Supplying Canada’s response to COVID-19

December 20, 2022

The Government of Canada has taken a whole-of-government approach in response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), including major investments in equipment and supplies for health and essential service sectors, as well as research, science and innovation.

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Coordinated response to purchasing equipment and supplies

At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of Canada took an aggressive procurement approach to fulfil immediate, emerging and long-term medical supply requirements. This included:

  • collaborating with provinces and territories on an ongoing basis to identify their needs with respect to required equipment, supplies and services
  • buying in bulk from distributors in Canada and internationally to secure key items of personal protective equipment (PPE) and medical supplies, for which there was a surge in global demand
  • ramping up domestic manufacturing capacity through the Plan to Mobilize Industry to Fight COVID-19, led by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

This was over and above efforts taken by provinces and territories to secure their own supply.

Call to action for suppliers

On March 12, 2020, the Government of Canada launched a proactive call to action on Buyandsell.gc.ca asking suppliers to come forward with products or services they could offer to support Canada’s response to COVID-19 during a surge in global demand. More than 26,000 unique responses from both Canadian and international businesses were received.

Through the overwhelming support of businesses that responded to the call to action, and working directly with Canadian manufacturers, the Government of Canada was able to meet the most urgent demands for PPE and medical supplies for the Public Health Agency of Canada and front-line healthcare workers across the country. We commend and thank Canadian companies that retooled production or offered innovative solutions to provide the equipment needed to fight COVID-19 during this critical time.

Return to competitive procurement

In the fall of 2020, the Government of Canada returned to the use of competitive bidding processes to secure the goods and services required to meet Canada’s evolving needs in response to COVID-19, where circumstances permitted and the needs were not urgent. This approach is in line with the commitment of Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) to open, fair and transparent procurement processes.

Competitions were launched on Buyandsell.gc.ca for a range of PPE, medical equipment and supplies. In addition, to support domestic manufacturing, PSPC issued some competitive procurement processes only for Canadian manufacturers.

Overview of purchases and deliveries

The Government of Canada purchased selected PPE and medical supplies to support 3 key areas:

  • the healthcare sector
  • federal government departments and agencies
  • the Essential Services Contingency Reserve

Over 2.7 billion pieces of PPE were secured. The PPE and medical supplies were purchased to meet short-term needs and the anticipated long-term needs for Canada’s response to COVID-19.

Orders were fulfilled for all purchases of:

  • 20,646,000 litres of hand sanitizer
  • 60,324,810 face shields
  • 72,896,584 non-medical face coverings
  • 11,020,782 non-medical cloth masks
  • 1,562,491,878 gloves (pairs)
  • 153,087,049 medical gowns

Ventilators

The Government of Canada ordered just over 40,000 ventilators to ensure that Canada’s long-term needs for COVID-19 were met, based on early projections. These orders included approximately 38,500 ventilators from Canadian manufacturers that stepped up as a result of the Government of Canada’s Plan to Mobilize Industry to Fight COVID-19.

While demand for ventilators to treat COVID-19 patients was initially high, shifting medical advice and evidence have diminished the role of ventilators in the treatment of COVID-19 patients. As a result, the Government of Canada worked with Canadian suppliers to reduce the volumes ordered to 27,813 ventilators.

N95 respirators

As of December 1, 2022, the Government of Canada has received 224,997,680 N95 or equivalent standard respirators. This includes N95, 95PFE, KN95 and FFP2 respirators. N95 respirators are certified by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (an organization based in the United States), the 95PFE are the Canadian equivalent, the KN95 are the Chinese equivalent, and the FFP2 are the European equivalent.

AMD Medicom Inc. and 3M Canada are domestically producing N95 respirators to ensure a continued supply for Canada. In 2020, the Government of Canada signed a contract with AMD Medicom Inc. to deliver 20 million N95 respirators per year for up to 10 years. Deliveries began in November 2020, and as of December 1, 2022, more than 53 million N95 respirators have been delivered. AMD Medicom Inc. is also producing surgical masks as part of this contract.

In 2021, the Government of Canada signed a contract with 3M Canada to deliver N95 respirators until 2026, with options to extend the contract up to 5 additional years. Under this contract, 3M is providing 38.3 million N95 respirators in the first year and 25 million per year in the 4 following years. Deliveries began in April 2021, and as of December 1, 2022, more than 54 million N95 respirators have been delivered. 3M is also producing N95 respirators for the Government of Ontario as part of this contract.

Additional contract information

As part of our commitment to transparency and accountability, we are publicly disclosing contracting information to the fullest extent possible. Supplier names and contract amounts can be found on our COVID-19 contracting information page.

COVID-19 contract information

Working with Canadian companies

The Government of Canada worked closely with Canadian industry to secure PPE, medical supplies, and other equipment in the fight against COVID-19. The following are examples of how domestic suppliers stepped up to support the effort.

Bauer (Blainville, Quebec)

Bauer shifted its hockey skates production lines to make face shields for front-line medical staff. The Government of Canada signed an agreement to receive hundreds of thousands of face shields from Bauer.

