Trudeau Liberals’ health agency ordered to reveal amount of PPE thrown out before pandemic

The Liberals are frustrated with this opposition move, Liberal MP Steven MacKinnon said. “My duty as a parliamentary secretary, as an MP with the government, is to denounce this fishing expedition. It’s like we’re looking for problems where they don’t exist.” MacKinnon added that he failed to understand the motive, saying “Why?”

The motion, which was presented by the NDP, states that "The committee send for all briefing notes, memos and emails from senior officials prepared for the Minister of Health, the president of the Public Health Agency of Canada, the chief medical health officer and the Minister of Public Works between 2010 and Monday, August 31, 2020 regarding the management, stockpiling, disposal and replenishment of medical equipment and supplies in the National Emergency Strategic Stockpile” by December 1.

In response to the Liberal outcry, NDP MP Matthew Green, who sponsored the motion, said: “It’s about the lack of the ability to be accountable for anything. In the lead-up to this pandemic a decision was made to dispose of critical life-saving personal protective equipment–N-95 masks, gowns, gloves–in the millions.”

The Public Health agency of Canada was created in 2004 by Parliament to better prepare for future pandemics. They were put in charge of managing a $300 million emergency stockpile of medical equipment. According to disclosed records, the Public Health Agency closed three of its nine regional warehouses, and threw out two million critical N95 masks in 2019, when it closed a warehouse in Regina.

MP Green says that the Liberals have been concealing records. “People are watching and they’re not buying it anymore, It’s as though it’s their birthright to come in here and govern as a majority and shut down critical information Canadians deserve to know.”

This information has been requested by the committee since late May, back then Bloc Québécois MP Julie Vignola said that the Health Agency’s conduct was baffling.

“I just don’t understand,” said Vignola. “This is money that was just thrown away like garbage. So many resources were wasted. We’re talking about money. These supplies literally went into the garbage.”

The president and vice-president of the Public Health Agency resigned earlier this year following a memo which acknowledged a shortage of critical supplies at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. The memo also stated that the agency required help from the military and that its lack of preparedness put Canadian lives at risk.