January 19, 2024

Conservative members of the Standing Committee on Health, Dr. Stephen Ellis, Conservative Shadow Minister for Health, Rick Perkins, Conservative Shadow Minister for Innovation Science and Industry, Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative Quebec Lieutenant, and Shuvaloy Majumdar, MP for Calgary Heritage, released the following statement on the coverup coalition’s refusal to show Canadians the contracts signed between the Trudeau government and Medicago:

“After eight years of Trudeau, his inflationary wasteful government spending is driving up the cost of everything. The Medicago fiasco is yet another example of how this Liberal government has vaporized hundreds of millions of dollars with nothing to show for it, except the bill left to be paid by Canadians.

“Today, the coverup coalition of the Liberals and NDP blocked a common sense Conservative committee motion to release all contracts signed between the Trudeau government and failed vaccine company, Medicago, that gave them $300 million of taxpayer dollars in exchange for nothing.  

“Due to its involvement with a tobacco company, the company and its product were not recognized internationally and doomed to fail. After producing no vaccines for use, the company shut down its operations in Quebec, taking with them the millions of Canadians’ hard-earned dollars Trudeau gave to them and forcing nearly 600 workers out of their jobs.

“In the censored copies of the contract, no mention can be found regarding the protection of taxpayer money. Trudeau handed out $300 million to a company that his government should have known would never have been able to produce a single vial of vaccine, and they did it without any guarantees for the taxpayer money spent. Instead of releasing an uncensored copy of the contracts to see if any protection of taxpayer money was included, Trudeau’s coverup coalition did their jobs once again to protect their Liberal bosses.

“We also need to verify misleading statements from the Liberal Health Minister who said the contract required a $150 million advanced payment to Medicago. This does not appear anywhere in the documents we have today. Either the Minister was lying or there is another secret contract they are hiding. There is only one way to find out, by releasing all the contracts.

“Common sense Conservatives believe every dollar of taxpayer money should be treated responsibly. We continue to call on the Trudeau government to release the contracts once and for all and stop hiding behind their coverup coalition.”