Fluid Energy Group (Calgary, Alberta)

The Government of Canada signed a contract with Fluid Energy Group for millions of litres of hand sanitizer to support the COVID-19 response.

More information

Fluid Energy making 10 million litres of hand sanitizer for the Government of Canada

GM Canada (Oshawa, Ontario)

GM Canada used its manufacturing capability and skilled workforce to domestically produce surgical masks and face coverings. The Government of Canada signed a contract with GM Canada to receive millions of surgical masks and face coverings for front-line healthcare workers.

Hawktree Solutions (Ottawa, Ontario)

The Government of Canada signed a contract with Hawktree Solutions, a health and safety product company, to provide millions of masks and thousands of goggles and bottles of Quebec-made hand sanitizer.

More information

Hawktree Solutions providing the federal government with goggles, masks and hand sanitizer

HP Canada (Mississauga, Ontario)

The Government of Canada signed a contract with HP Canada, which used its 3D printing technology to provide hundreds of thousands of face shields to protect healthcare workers.

Irving Oil (Saint John, New Brunswick)

Irving Oil retooled its production line to produce much-needed hand sanitizer. The Government of Canada signed a contract with Irving to provide hundreds of thousands of litres of hand sanitizer.

Jacobs & Thompson (Toronto, Ontario)

The Government of Canada signed a contract with Jacobs & Thompson, which added production lines to provide millions of face shields to protect healthcare workers.

Joseph Ribkoff (Dorval, Quebec)

The Government of Canada signed a contract with Joseph Ribkoff, a Canadian women’s clothing company, to manufacture and provide millions of gowns for healthcare workers.

Logistik Unicorp (Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec)

Logistik Unicorp mobilized its domestic supply chain and retooled production to produce medical gowns. The Government of Canada signed a contract with Logistik Unicorp to provide millions of gowns for front-line healthcare workers.

Medicom (Pointe-Claire, Quebec)

The Government of Canada signed a long-term agreement with Medicom to ramp up domestic production to provide millions of N95 respirators and surgical masks per year for the next 10 years.

More information

Medicom Group supporting Canada’s efforts to combat COVID-19

PRI-MED (Edmonton, Alberta)

The Government of Canada signed a contract with PRI-MED, a medical product manufacturing company, to provide thousands of coveralls and millions of gloves, gowns and surgical masks for healthcare workers.

More information

Edmonton’s PRI-MED: A COVID-19 story like no other

Samuelsohn (Montréal, Quebec)

The Government of Canada signed a contract with Samuelsohn, a men’s luxury clothing company, which retooled its production lines to provide millions of medical gowns for healthcare workers.

SpiritRx Services (Winnipeg, Manitoba)

SpiritRx Services is an Indigenous-owned company that ramped up delivery of PPE and medical supplies to respond to both provincial and federal needs. The Government of Canada signed a contract with SpiritRx Services to provide thousands of digital thermometers. The company has also provided the federal First Nations Inuit Health Branch with surgical masks and infrared thermometers.

More information

Indigenous-owned company delivering essential goods to help all Canadians

Sterling Industries (Concord, Ontario)

Sterling Industries, affiliated with Honda, created a face shield that is designed and manufactured in Canada. The Government of Canada signed a contract with Sterling Industries to provide millions of face shields to protect healthcare workers.

Stryker (Waterdown, Ontario)

The Government of Canada signed a contract with Stryker to provide Health Canada-approved sterilization units that will sterilize equipment like N95 respirators and allow it to be reused.

More information

How one Canadian company extended the life of disposable N-95 masks

The Canadian Shield (Kitchener, Ontario)

The Canadian Shield was founded by InkSmith to produce PPE. The Government of Canada signed a contract with The Canadian Shield to provide millions of face shields to protect healthcare workers.

More information

The Canadian Shield playing a key role in supporting the Government of Canada

The Stevens Company (Brampton, Ontario)

The Government of Canada signed contracts with The Stevens Company to provide hard surface cleaners made in Oakville, Ontario, and shoe covers made in Montréal, Quebec, as well as other items to help combat COVID-19.

More information

The Stevens Company is helping the Government of Canada in the fight against COVID-19

Toronto Stamp (Toronto, Ontario)

Toronto Stamp retooled its usual production of signs, badges, stamps and tags to produce face shields. The Government of Canada signed a contract with Toronto Stamp to provide millions of face shields for front-line healthcare workers.

More information

From a WhatsApp message to a contract with the Government of Canada

Windsor Mold Group (Windsor, Ontario)

The Government of Canada signed a contract with Windsor Mold Group, which retooled its production to provide millions of face shields and thousands of head bands to protect healthcare workers.

WUXLY (Toronto, Ontario)

The Government of Canada signed a contract with WUXLY, an outerwear clothing company, to provide over 1 million gowns for front-line healthcare workers.

More information

WUXLY: Warming to the made-in-Canada personal protective equipment

Yoga Jeans (Montréal and Beauce region, Quebec)

The Government of Canada signed a contract with Yoga Jeans, a family-owned denim company that has retooled its manufacturing facility in Saint-Côme-Linière, Quebec, to provide millions of gowns for front-line healthcare workers.

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