Canadian MPS ask PM to drop oppn to TRIPS waiver

TORONTO: Sixty Canadian MPS have written to PM Justin Trudeau asking him to drop “without delay” his government’s opposition to temporarily waiving IPR protections for vaccines and medication required to combat the pandemic.

India and South Africa had submitted a proposal in October seeking that waiver under the Agreement of Trade-related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) for the duration of the pandemic. But some nations from the West had opposed that move.

On Thursday, 60 Canadian MPS, belonging to the House of Commons and Senate and cutting across party lines, wrote to Trudeau demanding a change in Ottawa’s position.