Question Period Note: Bill C-8 and C-10

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• Bill C-8, An act to implement certain provisions of the economic and fiscal update and Bill C-10, An Act respecting certain measures related to COVID-19, provided up to $4.2 billion, to procure and distribute COVID-19 tests. They have been critical to enable the Government of Canada to respond to significant demand for rapid tests from provinces and territories and to support Canadians.
• The Minister committed to provide regular reports to Parliament every three months on how funds to are being used.
• Testing remains an important tool to empower people in Canada to take personal responsibility and manage individual risk by providing frequent and timely information.
• Funding received under Bills C-8 and C-10 allowed the Government to secure hundreds of millions of tests in times of need, for federal distribution channels and to distribute to provinces and territories to support their testing programs.
• Our Government continues to procure additional self-tests and point-of-care tests to meet current and future demand across the country.
• Our priority is to continue supporting jurisdictions and Canadians in their efforts to manage COVID-19.

IF PRESSED ON PURPOSE OF BILL C-8 AND BILL C-10…
• Bill C-8 authorizes the Minister of Health to make payments up to $1.72 billion in relation to COVID-19 rapid tests.
• Bill C-10 authorizes the Minister of Health to make payments of up to $2.5 billion in relation to COVID-19 rapid tests and to distribute these tests to provinces and territories, as well as any organization and any person in Canada.

IF PRESSED ON THE IMPACT OF BILL C-8 AND C-10 ON CANADA'S ABILITY TO PROCURE TESTS
• The funding obtained enabled the Government of Canada to plan and secure the supply of tests with greater flexibility and certainty.
• The Government of Canada leveraged its purchasing power to secure the supply of rapid tests for people across the country.

IF PRESSED ON THE IMPACT OF BILL C-10 ON CANADA'S ABILITY TO DISTRIBUTE
• Bill C-10 enabled Health Canada to secure the warehousing and logistics capacity required to manage the demand and distribution of COVID-19 rapid tests.

The impact of the Omicron variant pushed provinces and territories to expand rapid testing programs to include general population. These new initiative resulted in a spike in the demands for rapid antigen tests during a time where there was a global shortage. To respond to this need, Government introduced two bills; C-8 and C-10.

Bill C-8, An Act to implement certain provisions of the economic and fiscal update tabled in Parliament on December 14, 2021 and other measures, received Royal Assent June 9, 2022. It authorizes the Minister of Health to make payments up to $1.72 billion in relation to COVID-19 rapid tests expenses incurred since April 1, 2021.

Bill C-10, An Act respecting certain measures related to COVID-19 received Royal Assent on March 4, 2022. This bill authorizes the Minister of Health to make payments of up to $2.5 billion in relation to COVID-19 rapid tests expenses incurred since April 1, 2022. Bill C-10 also grants the Minister authority to distribute COVID-19 rapid tests to provinces and territories, any organization and any person in Canada.

The Minister of Health committed to provide reports on the use of funds every three months to Parliament. The first two reports were tabled on June 2, 2022 and September 19, 2022 respectively.

The COVID-19 pandemic is not over and testing and screening remains an important tool to empower people in Canada to take personal responsibility and manage individual risk. The Government of Canada is committed to supporting the provinces’ and territories’ testing strategies by providing free rapid tests until at least December 2022.

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