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Results: 1 - 15 of 19
Mona Nemer
View Mona Nemer Profile
Mona Nemer
2021-02-25 11:06
Thank you very much.
Good morning.
Thank you, Madam Chair and committee members, for the opportunity to speak to you today.
Since my last appearance before this committee, in December 2017, I have fulfilled my first mandate and was subsequently reappointed for a two-year term in September 2020.
In the interest of time, I will not go into the details of my mandate, but as a science adviser to the Prime Minister and cabinet, I will say that the past year has been largely devoted to advice related to the COVID-19 health crisis.
Of course, the pandemic is an extremely complex situation with numerous facets. It's all the more challenging when it's due to a new virus about which we know very little, which is why in order to help inform my advice I established a multidisciplinary scientific advisory group early on. We focus on areas ranging from COVID-19 diagnostics and research needs to aerosol transmission, infection in children and long-term care settings.
Researchers were mobilized and willing to generously share their findings and advice. As a result, science has guided decision-making in real time like I have never seen before. The COVID-19 expert panel, made up of distinguished researchers and practitioners in infectious disease, disease modelling and behavioural sciences from across the country, held its first meeting on March 10. It has met since more than 40 times, and panel members also participated in several targeted task forces to which additional experts contributed. This ensured a coordinated and integrated science advice mechanism. Throughout, an impressive number of scientists and health practitioners have generously contributed their time and expertise for the service of their country.
My office also helped set up CanCOVID to stimulate COVID-19 research and partnerships. The network boasts over 3,000 members across the country and has been very successful in fostering cross-disciplinary collaboration and innovation.
In addition to domestic outreach, I have been in regular communication with my international counterparts. We share information on disease spread and containment, knowledge gaps, research activities and priorities, as well as clinical studies. This has kept us all up to date on the latest developments worldwide.
Early in the pandemic several clinical studies aimed at treating or preventing COVID-19 and its complications using existing drugs got under way, but the results were mostly disappointing. Attention increasingly focused on vaccine development for disease prevention.
In Canada, federal funds were allocated as early as March and April 2020 for vaccine and therapeutic developments through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development.
COVID-19 vaccine development, manufacturing and distribution were topics I discussed extensively with my international counterparts, including those in the U.K. and the U.S. It became evident to me that independent expert advice on vaccine development and procurement was needed, which is why I recommended the creation of the vaccine task force.
Made up of 11 members of Canada's vaccine research community and four ex officio members, of which I am one, the task force has been instrumental in helping to identify and prioritize vaccine candidates, support domestic vaccine development, and inform supply chain coordination.
I have participated in the vast majority of the task force meetings, and I have always been completely satisfied with the scientific rigour that framed their deliberations. Like so many others in Canada's scientific community, these researchers were ready and willing to step up and contribute pro bono their time and expertise to helping fight this health crisis. As a result, Canada now has a diverse portfolio of the leading effective vaccines from three different technologies. I believe that Canadians have been well served by this remarkable group.
The only downside to the amazing feat of the development of vaccines against COVID-19 is that the first of these vaccines came from outside the country. The fact that Canada has modest human vaccine production capabilities is not news; it's a problem that has existed for nearly four decades. As a scientist, I have spent most of my career in biopharmaceutical research, and sadly, I have witnessed the decline of our country's therapeutic development capacity over much of that time.
It does not have to be this way. Therapeutic development, whether vaccines or drugs, is a lengthy and complex process requiring dynamic collaboration among researchers, clinicians, government and private sector organizations. The rewards, as seen in this pandemic, are well worth the efforts.
Canada has exquisite assets to support a thriving biomanufacturing ecosystem from world-renowned scientists who continue to make critical discoveries in biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences to innovative SMEs with promising products. But taking a discovery from the lab to the community or scaling up drug and vaccine production for human use is not a trivial undertaking.
It is my hope that the health needs and science successes witnessed during this pandemic will encourage us to put in place the resources and infrastructure to take our discoveries into innovative health products manufactured in Canada for Canadians, but also for the world.
Building our biomanufacturing capacity will not happen overnight, but it is vital that we work towards it, and now is the time to establish the strategies and act on them.
