Standing Committee on Industry and Technology

Comité permanent de l'industrie et de la technologie

For immediate release

Ottawa, June 14, 2023 -

On June 14, 2023, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry and Technology (Committee) presented its fourteenth Report in the House of Commons entitled Domestic Manufacturing Capacity for a COVID-19 Vaccine: Prevention is Better than Cure.

Members of the Committee shared their thoughts regarding the report:

“The committee is pleased to have completed the work done in the previous Parliament.” Joël Lightbound, Chair of the Committee

“The Conservative committee members issued a dissenting report for this study given that the report does not reflect the details and issues relating to the government ordering of vaccines from China’s CanSino before receiving advice from the National Vaccine taskforce. This resulted in the US completing its vaccine contracts before Canada even began negotiating vaccine contracts. This resulted in the delay of life-saving medicine at a time when thousands of Canadians were dying of COVID-19.” Rick Perkins, Vice-Chair of the Committee

“This report follows my desire to continue the work we started during the previous legislation. I am extremely pleased to see that some recommendations have already been implemented, including the deployment of a vaccine production plant in Quebec. This was a necessity. The issue goes beyond academic circles. It concerns society as a whole. If we do not invest in our scientific future, we will lose our capacity and domestic scientific autonomy, and we will depend on foreign scientific solutions and expertise to solve tomorrow's challenges. On another note, it is important to expand funding for social and health sciences to advance knowledge and treatments for mental health.” Sébastien Lemire, Vice-Chair of the Committee

“Canada was once a leading global vaccine producer when we had a publicly owned facility that produced these life saving medicines for our country and many others. As the pandemic exposed, we must restore this essential national health security capacity to ensure we are protected not only for future emergencies but to build overall resiliency and support the research and innovation that takes place at our world leading educational institutions.” Brian Masse, Member of the Committee from the New Democratic Party

The Committee held six meetings on this topic in February 2021 and April 2022, during which it heard from 35 witnesses. The report is available on the Committee’s website.