Roundup: Putting vaccine procurement facts on the record

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There was a very important interview released yesterday, with the co-chair of the government’s vaccine task force, which blew most of the narratives about the vaccine procurement out of the water. Particularly, it goes through the evaluation of domestic production capacity and candidate development, the decision to create a broad portfolio of vaccine candidates from international sources, and the fact that CanSino was just one of several options – it was never “all of our eggs,” as the Conservatives continue to lie about. She talks about how long it takes to build bio-manufacturing capacity, and people demanding that it be done overnight are like trying to tell a farmer to grow his crops faster. There are just so many falsehoods that the opposition has been circulating in order to give the impression that the federal government has been incompetent in their handling of this vaccine procurement, which this government has not been effective in pushing back against, even when the media does finally get Anita Anand to give proper answers – which tend not to stick in people’s minds. This notion that the government was simply incapable of signing good deals is ridiculous but corrosive (indeed, the opposition parties spent the whole day trying to use the Health Committee’s production powers to force the release of the vaccine contracts, in spite of the fact that they have rigid non-disclosure clauses, for which Liberals on the committee were filibustering), and yet here we are. So, it was good to finally get an interview with one of the people at the centre of this on the record, but man, it should not have taken this long.

Meanwhile, after Manitoba put on a dog and pony show about procuring their own domestically produced vaccines (which couldn’t happen until the end of the year at the earliest), Jason Kenney announced that he would do the same, but started talking about how the company – Provenance – would need 50 million doses ordered before they could properly scale up and produce them, and he wanted other provinces to sign up – err, at a point when everyone in the country should be vaccinated already – and insisted that they could simply sell surplus doses abroad. Well, the CEO of that company went on Power & Politics yesterday to say that oh no, Kenney must have been poorly briefed, and there was no 50 million dose minimum, and if they’re only contracted for two million doses, they’ll produce two million doses – but I’m not sure which of them to believe, because while Kenney is not exactly an honest broker, it’s quite possible he said the quiet part out loud when it comes to Provenance (though the industry minister is supposed to be meeting with the CEO today, so we’ll see).

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau laid out more details on the incoming mandatory hotel quarantine rules, starting February 22nd. (Here’s a look at how this works in other countries).
  • Trudeau also says that more Pfizer doses will arrive in the second quarter than originally scheduled, and that additional Moderna doses have been ordered as well.
  • Some doses originally slated for Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are being diverted to the Territories (and some people are pretty salty about it).
  • The government’s long-promised new gun control bill is expected to be tabled next week, which would allow municipalities to essentially “ban” handguns.
  • It sounds like the previous investigation into allegations against General Vance were halted when the former Ombudsman wouldn’t turn over materials related to it.
  • A major industrial supplier appears to have offered Canada N95 masks early in the pandemic, but didn’t want to use the procurement web portal to express interest.
  • Jagmeet Singh thinks the government needs to double the gas tax transfer to cities.
  • Former Conservative MP Rob Anders’ tax evasion trial has been scheduled for October.
  • Newfoundland and Labrador has a B117 outbreak, and it’s going to postpone their election, and we’re not sure how constitutional the orders around it have been.
  • Jen Gerson explains why Albertans got in such an uproar over proposed coal mines.
  • Kevin Carmichael looks at how Telus has been trying to turn itself into a technology company while its fellow oligopolies when the media route.
  • Paul Wells makes note of Trudeau’s call with John Kerry, and the signals that it’s sending for this government’s relationship with the Biden Administration.
  • My weekend column walks through Erin O’Toole’s plans for a bro-covery for an economic crisis that has disproportionately affected women and minorities.

Odds and ends:

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