Science gave us hope and the tools to overcome this crisis, from diagnostics to vaccines and therapeutics. We in Canada have much to offer to fight this and future health threats. I look forward to the extraordinary opportunities that lie ahead.
Thank you.
View Majid Jowhari Profile
Lib. (ON)
Thank you, but now that we're going to Mr. Lucas, let me ask another question.
I now understand the rolling submission and the close collaboration that our government's health organization has with the manufacturer. Did we pursue similar working relationships with other jurisdictions' health organizations? Some of them have approved some of these vaccines ahead of us. Is there any type of collaboration going on between those health bodies and ours to be able to piggyback and to get some of these vaccines like AstraZeneca, Janssen and the other ones approved much faster?
View Patty Hajdu Profile
Lib. (ON)
Again, I will start and then turn to Deputy Minister Lucas for gap filling, if you will.
Yes, there is collaboration with other regulatory bodies, and data, information and analysis are shared as appropriate. Of course, each country does its own approvals, and Canada is considered a gold standard regulator. This is also beneficial to the pharmaceutical companies, because, of course, when they get approved in Canada, many other smaller countries that don't have the same level of capacity to do their own review look at Canada as a stamp of approval, if you will. That's quite valuable to the manufacturer as well. We collaborate on a regular basis with places like the EU, the FDA and others that have long-standing relationships with Health Canada regulators.
I'll turn to Deputy Minister Lucas for a few more words.
Stephen Lucas
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Stephen Lucas
2021-02-02 11:32
Yes, indeed, as part of our independent scientific review, we have continued to work with both international regulators and international regulatory forums. Canada played a critical role in the establishment of the International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities and has played roles co-chairing committees pertinent to the review of vaccines for COVID. We worked through a consortium with Switzerland, the U.K., Australia and Singapore, and also, as Minister Hajdu noted, with the European Medicines Agency and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Through these efforts, we're able to identify opportunities to help strengthen our independent review, but at the end of the day, we make those decisions based on the evidence provided to us and on our benchmarks of safety, quality and efficacy.
View Ali Ehsassi Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Ali Ehsassi Profile
2020-12-03 11:23
Thank you for that.
I'd be remiss if I didn't also touch on another new practice that has been adopted by your bureau, which is the new competition enforcement framework that Canada entered into with the U.S., New Zealand, Australia and the U.K.
Could you provide us with more details on that and provide us with your assessment as to how significant that is?
Matthew Boswell
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Matthew Boswell
2020-12-03 11:24
Okay. I apologize.
I'm so sorry, Mr. Lemire.
The point is that we've entered into numerous international co-operation agreements with our partners around the world. International co-operation and competition law enforcement is vital in a digital economy, in a global economy. Our recently announced agreement is part of our emphasis on co-operating to be able to help Canadians.
View Brian Masse Profile
NDP (ON)
View Brian Masse Profile
2020-12-03 11:53
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Part of the challenge for a country like Canada is that we've become a branch-plant economy in many respects, aside from a few domestic champions for headquarters here in Canada. A good example is the lack of use of the Investment Canada Act to protect iconic Canadian companies like Rona, for example, which is now owned by Lowe's. Hence, other than companies like Burger King, which wanted to put its headquarters here to evade tax in the United States and put up false offices, really, in Toronto and other regions, we don't have the decision-makers here as much.
How much of a disadvantage is it for us—for example, compared with the United States—not to have greater co-operation amongst our laws, and consistency? For example, in Windsor here, as our minivan, which is a world-class vehicle, is being built, it literally crosses the border back and forth seven times. There's a whole regulatory regime that protects consumers, aside from the aftermarket issue that I raised, with regard to the building of it, the quality and a series of things that are consistent for the consumer.
With a digital economy, how important is it for us to get further co-operation legislatively with the United States to protect consumers?
Matthew Boswell
View Matthew Boswell Profile
Matthew Boswell
2020-12-03 11:54
As an enforcement agency, we co-operate and collaborate extensively with our American counterparts. We have deep relationships with them and we share information on cases, or potential cases, on a regular basis in many aspects of our enforcement work, which we believe provides a better result for Canadians and a better result on the U.S. side of the border when we are working together on these matters.
Of course, as I pointed out earlier, there are some areas where our laws diverge. Those areas could be examined if there was a desire by elected officials to bring our laws closer together.
