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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 75

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 19, 2022 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 75 - May/19/22
Hon. Filomena Tassi
  • May/19/22 8:34:43 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I am very pleased to say this is another tool. Vaccines, of course, are the most important, but to date, we have procured 1.7 million therapeutic treatments that we are giving to the provinces and territories. We received 155,722 treatment courses of Paxlovid. We are going to continue to receive these treatment courses and support provinces and territories. We know that this is an important tool, and I am happy to be able to support the provinces and territories in this regard.
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Mr. Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, CPC)
  • May/19/22 8:35:19 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I will be sharing my time. My questions today will focus on procurement and human rights. The member for Scarborough—Guildwood, who is a member of the Liberal party, observed in the House yesterday that, “We have gone through a period of time in the last two or three years where we may have sourced goods which we, in other instances, may not or would not have sourced from dubious sources.” Does the minister agree with her colleague?
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Hon. Filomena Tassi (Minister of Public Services and Procurement, Lib.)
  • May/19/22 8:35:40 p.m.
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Madam Chair, what I would say to that is that we do not want to procure any goods used where there is a violation of human rights. That is why we have taken the measures that we have in PSPC.
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Mr. Garnett Genuis
  • May/19/22 8:35:52 p.m.
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Madam Chair, that is zero for one in terms of answering the specific question I asked, which was whether she agreed with the comment from her colleague. More specifically, I wonder if the minister can share when the government first became aware of significant concerns around forced labour with Supermax.
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Hon. Filomena Tassi
  • May/19/22 8:36:05 p.m.
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Madam Chair, we were first advised of this in October 2021.
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Mr. Garnett Genuis
  • May/19/22 8:36:12 p.m.
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Madam Chair, according to British solicitor Nusrat Uddin's comments to CBC earlier this year, Canadian government officials were briefed on concerns about Supermax prior to 2015. Is that accurate?
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Hon. Filomena Tassi
  • May/19/22 8:36:24 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I just want to correct it. It was December 2020. That was the time we were first made aware. What I would say in this regard is that we take these allegations very seriously. When we hear of allegations, we act on those allegations.
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Mr. Garnett Genuis
  • May/19/22 8:36:41 p.m.
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Madam Chair, it sounds like she is saying that this British solicitor's comments were inaccurate and we will want to follow up on that later. The hon. minister says the government found out about this in December 2020. When did the government actually end its contract with Supermax, and when was the last time it received supplies from Supermax?
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Hon. Filomena Tassi
  • May/19/22 8:37:01 p.m.
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Madam Chair, what I would say is that as soon as we found out about the obligations, we stopped shipments. No more shipments were received. The contract was terminated subsequent to that.
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Mr. Garnett Genuis
  • May/19/22 8:37:15 p.m.
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Madam Chair, the minister said that the government first heard about these concerns in December 2020. Did the government immediately end shipments in December 2020?
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Hon. Filomena Tassi
  • May/19/22 8:37:30 p.m.
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Madam Chair, it was in January 2021. That was when we ended shipments.
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Mr. Garnett Genuis
  • May/19/22 8:37:38 p.m.
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Madam Chair, is the government still doing business with Sinopharm?
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Hon. Filomena Tassi
  • May/19/22 8:37:43 p.m.
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Madam Chair, Sinopharm provided a declaration to PSPC in April 2021. All deliveries were completed in December 2021.
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Mr. Garnett Genuis
  • May/19/22 8:37:55 p.m.
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Madam Chair, is the minister concerned about allegations of forced labour against Sinopharm, and when did the minister become aware of those allegations?
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Hon. Filomena Tassi
  • May/19/22 8:38:03 p.m.
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Madam Chair, in 2018, we implemented the policy on ethical procurement of apparel. The contract security program provides security screening for personnel and organizations to safeguard protected classified information. PSPC, when contracting, includes—
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The Deputy Chair
  • May/19/22 8:38:18 p.m.
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The hon. member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan.
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Mr. Garnett Genuis
  • May/19/22 8:38:20 p.m.
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Madam Chair, going back to Supermax, the British and American governments both discontinued purchases from Supermax long before the Canadian government did. The government claims that it only became aware of concerns about forced labour at Supermax after the Americans and the British had already discontinued purchases from Supermax. Why was the government not following the policies of our allies in this respect?
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Hon. Filomena Tassi
  • May/19/22 8:38:42 p.m.
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Madam Chair, what I will confirm is that as soon as allegations are made clear to us, we respond to those and we take those allegations very seriously.
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Mr. Garnett Genuis
  • May/19/22 8:38:54 p.m.
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Madam Chair, if the U.S. and the British governments had discontinued purchases, and the minister says the Government of Canada was not even aware that there were allegations, how is it that we are so far behind our allies in terms of being aware of these concerns?
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Hon. Filomena Tassi
  • May/19/22 8:39:09 p.m.
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Madam Chair, again, I will reiterate: when we hear of allegations, we take those allegations very seriously. We have terms in the contract that allow us to terminate the contracts. We act on allegations that we hear.
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