Liberals rebuff Conservative push for documents on federal COVID-19 response

The Liberal government says a Conservative demand for a wide-ranging probe into the federal COVID-19 response is impractical and could paralyze the work of civil servants responding to the pandemic's second wave.

The government'spushback against the Conservative motion requestingsweepinghealth committee hearings comes as the theNDPand Bloc Quebecois appear set to support the Official Opposition in its quest for answers.

But the Liberals say they won't declare thevote on the motion a matter of confidence, reducingthe chance of asnap election.

Trudeau said Thursday's motion won't be considered a confidence matter because it's not "extremely aggressive" and "extremely partisan" like the motion to create an anti-corruption committee.

"This new motion is leaning in on health issues," he told CKSY Radio in Chatham, Ont. in an interview Friday.

"It involves a lot of hard work by public servants who willhave to work to produce many documents, but it's not a confidence issue. It's something the committee is asking for and we're going to be taking a close look at it."

All day Thursday,MPsdebated a Conservativemotion thatcalls for a probe by the House of Commons health committee intoa host of issues relating to the government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Conservative Leader Erin O'Toolesaid the investigation could helpParliamentarianslearn from the mistakes of the first wave, doa better job ofdealingwith the ongoing second wave and prepare forfuture outbreaks.

"The Liberals' response to COVID-19 needs to be reviewed," O'Toole told reporters.

"We want to offer the government a chance to work with all parties, improve its approach and act with transparency."

O'Toole said the Liberal government was slow to respond to early warnings about the risks of the novel coronavirus, was reluctant to close borders to travellers, relied too muchon advice from the World Health Organizationand took too longto roll out critical federal aid programs.

He also denouncedthe federal government'sdecision to send a shipment of personal protective equipment(PPE)to Chinain February, its lack of progress inapproving rapid testing kits and thechanges made to a critical public health intelligence tool.

O'Toole, who contracted coronavirus in September but has since recovered, brought up his own personal experiences waiting in a long line to get tested in Ottawa and receiving conflicting public health advice as examples of Canada'sflawed response.

The Liberals' response to COVID-19 needs to be reviewed.- Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole

If passed, Thursday's motionwould empower the committee to call several cabinet ministers as witnesses and direct the government to hand over to the health committee a trove of documents, emails and other records from a handful of departments, including the Public Health Agency of Canadaand the Prime Minister's Office.

It alsowouldorder the government to release all records related to the COVID-19 Vaccine Task Forceand its plans for distributing an eventual vaccine.

"The motion before the House today is probably the most important thing that Parliament could be dealing with right now, and that is how we as a country move forward to address the COVID-19 crisis," Conservative health critic Michelle Rempel Garner toldthe House of Commons during debate on the motion.

Vote expected Monday

Liberals arguethe demand for documents isso sweeping that the time it would take to produce them would distractcivil servants from their work on the COVID-19 response.

"Ourinitial analysis of this motion indicates that the very officials that are working day and night on Canada's response will be removed fromtheir immediate tasks," said Health Minister Patty Hajduin the Commons.

"Instead of working together to protect Canadians during this difficult time, the member would prefer to divert their focus to an unnecessary taskthat does not in any way help Canadians manage the months to come."

The government will do its best to respond to the motion if it passes, Liberal MP KevinLamoureux, parliamentary secretary to the government House leader, told the Commons at the start of debate. Lamoureuxadded, however,that the 15-day timeline would be "physically impossible" to meet.

Rempel Garner countered that if the timeline outlined in the motion is unrealistic,the government should suggest a different deadline for producingthe documents.

The Conservativemotion will go to a vote onMonday.Government House Leader Pablo Rodriguez's office confirmed on Thursday it won't be considered a confidence vote.

Bloc Qubcois Leader Yves-Franois Blanchetsignalled his party would vote for the motion. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said his party also supports it, but would like to see some changes made first.

Thursday'smotion comes one day after the Liberal government survived a confidence vote on a separate Conservative motion that soughta special committeeinvestigation intothe WE Charity affair and other alleged examples of corruption.

NDP, Green and Independent MPsgrudgingly joinedthe Liberals on Wednesday in defeating the motion.But all of the opposition parties blamed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for turning the issue into a confidence matter that threatened to plunge the country into an election.

Demand for sensitive documents

The demand for documents concerning the purchase of PPE could be particularly sensitive for the government. It has used a national security exemption to keep some procurement contracts secret in orderto protect the names of suppliers of items that are particularly hard to come by, such as N95 respirators, gloves and swabs.

The Conservative motion makes some allowance for national security concerns, stipulating that any redactions to the demanded documents be made only by the parliamentary law clerk and only for national security or personal privacy reasons.