While the prime minister was on the Hill and just gave a press conference to announce that vaccines would likely be arriving in a week following Health Canada approval, neither he nor his deputy were at QP. Candice Bergen led off, giving selective information about vaccination roll-outs in other countries, and then said that the announced first batch of the Pfizer vaccine wouldn’t be enough. Anita Anand insisted that this was a wonderful day, and that the light at the end of the tunnel was clear. Bergen then moved to the PornHub story in the New York Times, saying he was allowing rape and sexual exploitation to happen in his own backyard, to which David Lametti reminded her that there are laws in place, including for Internet service providers, and that they were taking this seriously. Bergen insisted that there has been no action, as though there was a magic wand that was not being used, and Lametti repeated his points before declaring his pride in the Digital Charter. Stephanie Kusie then took over in and French to demand refunds for airline consumers, to which Chris Bittle stated clearly that there would be no sector-specific aid without refunds. Kusie worried that any plan would bar executive compensation, and Bittle reiterate the importance of ensuring refunds. Claude DeBellefeuille led for the Bloc to demand increased health transfers with no strings attached, to which Patty Hajdu read in halting French about how much the federal government had transferred to the provinces since the pandemic began. DeBellefeuille was not mollified, and repeated her demand, for which Hajdu read another set of talking points. Jenny Kwan demanded more safe places for women in Vancouver’s downtown east side, to which Maryam Monsef said that she has been working with the advocates in the area. Leah Gazan demanded action on the report from the MMIW inquiry, to which Carolyn Bennett assured her that they were working on this with a new $751 million funding commitment.
Tag Archives: Procurement
Roundup: More doses, and a witch hunt
It looks like we’re going to end the week on yet more talk about COVID vaccines, because that’s all we can talk about anymore. The news yesterday was that Canada has upped its orders for the Moderna vaccine (which we are near the front of the line for), which is also significant because these ones, while also a two-dose vaccine, don’t need the same ultra-cold chain that the Pfizer one does, so that will make distribution much easier. As well, the federal government offered some further refinement of the priority advice, to say that residents and staff of long-term care facilities should get the first doses, as well as Canadians over the age of 80, followed by healthcare and personal support workers in contact with patients, followed by Indigenous communities (who are especially susceptible to the virus given the living conditions in many of those communities).
On a similar vein, here is a further exploration of the delays to the National Research Council’s planned vaccine production facility, including the fact that even when this is completed, it’s not built to manufacture mRNA vaccines so again, it won’t help with the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines – but perhaps it can with the AstraZeneca vaccine if it gets approval.
Meanwhile, the Commons ethics committee hauled former MP Frank Baylis before them to answer questions about his company being subcontracted to help build ventilators, and lo, he had perfectly reasonable explanations for all of the things the opposition parties deemed suspicious, and the actual contractor for the ventilators is a Conservative donor, and didn’t even know that Baylis was a former MP when he contacted the company because they had the kind of clean room he needed to assemble the ventilators. But this whole affair has been a ridiculous witch hunt from the start, full of lies and disinformation because they could make the facts line up in a way that looked damning even though they aren’t. But this is the game we’re playing, where truth is the first casualty to cheap point-scoring.
QP: Misleading on the military’s role
While the prime minister and his deputy were around the building, neither were present for QP. In their absence, Erin O’Toole led off, script on his mini-lectern, and citing leaked military documents demanded to know how many people would be vaccinated by the end of March. Patty Hajdu shrugged off the question and praised the vaccine portfolio. O’Toole then made the lame joke that if the American plan was “warp speed,” the best Canada could do was impulse power, but Hajdu reiterated her response. O’Toole worried that the US or France would get back to normal six months before Canada does, to which Hajdu talked about the importance of having different vaccine options because some candidates could be more suited to certain populations over others. O’Toole changed to French to demand the plan, for which Hajdu pointed to what was revealed at this mornings tech briefing. O’Toole then pivoted to the myth of the “decline of French,” and demanded that Quebec’s Bill 101 be extended to federal workplaces, to which Mélanie Joly listed actions her government has taken. Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and he too demanded the extension of Bill 101, and Joly reiterated that they believe in Bill 101 for its provincial goals and that they are in discussion with the Quebec government. Therrien was unimpressed and listed all of the people making this demand, and Joly insisted that they have demonstrated that they were allies of Francophones. Jagmeet Singh was up next for the NDP, and in French, he spouted some utter nonsense about the government not procuring enough vaccines, to which Hajdu reminded him that they have more than enough doses, and that prioritisation was established nationally and that provinces would refine it further. Singh repeated his accusations in English, and got the same response.
