Data shows Canada remains dependent on COVID-19 protective gear from abroad

The vast majority of masks, N95 respirators, gloves, screening equipment and other personal protective equipment (PPE) purchased by the federal government continues to come from foreign companies, according to information obtained by Radio-Canada.

When COVID-19 hit back in March 2020, Canadian PPE stockpile levels were woefully low and materials were allowed to expire without being used or even donated, and then ended up in landfills.

Ottawa spent millions on buying new gear and called on Canadian businesses and manufacturers to help deliver critical health supplies.

"Canadian companies are answering the call to provide critical support to our health-care workers, who are on the front lines of our country's fight against COVID-19," said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the time.

However, that call to action has not materialized, according to data reviewed by Radio-Canada.

According to Procurement Canada figures, Canada signed contracts worth $8 billion for PPE of all kinds between March 2020 and September 2021.

Approximately $2.5 billion of these contracts were awarded to Canadian companies, barely a third of the sum spent. That excludes some contract values that ​​were protected for commercial confidentiality reasons.

'We were not rewarded'

All of the protective goggles and vinyl gloves purchased by Ottawa come from foreign companies.

Close to 99 per cent of nitrile gloves, 90 per cent of surgical masks and screening equipment and 85 per cent of N95 respirators come from foreign companies, too, according to the review.

It's frustrating for Paul Sweeny, an Ontario businessman who has spent $6 million to respond to the call from Ottawa. His company, SwenCo, transformed its Waterloo safety shoe factory in order to manufacture surgical masks. 

"We took the plunge to serve our country, but we were not rewarded," he said.

The irony, said Sweeny, is that his company received almost $2 million in federal funding to build a sterile room in order to be able to manufacture these masks. He has to start repaying that interest-free loan in April.

"It's frustrating, very frustrating," he said.

MPs question policy

Bloc Québécois MP Julie Vignola called it unacceptable. 

"Instead of favouring business people here who have responded to the call of the government, we continue to be dependent on foreign countries," she said in French.

Conservative MP Pierre Paul-Hus said the start of the pandemic showed that self-sufficiency in PPE is very important.

"It's as if the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing," he said, also in French.

"After investing millions of dollars, we are not taking advantage of our national production capacity."