Scot Magnish, Rita Dhami, Kevin Stinson, Sameer Elsayed and Terry Wuerz made statements and answered questions.

On motion of Burton Bailey, it was agreed, — That the committee invite the Minister of Health and department officials to appear to testify on the supplementary estimates (B) on December 4, 2025 or December 9, 2025.

Questioning of the witnesses resumed.

Dave Epp moved, — That the committee order the Public Health Agency of Canada, Health Canada, Department of National Defence, and the Department of Public Services and Procurement to answer the following questions, and report back to the committee.

Regarding the National Emergency Strategic Stockpile (NESS) and the procurement of personal protective equipment (PPE) from 2019 to the present:

1. Which companies were awarded contracts under the 2019–2020 Standing Offer for the supply of PPE to the NESS, and what was the total dollar value of the contracts awarded to each company?
2. How many units of PPE were purchased by the federal government for the NESS under the 2019 - 2020 Standing Offer between March 2020 and October 2025, separately identified by year and supplier;
3. How much money, in total, was spent by the federal government between March 2020 and December 2022 to re-shore or support domestic manufacturing of PPE, and how much has been domestically sourced versus from foreign sources;
4. What is the current estimated volume and value of expired PPE being warehoused by the Government of Canada as of October 2025, broken down by item type (e.g., gowns, masks, gloves) and where are the locations of storage
5. What are the total costs incurred by the government since 2022 to store expired PPE, broken down by year and provide;
6. Which companies that received contract renewals for PPE supply to the NESS in 2023, 2024, or 2025 were also awarded contracts under the failed 2019 - 2020 Standing Offer;
7. What performance review process with respect to the initial contracts was done by the Government of Canada before renewing these contracts with suppliers, particularly with regard to compliance with Bill S-211 (Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act)?
8. Has the Government of Canada conducted any investigations or audits into whether any current NESS suppliers are using materials or products linked to companies identified by credible third-party organizations (such as Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project) as being involved in forced labour, including Zhende Medical;
9. How does the Government of Canada ensure that attestations of compliance with Bill S-211 submitted by suppliers such as Medline Canada are independently verified, and what enforcement mechanisms are in place if a supplier is found to have falsely attested;
10. What is the government’s rationale for continuing to contract with multinational corporations that failed to deliver during a national crisis, while allowing domestic PPE manufacturers, who responded during the emergency, to lose federal support?

Debate arose thereon.

At 12:39 p.m., the meeting was suspended.

At 1:00 p.m., the meeting resumed.

After debate, the question was put on the motion, as amended, and it was agreed to.

The motion, as amended, read as follows:

That the committee order the Public Health Agency of Canada, Health Canada, Department of National Defence, and the Department of Public Services and Procurement to answer the following questions, and report back to the committee within two weeks.

Regarding the National Emergency Strategic Stockpile (NESS) and the procurement of personal protective equipment (PPE) from 2019 to the present:

1. Which companies were awarded contracts under the 2019–2020 Standing Offer for the supply of PPE to the NESS, and what was the total dollar value of the contracts awarded to each company?
2. How many units of PPE were purchased by the federal government for the NESS under the 2019 - 2020 Standing Offer between March 2020 and October 2025, separately identified by year and supplier;
3. How much money, in total, was spent by the federal government between March 2020 and December 2022 to re-shore or support domestic manufacturing of PPE, and how much has been domestically sourced versus from foreign sources;
4. What is the current estimated volume and value of expired PPE being warehoused by the Government of Canada as of October 2025, broken down by item type (e.g., gowns, masks, gloves) and where are the locations of storage
5. What are the total costs incurred by the government since 2022 to store expired PPE, broken down by year and provide;
6. Which companies that received contract renewals for PPE supply to the NESS in 2023, 2024, or 2025 were also awarded contracts under the failed 2019 - 2020 Standing Offer;
7. What performance review process with respect to the initial contracts was done by the Government of Canada before renewing these contracts with suppliers, particularly with regard to compliance with Bill S-211 (Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act)?
8. Has the Government of Canada conducted any investigations or audits into whether any current NESS suppliers are using materials or products linked to companies identified by credible third-party organizations (such as Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project) as being involved in forced labour, including Zhende Medical;
9. How does the Government of Canada ensure that attestations of compliance with Bill S-211 submitted by suppliers such as Medline Canada are independently verified, and what enforcement mechanisms are in place if a supplier is found to have falsely attested;
10. What is the government’s rationale for continuing to contract with multinational corporations that failed to deliver during a national crisis, while allowing domestic PPE manufacturers, who responded during the emergency, to lose federal support?

Questioning of the witnesses resumed.