QP: Pouncing on COVAX

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There was a second Liberal in the Chamber today, with Francis Drouin joining Mark Gerretsen, not that this made the situation any better. Candice Bergen led off for the Conservatives, appearing by video, and she demanded government support for their Supply Day motion on the creation of a Canada-US committee. Chrystia Freeland, also by video, responded that the Conservatives’ plan around Trump’s tariffs was to wave the white flag. Bergen tried again, bringing in the concerns over Line 5, to which Freeland offered calm assurances that they were working with the Americans on this file. Bergen then switched to the topic of vaccines, worrying that we were dropping in rankings, to which Freeland gave the usual assurances about the portfolio and that the schedule was still intact. Gérard Deltell took over in French, and he said it was “humiliating” that the government was drawing from the COVAX fund, misconstruing the deal. Freeland responded that COVAX was always part of the strategy, and this proved the system was working. Deltell pressed upon the urgency of the need for vaccines, and Freeland gave the same assurances.

Alain Therrien led off for the Bloc, and he too brought up the false reading of the COVAX programme, calling it “embarrassing,” and Freeland repeated that it was always part of the strategy and listed other allies who were part of it. Therrien demanded a plan for vaccinations, for which Freeland calmly stated that they also shared the sense of urgency, which is why they are sharing all of their information.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and in French, he tied the loss of lives to vaccine delays, and wanted to know why the government let people down. Freeland read off the talking points on the breadth of our vaccine portfolio. Singh switched to English to repeat the same ghoulish framing and brought up COVAX to repeat the same question on letting people down. Freeland once again repeated that this was always part of the strategy.

Round two, and Michelle Rempel Garner falsely claimed Canada could have produced the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines domestically (MacKinnon: Our strategy ensured that we could get vaccines as soon as possible), Pierre Paul-Hus quoted the problematic Economist prediction about our vaccination schedule (MacKinnon: Same answer), and he also raised the false reading of the COVAX programme (Gould: The mechanism is that we can get doses as well as donating them to poorer countries), and Michael Chong worried about Buy America provisions (Ng: We are taking a Team Canada approach, and we are engaging at all levels).

Julie Vignola demanded all of the vaccine contracts be released (MacKinnon: We are still on track for our doses), raised the false reading of the COVAX programme (MacKinnon: We are experiencing temporary delays, and as for COVAX, the first half of the programme delivers doses to donors, and the second half to other countries), and demanded a full vaccination plan (MacKinnon: We are working with provinces and territories).

James Bezan wondered when the PM was briefed on the allegations against former General Vance, if it was first raised in 2018 (Sajjan: I have always ensured that when allegations are brought to my attention they are investigated, and we have an independent process), and Leona Alleslev repeated the question (Sajjan: Same answer).

Rachel Blaney worried about reports of harassment of staff at Veterans Affairs (MacAulay: We have received this survey from the union and will work with them to address these issues), and Alexandre Boulerice railed about fossil fuel subsidies which Biden claims to have eliminated (O’Regan: Our energy sector is closely linked to the US, and we will cooperate with them).

Round three saw questions on Enbridge Line 3 upgrades (O’Regan: We approved the upgrade project, construction is complete on the Canadian side, and will continue to advocate for projects), support for Line 5 (O’Regan: Line 5 is vital and we are looking at all our options as we continue to advocate for it), fully closing the border (Alghabra: We already had strong measures and now we have extra measures; Rodriguez: You refuse to admit that our measures are among the strongest in the world), providing families of victims of the Nova Scotia mass shooting with information (Blair: The commissioners are in place and getting the public inquiry up and running), not enough supervision for medical marijuana growers (Blair: We left strong criminal sanctions for those who grow and distribute marijuana outside of the legal regime, and police of jurisdiction need to investigate and enforce), authorisation of quarantine hotels (Rodriguez: You are the one creating confusion while we have been clear), demanding an apology for Keystone XL’s cancellation (Freeland: We stood up for steel and aluminium workers across the country), the cross-border park in Vancouver acting as a loophole (Blair: We have maintained out measures to close the border for non-essential travel), Line 5 (O’Regan: Yes we are advocating for this), a demand to stop selling weapons to Saudi Arabia (Garneau: We acceded to the arms trade treaty and I will deny permits where there is a human rights violation), and fossil fuel subsidies (Wilkinson: We have been committed to phasing them out by 2025, and the Americans are following four lead).

Overall, it was not a surprise for all of the opposition parties to pounce on the COVAX story and to use the false reading of what the programme entails, which we didn’t get adequate pushback from the government on. Simply having Chrystia Freeland and Karina Gould say that the programme is operating as intended isn’t enough – there needs to be a proper explanation (in 30 seconds) that we bought our doses from this system and that doesn’t mean we are depriving other countries of them (though I will give props to Steve MacKinnon for explaining the two tranches of the programme). I remain concerned that when it comes to the outright falsehoods about domestic production capability that Michelle Rempel Garner was pushing, we didn’t get a proper refutation to say that we didn’t have the requisite technological capability, and that the drug companies evaluated our capacity and decided against licensing for domestic production. Likewise, it would have been great to have a proper ministerial debunking of that Economist prediction of our vaccine timeline – because who cares if false narratives keep circulating? Finally, I continue to furrow my brow at Jagmeet Singh’s damp squib of a question with asking why the government “let Canadians down.” Seriously? That’s your question? Would that we could get some actual adults asking actual questions in this Parliament. Cripes.

Sartorially snaps and citations remain suspended.

One thought on “QP: Pouncing on COVAX”

  1. This is so tragic as to be terrifying. I really, really wish the Liberals could keep up with the firehose of BS being aimed at them. As the old saying goes, a lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has the chance to tie its shoes. The government can’t stop tripping over its laces, and so the enemy — and yes, at this point I consider them that because of the hysteria and gaslighting they’re engaged in during desperate times — keeps tying them up.

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