View Ali Ehsassi Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Ali Ehsassi Profile
2020-12-03 12:43
My apologies for that.
Mr. Boswell, I just want to go back to a question that was posed to you earlier by Mr. Dreeshen. You talked about the Global Competition Review. Assessing the resources and the tool kits that the Competition Bureau has vis-à-vis other authorities around the world, how are we doing as a country? How is the Competition Bureau doing in the grand pecking order of things, if you will?
Matthew Boswell
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Matthew Boswell
2020-12-03 12:44
We work with partners all around the world. We work very closely with our Five Eyes partners, our European partners and many others. What I can say is that our assessment from inside the bureau is that Canada's competition enforcement agency.... We are it for Canada. There are no provincial competition enforcement agencies, unlike in the United States, where each state has an attorney general who deals with competition. Of course, as I said, Europe has the European Commission, plus every European member state has competition powers.
It's likely that we're one of the least-funded competition enforcement agencies, certainly among our peers.
View Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Profile
Lib. (ON)
When we look to co-operation with an organization like the FTC or competition commissioners in other countries, can you speak to the agreements that you've entered into, if any, as they relate to enforcing rules against some of these global players?
Matthew Boswell
View Matthew Boswell Profile
Matthew Boswell
2020-12-03 13:00
Madam Chair, to answer the honourable member's question, I wouldn't say that we have agreements with respect to enforcement. We work together—we collaborate on enforcement and we communicate on enforcement—but there aren't specific agreements, to put it that way.
In our enforcement, co-operation is one of the most important things we do in terms of global cases. We see that in our cartel work where there are international cartels. We prosecuted a series of them for auto parts, bid rigging and price-fixing. We had to co-operate with authorities around the world, as these companies were under investigation around the world. We do that with the FTC, with the United States Department of Justice and with Australia.
It's vital that we do this kind of co-operation.
Lisa Campbell
View Lisa Campbell Profile
Lisa Campbell
2020-10-29 11:15
Thank you very much.
Thank you for the opportunity to meet with you virtually. I hope that each of you and also your families are doing well.
I joined the Canadian Space Agency, or CSA, in September of this year. A lawyer by profession for almost the past three decades, I've worked in both public and private sectors. I have experience in the areas of competition enforcement, data regulation and procurement, among others.
I'm joined today by my colleagues, Luc Brûlé, vice-president, science and technology, and Mary Preville, acting vice-president, space program policy.
If you will bear with me, I'll just change the language for the interpreters.
The CSA has accomplished extraordinary things, and we believe that the space sector can contribute enormously to Canada's economic renewal during these unprecedented times.
The CSA's work focuses on three areas.
First, and perhaps most visible, are activities in space exploration. We lead Canada's participation on the International Space Station, the Canadian astronaut program, and scientific missions to explore our solar system.
Second is a growing area of investment and interest worldwide, which is the rich data from earth-observation satellites that help us understand our planet, how to manage our natural resources and more. Increasingly, we can maximize high-quality space data to serve and protect Canadians and spur innovation and economic development. The speed of commercial satellite deployment, implementation of faster communication technologies and onset of interplanetary missions are augmenting the role of data in space industries. Our RADARSAT constellation mission is part of this trend. Its three-satellite configuration provides data for climate research, security and commercial applications. Unlocking the power of this data is vital to Canada's competitiveness globally.
Third, we work to support science and technology in a multitude of areas, including optics, health, robotics, satellite communications and radar. We're growing this innovative sector in Canada and preparing for new missions.
In 2019, the government launched a new space strategy for Canada: exploration, imagination and innovation. With the brilliant CSA team, we're advancing the space program in Canada and, internationally, positioning our domestic space industry for success. The return on investment in space is massive, and it's a growth sector. In the next 20 years, the global space economy will nearly triple in size, reaching a trillion dollars. At the CSA, we're committed to positioning Canadian researchers, entrepreneurs and investors to seize their share of this new, emerging global market. We want to help them contribute to the global economic recovery, while continuing to secure socioeconomic benefits here at home.
In recent months, we've been doing extensive outreach with industry, academia and international counterparts. We've participated in international conferences of the G20 space community and the International Astronautical Congress. Like the rest of the world, we're gearing up for exciting missions to the moon and beyond.
