The official says Ottawa didn’t know which vaccines would be authorized and no vaccine existed when contracts with suppliers were put in place.

The Department of Public Works has acknowledged the government “took a risk” when subsidizing a $150 million COVID-19 vaccine factory in then Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos’ riding of Quebec City.

“We took a risk of putting contracts with various suppliers for enough vaccines for all Canadians,” said Joelle Paquette, director general of the public works department, as first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter.

Ms. Paquette, while testifying at the Commons health committee on Dec. 4, was referencing subsidies to build a Medicago Inc. plant in Québec City. The plant was never completed and no Medicago vaccines were delivered. Ownership of taxpayer-funded research reverted to Medicago’s Japanese parent company, Mitsubishi Chemical Group.