MPs vote to order release of Canada’s COVID vaccine contracts despite Pfizer’s objections
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Pfizer executives had warned MPs that disclosure of the contracts could damage Canada’s ‘reputation.’
(LifeSiteNews) –– Despite executives pleading otherwise, Canadian MPs in the House of Commons public accounts committee have voted to mandate the Department of Public Works hand over the country’s clandestine COVID-19 vaccine contracts with Pfizer for investigation.
On March 23, as noted by Blacklock’s Reporter, executives from Pfizer, while testifying before the committee, made a veiled threat that Canada might lose its “reputation” and lose foreign investments should the details of the $5 billion COVID jab contracts some to light.
Bloc Québécois MP Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné said that “Confidential information would remain confidential,” however Pfizer executives shot back claiming that any disclosure at all would constitute an abuse of power.
Canada’s Department of Health signed multiple COVID vaccine contracts in 2021 and 2022 with seven different manufacturers. Those seven included AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Medicago, Moderna, Novavax, Pfizer, and Sanofi.
After a back and forth with executives, MPs voted that Canada’s public works department must hand over all the contracts for scrutiny.
The contracts would only be allowed to be viewed by the 11 members of the public accounts committee, behind closed doors with no access to electronic devices or even written notes.
Despite these embargo conditions, Pfizer executives claimed that certain secret items in the contracts should never be seen by any MP.
“Disclosure of our confidential agreement would be an extraordinary use of authority,” said the president of Pfizer Canada Najah Sampson.
Sampson claimed that allowing MPs to view the contracts would set a “precedent with unintended consequences on Canada’s reputation,” and that “It would send a strong message to business partners and to companies looking to invest that here in Canada confidentiality protections negotiated in good faith with the federal government may not be binding.”