We're proud to have secured Canada's participation in the next large-scale international space collaboration—the lunar gateway program—by contributing our Canadarm3. We're also among eight nations to sign the Artemis Accords a few weeks ago, which we believe will help create a transparent environment for space exploration, science and commercial space activities. We're continuing to support cutting-edge space-exploration technologies, such as artificial intelligence, advanced robotics, health and more, which will be demonstrated on future missions to the lunar surface.
These investments have allowed Canada to play critical roles on internationally led missions, such as OSIRIS-REx, which some of you may have seen in the news recently. We just collected a sample from the surface of an asteroid. Canada's crucial contribution was recognized worldwide, with our expertise ensuring the success of the mission.
In a country as vast as ours, observing earth from space helps us support Canadians, exercise sovereignty and manage our natural resources. Advances in machine learning, big-data analytics and data integration techniques are revolutionizing the field of earth observation at a time when there is more demand for detailed information about our planet.
We are daring to imagine a future where Canadians across the country, from any sector, have unlimited access to easy-to-use digital platforms; where data is turned into information to, for example, issue advance warning for air quality and disaster management; where cities can plan greener infrastructure projects more efficiently; where regulators or industry can detect infrastructure failures; and where farmers can visualize crop conditions and crop yields, predicting market pricing and perhaps leading to better management for anticipated transportation bottlenecks.
Today we have elements of this vision in place. Our experience with the RADARSAT program, which today is capturing 250,000 radar images of the earth, means we have a great base on which to grow. We'll equip Canada with the data and analytical tools needed for the future.
Like sectors across the planet, the space sector has been impacted by COVID-19 and the measures needed to contain the pandemic. We've reprioritized some of our activities and funding to ensure that industry and academia can continue to innovate and seize opportunities.
Since March, we've doubled short-term financial investments in our science and technology programs, representing an increase of $25 million over existing plans pre-pandemic and a total investment of $52 million over 2 years.
These efforts will benefit up to 90 projects in large, medium and small companies, as well as 12 universities from coast to coast. It will advance promising space technology, and support R and D and the development of innovative concepts, helping develop talent and positioning the sector for success.
Space exploration technologies are at the epicentre of scientific development. Among the many motivations for space exploration, advancing scientific knowledge and understanding is increasingly crucial for our society. Intrinsic value flows from it, and space science is a rich avenue because of the challenges it poses, forcing us to look up and out in completely novel ways. Increasing access to space innovation and research with the new environments and situations, the vast unknowns, that space offers stress tests our systems and beliefs.
Improvements in science inevitably lead to progress in other areas, and as we start employing them wherever science gets used, it generates public good and creates new industries.
I see the time signal. Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Through space exploration, we better understand ourselves, our planet and our universe.
Thank you for your time.
View Ali Ehsassi Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Ali Ehsassi Profile
2020-10-29 11:39
Now, could I ask you about the Artemis Accords? You referenced them in your opening remarks. I was wondering if you could tell us what led to those accords. We are one of the charter signatories of the accords, so what is their significance domestically and on the global stage?
Lisa Campbell
View Lisa Campbell Profile
Lisa Campbell
2020-10-29 11:40
Yes, we announced that at the International Astronautical Congress that I participated in. We announced our signature there.
There are a common set of principles, led by the U.S., developed in consultation with Artemis Accords' partners, which are designed to guide the exploration and use of outer space in a safe and sustainable manner and in accordance with our international treaty obligations. They are a political commitment to safe and sustainable space exploration activities. However, more work is going to have to be done, as I mentioned when we signed them, within the UN structure, to ensure space exploration continues to be for the benefit and interests of all humankind.
We worked with the United States very closely on these to ensure that the Artemis Accords reinforced the principles of the core space treaties, in particular the Outer Space Treaty, and provided guidelines for safe and sustainable space exploration activities and operations.
Right now, if you look at our website, we are consulting with Canadians. We want their views. A lot of the existing treaties were developed in the sixties and seventies when much of the activities we are engaging in now couldn't even be conceived of. We hope to get their feedback as we continue to work with partners on what is the right long-term framework to shape our activities.
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