightforward. He said the Liberals made this a political issue and accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of wanting an election.
“When Canadians are getting rapid tests shouldn't be a partisan issue. Canada's place in the vaccine queue shouldn't be a partisan issue. Improving our pandemic response shouldn't be a partisan issue.
“It's shameful that the Liberals keep trying to make them one."
Unlike last week's Conservative motion that became a test of confidence, the Liberals did not make the motion a confidence vote, meaning there will be no trip to the polls as a result of the defeat.