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The bumps in Canada's biggest-ever vaccination campaign that sparked an emergency debate in the House of Commons last night seemed inevitable. From the beginning of the H1N1 pandemic there has been a calm, verging at times on complacency, from federal officials. On top of that, jurisdictions overlap, making for a cacophony of voices. As a test of Canada's ability to handle a truly severe pandemic (which this one may yet become), it has raised serious questions.

The debate gives the opposition parties, and Parliament as a whole, a chance to express a sense of urgency about the outbreak. Too often the process of the past several months seemed mere spoon-feeding of the public at news conferences. The United States, by contrast, held a televised town hall session featuring governors, health officials, school leaders and President Barack Obama, at which anxious questions were raised in the open. Perhaps because the public was left out, public health officials were surprised by the demand for the vaccine – Toronto, the biggest city in the country, initially opened just two clinics for all the people most at risk from the disease.

Mr. Obama has daily briefings on the swine flu. His administration's handling of it is considered a major test of his leadership. In Ottawa, by comparison, Prime Minister Stephen Harper flubbed the question of whether he was going to be vaccinated. “If it's recommended,” he said, seemingly the last to know that it was recommended, and that the entire country was waiting on the regulatory t's and i's to be crossed and dotted.

It is not farfetched that a more severe pandemic will come along some day, perhaps soon. Peter Doherty, a Nobel Laureate immunologist from Australia, said when he was in Canada last week that he is surprised, given that great numbers of animals and people live in close proximity in some parts of the world, there haven't been more pandemics (Dr. Doherty thought the world may be doing something right in surveillance and prevention).

Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq insisted in the House yesterday afternoon that the vaccine was ready “two weeks ahead of schedule.” In fact, some Canadian children have died in the past week and yet the vaccine isn't ready yet for children, except those under 5. In these circumstances, Canadians have a right to demand more from government, and last night's debate is a step toward that accountability.