Today’s @the_lineca column gives a pretty good challenge to the current hysteria gripping the House of Commons about the supposed “decline of French” in Montreal. https://t.co/zZmycDp26J
— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) December 3, 2020
Roundup: Moving on child care (again)
The fiscal update and its feminist lens, as well was talk of the “she-cession” has given some people to look a bit more closely at the national early learning and child care proposal that the government is putting forward. And immediately you get those on the left chirping that the Liberals have been promising this for decades but never delivering (which is false – Paul Martin did deliver it, and had agreements signed with every province and money flowing, which Stephen Harper immediately killed thanks to the NDP helping him to bring down Martin’s government), and the Conservatives have resumed their 2004-2006 mantra that taxpayer dollars to child care spaces somehow robs stay-at-home mothers of their choice (also a verifiably bogus argument). Oh, and the Conservatives are also talking about refundable tax credits, which didn’t build a single child care space the last time they tried tax credits, nor will it build any should they form government again. Why? Because there is a supply-side problem, which is going to require federal and provincial investment. The first step of this is in the fiscal update – the immediate creation of a federal secretariat, which will do the work of developing policies for a national universal programme, as well as assisting with the federal-provincial negotiations, because child care is provincial jurisdiction, and the federal government can’t create these spaces without the provinces.
With this in mind, here is Lindsay Tedds and Jennifer Robson about the what is needed to make this a reality.
https://twitter.com/LindsayTedds/status/1333814949617881088
Some models of supply-side childcare policy that have tried to put a fixed sticker price on the cost per space to build (all over the map, & maybe low-balled if you also want quality) or fix parental fees at $X have maybe, inadvertently, ….
— Dr. J Robson (@JenniferRobson8) December 1, 2020
…whether that is voucher or transfer funded. There is a minimum viable level of funding needed before, as a service operator, you might be willing to invest (in labour, space & overhead) to expand spaces. You need the economies of scale in a sector that has such tight margins.
— Dr. J Robson (@JenniferRobson8) December 1, 2020
families will still face out-of-pocket costs (even if in a transitional period) so I can get behind a move to refundability over deductability. BUT, not by cutting supply-side transfers which is what @fordnation did on their prov. credit. #teambothand.
— Dr. J Robson (@JenniferRobson8) December 1, 2020
A national child care program is expected to be a big item in the 2021 budget, but one economist argues it will actually lead to economic gains — and that's not the only benefit. Dr. @LindsayTedds from the @UCalgary @policy_school outlines the argument with @JenCrosby. #yeg pic.twitter.com/ZAjwYPvKDB
— Global Edmonton (@GlobalEdmonton) December 1, 2020
QP: Deliberately mischaracterizing the vaccine plans
While both the prime minister and finance minister were in town and preparing for the fiscal update, neither were present for QP. Gérard Deltell led off, noting that the fiscal update was coming, but that no economic plan would be worth anything without a vaccine plan. Patty Hajdu responded that they have the best vaccine portfolio and that a fourth candidate has begun its regulatory approval process. Deltell then insisted that the government was too invested in the CanSino candidate and was late in other vaccine candidates, to which Navdeep Bains insisted that they supported Canadian vaccine candidates as part of their plan. Deltell then mischaracterised international vaccine plans to insist that Canada was behind, which Hajdu disputed. Peter Kent took over in English and worried about the plan for economic recovery, to which Sean Fraser reminded him that the federal government made the choice to incur the costs of courses rather than putting it on the backs of people. Kent then worried about the deficit — because apparently it’s still 1995 — and Fraser directed him to the statements by the head of the IMF around what Canada has done. Alain Therrien led for the Bloc and he demanded the vaccine plan, to which Hajdu repeated her lines about the portfolio and the fourth candidate seeking approval. On the follow-up, Hajdu read a statement in French about the doses acquired and working with partners. Jagmeet Singh was up next for the NDP, and in French, he regaled the House with the tale of a woman in Gatineau who works three jobs and needs a vaccine, for which Hajdu repeated her usual lines about the portfolio and the regulatory process. Singh switched to English to make the same demand for the plan, and Hajdu reminded him that provinces have the expertise on this.
