Conservative MPs are calling for a parliamentary committee to probe the $300-million loss of taxpayer money by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) on unfulfilled contracts for COVID-19 vaccines.
“I believe that Canadians deserve and demand an explanation for how [the Liberals] believe that they could possibly bury, hide, and lose $300 million in taxpayer money,” Conservative MP Stephen Ellis said during a Nov. 6 meeting of the Standing Committee on Health.
Mr. Ellis noted that Ottawa spent more than $300 million; first because it gave $173 million to Medicago Inc. for COVID-19 vaccine development in 2020 and then because it lost $150 million on an unfulfilled contract in 2022.
In a motion, he asked the committee to hear from Minister of Health Mark Holland, PHAC President Heather Jeffrey, Treasury Board President Anita Anand, officials from the health ministry, and “other witnesses deemed relevant by the committee.”
Quebec-based Medicago, which had been developing a plant-based COVID vaccine, announced it would be shutting down in 2023. Its vaccine was not accepted by the World Health Organization because the company had ties to tobacco companies.
The federal government’s $150 million loss for an unfulfilled contract with an undisclosed vendor in 2022 was revealed in the government’s 2022-2023 public accounts, tabled on Oct. 24. PHAC acknowledged it had an “unfulfilled contract by a vendor” worth $150 million, marked under the section titled “Losses of public money due to an offence, illegal act or accident.”
Mr. Holland on Nov. 3 said the failed contract was due to an advanced purchase agreement for COVID-19 vaccines. He said the information had already been provided to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (PACP).
The health minister said at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic the federal government needed to make deals with multiple vaccine manufacturers because it was impossible to know which product would work. He said having so many options was part of the reason that “Canada had among the best responses to the pandemic throughout the world.”
Conservative MP Pierre Paul-Hus said the lost money was an “urgent issue,” adding that the committee needed to study it.
