44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 19, 2022 10:00AM
- May/19/22 10:12:28 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, that is with CBSA, not procurement.
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- May/19/22 10:12:34 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, is the procurement minister saying that her department had nothing to do with procuring the ArriveCAN app?
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- May/19/22 10:12:42 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, not with respect to the app. There may be services that have been related, but not with respect to the actual app.
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- May/19/22 10:12:53 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, we definitely need some further investigation on it. On COVID vaccines, Moderna was originally pegged at 35 million doses per year. It is now 25 million doses for 2022. It went from 35 million to 25 million.
Why was there a decrease of 10 million doses?
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- May/19/22 10:13:16 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, what I would say to that is that in 2021 there were 35 million doses and in 2022 there were 20 million doses.
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- May/19/22 10:13:34 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, it is on her website. That is where I got it from. There is a footnote there. Pfizer is also projected to be 65 million doses a year. Therefore, 25 million doses plus 65 million doses is 90 million doses.
How much will those 90 million doses cost the Canadian taxpayer this year?
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- May/19/22 10:13:54 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I have a couple of things I will say to that. The first is with respect to doses. We do have arrangements with the suppliers that if we need to push doses further back, we are able to do that.
The second thing, with respect to the cost, is to say the health and safety of Canadians was our top priority. We procured over 100 million doses, and every Canadian has the eligibility to have a full complement because of the strong procurement.
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- May/19/22 10:14:22 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, we were talking about transparency tonight. I asked a simple question.
How much does it cost to procure 90 million doses for 2022? It should be pretty easy to answer.
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- May/19/22 10:14:36 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, we cannot disclose the details of the contract, but we can say that the overall cost is $9 billion.
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- May/19/22 10:14:46 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, on April 29, the minister appeared before committee and did a fine job, I will admit. I asked her a question about the Prime Minister's $750,000 kitchen renovation at Harrington Lake and she said she would get back to me. I wonder if she has had time to look it up and figure out what comes with the $750,000 kitchen renovation.
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- May/19/22 10:15:09 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, what I would say is I am happy to have my team get back to the hon. member with respect to the details. In the official residence portfolio, which is the six official residences and 49 ancillary buildings, 62% are in poor or critical condition. This is an area on which we have to act, but of course it is the NCC that oversees the operation and maintenance of those buildings.
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- May/19/22 10:15:30 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, with regard to Ukraine, I wonder if the minister can tell us how much of what they have procured, everything that has been accumulated and sent overseas, has actually reached Ukrainian land. Is it stuck in Poland? Is it in Crete? What is the percentage? How much?
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- May/19/22 10:15:52 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, that is a question for DND.
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- May/19/22 10:16:05 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, tonight I am very proud to be part of this extraordinarily fast-paced exercise, which is also very informative for all Canadians. It is wonderful. Democracy is winning tonight.
I am speaking to my colleagues from my constituency office, with good reason. I have the great privilege of representing the community of Wendake, which is part of my riding. That is why my colleagues will see the Canadian flag, the provincial flag and the flag of Wendake behind me. I am very proud to represent the Wendake First Nation and to defend their interests and concerns as best I can. However, there is one concern in particular that I just could not wrap my head around when someone from Wendake brought the situation to my attention.
Wendake is located in the middle of my riding and is therefore surrounded by several of Quebec City's suburban neighbourhoods. About 50,000 people live within a three-kilometre radius of Wendake. In short, Wendake is in an urban environment. Oddly enough, according to the postal code established by Canada Post, Wendake is not in an urban area, but rather in a remote region that is isolated and far from any major cities. That is all false, but unfortunately what I am saying is true. The postal code corresponds to a remote region, whereas Wendake is really embedded in a city. This situation has gone on for too long. We have already discussed this issue in the House and in committee. I will have the opportunity to come back to it.
I would like the minister responsible for Canada Post to tell us what she thinks of this situation, which is totally unfair and unacceptable to the Wendake First Nation.
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- May/19/22 10:18:01 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I thank my colleague for the question.
First, I want to take the opportunity to thank Canada Post. During the pandemic, postal employees have worked tirelessly. I know that Canada Post wanted to keep its workers safe, but postal workers, in turn, wanted to keep Canadians safe, so they exercised measures and delivered life-saving medicines and important mail. I want to thank all postal workers for their excellent service.
I am pleased to have the opportunity to address the member's question. In order to provide timely and consistent service to all Canadians, the cost of mailing items varies depending on the size of the parcel, the distance between origin and destination and the cost of transportation, processing and delivery. Of course, all these decisions are made by Canada Post.
With respect to the issue he is raising, at the root of this issue is that urban cities continue to grow and include rural communities, and this creates a challenge. We are working with Canada Post on the designation of rural versus urban communities. Canada Post works hard to ensure that its prices remain competitive while providing a wide range of services. This has to do with the designation of rural. Time has passed, and communities that previously may have looked rural look different now, so we are working with Canada Post on this.
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- May/19/22 10:19:30 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I would like to thank the minister for her answer. I can see that she has worked on this file over the past few days, which is a good thing. That said, we are not seeing results.
Right now, it costs 30% more to send something from Wendake than to send it from my home in Loretteville, even though I live less than a kilometre from Wendake. That is totally unfair, unacceptable and wrong, especially for a government that prides itself and boasts about its lofty principles with respect to the first nations.
Three weeks ago, on April 29, during a meeting of the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates, when she was answering a question from my colleague from Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, the minister said that they were aware of the situation and were looking into it.
They need to do more than just look into it. This situation needs to be fixed. When does the minister plan to fix this situation, which is completely unfair to the Wendat people?
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- May/19/22 10:20:29 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, what I would say in response to this, just to give a little more background and information as to where we are, is this is about the location. There are communities across the country that are in similar situations. Since the implementation of the rural moratorium in 1994, Canada's rate of urbanization has progressed every year. Many of the locations that were deemed to be rural at the time of the moratorium have since become urbanized. That is what is at the root of this issue.
In order for Wendake to be classified as an urban community, the rural moratorium would need to be amended to represent current demographics. I am in discussions, as I have said, with Canada Post on this. It is not an easy fix. it is more complicated than one might first think. It has to deal with the change in the nature of the rural communities and how they are urbanized.
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- May/19/22 10:21:31 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, soon I will have been living in Loretteville for 58 years. I am turning 58 soon. I know the area like the back of my hand. I have had close, personal friends there from childhood, and I can say one thing: Wendake did not become urban overnight. Wendake has always been embedded in an urban area.
In 2022, Canada Post is unable to recognize that Wendake is in an urban area. This penalizes the Wendat by forcing them to pay a 30% surcharge to ship goods through Canada Post. This also has an impact on the price of insurance, because insurance is based on postal codes. The consequences are significant.
It is not true that Wendake has suddenly become urban. Wendake has always been surrounded by Quebec City neighbourhoods.
We are calling on the minister to act immediately. With the stroke of a pen, this situation could be resolved.
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- May/19/22 10:22:27 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I am already acting. I have taken this under advisement. The team has reached out to Canada Post to have a discussion about this very issue.
I respect what the member is saying, but there are other issues related to this. It is not an indigenous issue: it is a rural area that becomes urbanized. I appreciate his comments that it never was rural, but it was designated rural by Canada Post. We are looking into this. We will continue to work with the member. I appreciate his concern and his bringing this to my attention.
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- May/19/22 10:23:09 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I would be pleased to welcome the minister to Wendake once the situation is resolved.
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