Peter Kent seems to think it’s 1995 again. #QP
— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) November 30, 2020
Roundup: Setting up the failure narrative
The Conservatives spent Sunday trying to pre-position the narratives for today’s fiscal update by setting it up to fail, saying it needs a testing and vaccine roll-out plan to be effective – which are both areas of provincial jurisdiction and he knows it. The provinces have been given millions of rapid tests, and it’s up to them to roll them out (which most haven’t been, preferring to sit on them and wait instead) – and no, rapid at-home testing is still pretty much a figment of the imagination because the technology to make them like a pregnancy test still doesn’t exist. Likewise, we are still at a point where there are too many unknown variables with vaccines to make any definitive plans, which again, O’Toole knows but is pretending otherwise. O’Toole also tried to make the case that the government put “all their eggs” in the CanSino vaccine candidate basket, which was never able to leave China for testing, but absolutely nothing bears that out, given the massive investments in other local vaccine candidates, and ensuring that Canada would be positioned for access for other vaccine candidates that we couldn’t produce domestically.
To that end, the chairman of Moderna says that Canada is actually near the front of the line with their vaccine – which doesn’t require the same cold-storage chain that the Pfizer drug does – because we pre-ordered early. Of course, they can only produce so many vaccines so fast, so of course early doses are going to be lower than everyone would like, but they’re getting there (once they get approval). But then comes along Saskatchewan premier Scott Moe, who demands that the federal government get more doses faster – somehow. Apparently, they can wave a magic wand, or send bribes, or something. In reality, this is just Moe’s rather transparent attempt at making the federal government’s efforts look insufficient, so that it can distract from his own poor attempt to control the spread of the virus in his own province (and expect to see more of this from other premiers, particularly conservative ones).
In other pandemic news, the Alberta government has started listed co-morbidities with their death counts, as a rhetorical way of trying to lessen the actual impact of COVID deaths, trying instead to show that the people died of other complications and not COVID itself – which is bullshit, and a way for Jason Kenney to absolve himself of responsibility for his lack of action. And make no mistake, this is classic Kenney behaviour – and there is no small amount of irony that the man who keeps preaching “personal responsibility” in this pandemic is the one who refuses to take any measure of responsibility for his decisions.
Here are the 9 new lives lost to COVID-19 in Alberta. #yeg #yyc #ableg #covid19ab pic.twitter.com/aSA3VzMBHn
— Courtney Theriault (@cspotweet) November 27, 2020
Roundup: The necessary context on vaccines
Vaccines was once again the talk of the day yesterday, and while there was a whole lot of caterwauling about demanding dates for vaccine arrivals and rollout specifics – something that is impossible to determine at this point considering that a) no vaccine has been approved in any country yet, and b) distribution is a provincial responsibility in Canada, and some of those provinces have not got their plans in place, such as Ontario, which just hired former Chief of Defence Staff, General Rick Hillier, to help them plan their logistics. So yeah – it’s pretty hard for Justin Trudeau to give any solid timelines with those particular factors in mind.
With this in mind, Maclean’s has a must-read interview with Dr. Supriya Sharma, Health Canada’s chief medical advisor, about the vaccine approval process – because a lot of people have been talking out of their asses about said approval process. And when you’ve finished reading that, here is a deeper dive into the vaccine manufacturing availability in this country – the delays at the planned National Research Council facility because they decided to upgrade it to be a fully-compliant Good Manufacturing Practice-compliant facility that will be more versatile and able to produce more vaccines once it’s up and running (probably later next year). As well, the two early promising vaccines, from Pfizer and Moderna, are both mRNA technology vaccines, and there are no facilities in this country that can produce them – because not all vaccine production is the same, and different vaccines require different technologies to produce them, and nobody seems to understand this basic fact as they demand to know why we’re not producing it here, or why we haven’t acquired the rights to produce it, given that we have nowhere that can produce it even if we did.
In other pandemic news across the country, Doug Ford’s government got raked over the coals by the province’s Auditor General when she examined the province’s early pandemic response (and while I have some issues with the fact that she seems to be straying outside of her lane, it is nevertheless reassuring to see that she has called out a lot of Ford’s lies about his actions or lack thereof). Ford also started the process of telling Ontarians that Christmas isn’t going to be one with large family gatherings, so at least he’s not trying for the same kind of “social contract” nonsense that Quebec is pushing in spite of the fact that it’s likely to cause more spread of the virus. (Then again, people seem to want to obstinately get together anyway, if Thanksgiving is any indication, so it may not matter). Meanwhile in Alberta, experts are calling out the half-measures of Jason Kenney’s “mockdown,” which is only going to lead to more deaths, and longer and deeper shutdowns to get the virus under control.
https://twitter.com/LagassePhilippe/status/1331654772282298369
https://twitter.com/LagassePhilippe/status/1331657172137238529
QP: O’Toole with the follow-up
Wednesday, proto-Prime Minsters Questions Day, and all of the leaders were present. Erin O’Toole led off, with his script on the mini-lectern in front of him, and not only declared that Canada would not get vaccines until other countries do, and demanded the “real” vaccine plan. Justin Trudeau assured him that Canada has one of the most robust vaccine plans in the world. O’Toole was not mollified, and again demanded the plan, to which Trudeau gave some bland platitudes before he said they had a numerous plans for distribution in the works. O’Toole complained he wasn’t getting a real answer, wondered about American “emergency” approvals for drugs, and accused the government of not having a plan. Trudeau gave a weary sigh and noted that people don’t care about what they hear in QP, but that they wanted the government to get stuff done, and they were. O’Toole switched to French to complain that the government was been mean to Quebeckers by not applying the province’s Bill 101 to federal workplaces, and Trudeau assured him that they were committed to protecting the French language in Quebec. O’Toole then mischaracterised comments by MP Emmanuella Lambropoulos as being “contemptuous” of Quebeckers, and Trudeau assured him that she had apologised for the her remarks. Yves-François Blanchet picked up on this line and decried the decline of French, and Trudeau repeated that they respect French and were working to strengthen it. Blanchet ratcheted up his rhetoric for his follow-up, and Trudeau wondered why the Bloc was trying to start a fight over something the government agrees with. Jagmeet Singh was up next, and in French, he accused the government of doing less in the second wave than they did in the first to which Trudeau listed measures that they have taken to assist the provinces. Singh then switched to English to repeat the accusations, and Trudeau repeated his response.
QP: Taking the Chinese menace seriously
It was Tuesday, and all leaders were present for a change. Erin O’Toole led off, script on mini-lectern and he demanded that the government start imposing sanctions on China, given that this was the subject of their Supply Day motion that is being debated in the Commons during the rest of the day. Justin Trudeau picked up a script to read that we have a complex, multi-dimensional relationship with China, and that Canada speaks out for human rights. O’Toole worried about Chinese agents entering the country posing as students, to which Trudeau stated that security agencies do a good job, and that most of this work doesn’t show up in the newspaper. O’Toole mentioned Huawei before demanding more stringent measures to protect Canadians from Chinese agents, to which Trudeau led a list of measures that have been taken. O’Toole switched to French to demand that Huawei be banned from the 5G network, to which Trudeau read a script about the work they were doing to ensure safety. O’Toole then demanded a modernisation of the Official Languages Act, to which Trudeau insisted that they were concerned about the decline of French, which is why they committed to modernising the Act in the Throne Speech. Yves-François Blanchet was up for the Bloc, and he lamented a statement made by the heritage minister about freedom of expression, to which Trudeau assured him that they take it very seriously. Blanchet raised the concerns about “censorship” at Radio-Canada over what appears to have been a warning over a sketch that included Blackface, to which Trudeau reminded him that they don’t direct Radio-Canada. Jagmeet Singh was up next, and in French, he groused that his party’s motion on wealth and excess profit taxes was voted down, for which Trudeau reminded him that their first action as a government was to raise taxes on the one percent, and that the NDP voted against it. Singh tried again in English, naming the Weston family in particular, and Trudeau repeated his answer.
QP: Worries about the status of French
None of the leaders were present in the chamber today, nor was the deputy prime minister present. Candice Bergen led off, and after a litany of false narratives about the state of the economy pre-pandemic, she worried about the state of the Keystone XL pipeline. Paul Lefebvre insisted that the government was unwavering in its support for the project and raised the project in the first call with Joe Biden. Bergen felt this wasn’t good enough and recited some false talking points about the old Bill C-69, to which Lefebvre repeated that Trudeau raised the matter with Biden and that Canada’s current climate plan was a point in their favour. Bergen remained unsatisfied, and repeated the question again, to which Lefebvre quoted Joe Clark slamming the Harper record on the environment. Gérard Deltell was up next, and he chastised something that Montreal MP Emmanuella Lambropoulos made about the decline of French in that city, to which Mélanie Joly assured him that they took the protection of French very seriously. Deltell complained that Official Languages Act had not yet been updated, to which Joly said they would be modernising it in due course. Claude DeBellefeuille led off for the Bloc, and she raised false narratives about judicial appointments, to which David Lametti assured her that they have an independent process based on merit and diversity. DeBellefeuille was not mollified, and repeated the question, and got the same answer. Jagmeet Singh appeared by video from his car, and in French, he demanded national standards for long-term care, to which Patty Hajdu reminded him they are working with provinces and territories on just that, and they gave them more money in the Safe Restart Plan. Singh switched to English to repeat false narratives about the ownership of Revera long-term care homes (they are not actually federally-owned, and insisting otherwise is being utterly disingenuous), to which Hajdu repeated her response.
Hybrid sittings are the worst. https://t.co/ujQx6Dv8E3
— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) November 16, 2020