Media scan: Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs—June 19, 2020

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Government of Canada creates a hub for organizations looking to find resources on buying and supplying personal protective equipment: June 9, 2020

"Across the country, efforts are underway to ease restrictions implemented to fight COVID-19. This supply hub reflects our pan-Canadian approach, and assembles a wealth of resources and information so that organizations have a single window to assist them in buying or selling personal protective equipment (PPE)."

Anita Anand, Minister of Public Services and Procurement

General Motors Canadian corporate newsroom: Government of Canada contracts General Motors Canada to provide 10 million face masks—Production to begin immediately—May 26, 2020

“This important joint initiative between our government and General Motors (GM) demonstrates how Canadian businesses and their employees are answering the call as we face this challenge together. Our government is working hard to procure much needed personal protective equipment now and in the months to come. With this agreement, we are making sure Canada’s frontline healthcare workers know there is a steady and reliable domestic supply of this vital equipment.”

Anita Anand, Minister of Public Services and Procurement

Department of Finance Canada news release: Government provides tariff relief to importers of certain medical goods—May 6, 2020

“We know that the demand for personal protective equipment will continue to be important through the next phases of this crisis. By working with procurement ministers across the country and members of our COVID-19 Supply Council, we are actively supporting front-line health care workers and all Canadians as the pandemic evolves, including by reducing barriers to access personal protective equipment.”

Anita Anand, Minister of Public Services and Procurement

Public Services and Procurement Canada news release: Government of Canada creates COVID-19 supply council in support of Canada’s response and recovery—May 3, 2020

“Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have engaged with provinces, territories, and the private and non-governmental sectors to respond to this crisis. This council builds on that collaborative approach, bringing together a diverse group of leaders to help us address current and future supply challenges. I look forward to the work we’ll do together to ensure Canadians have access to the supplies they need to stay safe and healthy.”

Anita Anand, Minister of Public Services and Procurement

Prime Minister news release details work with companies like Fluid energy, Stanfield’s, Arc’teryx, Canada Goose, Medicom and more—April 7, 2020

“Canadian companies are answering the call to protect our health care professionals with made-in-Canada solutions. This is exactly the kind of innovative, collaborative thinking we need to respond to this rapidly evolving pandemic. By increasing our support for secure, Canadian sources of needed materials and equipment, we will be able to help our health care workers protect themselves, treat patients, and slow the spread of this virus.”

Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada

“Our first priority is getting equipment and supplies into the hands of our frontline healthcare workers. This crucial task is made more challenging by the highly competitive global environment in which we are operating. Canadian industry is stepping up in a big way to support these efforts and Canadians can be assured that we are working around the clock to ensure Canada has what it needs—made at home and abroad—as we fight COVID-19.”

Anita Anand, Minister of Public Services and Procurement

Public Services and Procurement Canada ministerial news release to announce contract with Amazon—April 3, 2020

“The government is taking an aggressive, proactive procurement approach to ensure our front-line healthcare workers have the equipment they need. To date, we have already made a number of bulk purchases to secure key items like masks and ventilators, which are in high global demand. This partnership with Amazon, with support from Canada Post and Purolator, will help to ensure that these life-saving products make it into the hands of healthcare workers across the country as quickly as possible.”

Anita Anand, Minister of Public Services and Procurement

Prime Minister news release detailing contract with Thornhill Medical, Medicom, and Spartan—March 31, 2020

“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. As the situation continues to evolve, the Government of Canada will be there to work with Canadian industry to find solutions that will support our medical professionals and protect the health and safety of all Canadians.”

Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada

“We are taking an aggressive, proactive procurement approach to secure life-saving equipment and supplies. Industry has answered the call and we have successfully tapped into both existing and new supply sources. As a result, we have placed orders for millions of essential supplies in the fight against COVID-19.”

Anita Anand, Minister of Public Services and Procurement

Quotes from news conferences

Note

Transcript: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau COVID-19—News conference—June 17, 2020: Brief mention of ventilator manufacturers and orders

Right Honourable (Rt. Hon.) Justin Trudeau: […] We are also working very hard to make sure hospitals and frontline workers have all the equipment and material they need. On that note, I have some good news to share with you. First of all, our government has signed an agreement with Montreal-based company Galenvs to manufacture (unintelligible) needed for testing. This week Health Canada also certified ventilators produced by 2 Canadian groups: CAE and the Ventilators for Canadians consortium. They’ll now be able to step up their production to manufacture the 20,000 ventilators ordered. Two years ago, I visited CAE to announce funding for worker training. Today we realize why it is so important to support not only talent but also innovation in our country. Researchers across the country make incredible discoveries every day from rapid advances in understanding COVID-19 over the last few months to years’ long studies of climate change and cancer treatments. It’s in everyone’s interest that they continue doing their vital work.

Transcript: Government of Canada officials COVID-19—News conference—June 17, 2020: Minister Anand provides personal protective equipment update

Minister Anita Anand: […] We are focused on ensuring Canada is prepared when it comes to having enough personal protective equipment. As the demand for PPE around the world goes up, Canada is keeping up. Our strategy from the beginning has been to aggressively procure PPE in a highly competitive global marketplace and to diversify our supply chains especially by engaging domestic suppliers, a task I’ve been pleased to work on with my colleague Nav Bains.

Now for the deliveries update. International cargo flights of PPE and other supplies continue to arrive daily. This past week we received 11 more planeloads of supplies and our 70th cargo flight is on the way as we speak, 70 flights. This is an incredible effort. Since last week we have also received 4 additional shipments by sea arriving in the Port of Vancouver carrying more than half a million litres of hand sanitizer.

Given the large volume of supplies ready to be shipped to Canada, transport by sea will become increasingly important over the next months. Here in Canada we are now receiving deliveries from Canadian companies on a daily basis. More and more, we can rely on these companies to produce some of our most vital supplies.

We can all take pride in the fact that Canadian companies are playing an imperative role in our pandemic response while sustaining and creating jobs right across the country at a time when Canada needs them most.

Companies such as Fluid Energy, a Calgary based chemical processing and manufacturing firm was primarily focused on developing and producing environmentally responsible chemical systems prior to COVID-19.

Fluid Energy answered the government’s call to action and has stepped up to produce 10 million litres of hand sanitizer for the federal government and Canadians at large. The company has already delivered 5 million litres and will be fulfilling the remainder of the order in the next few weeks.

Canadian companies such as Fluid Energy are doing their part and we are pursuing opportunities with more companies including businesses led by traditionally under-represented groups. For example a recent request for proposals aims to solicit interest specifically from Indigenous led businesses that can help provide 25 disposable non-medical masks.

We have had an encouraging response so far and we expect to award contracts in the coming weeks. On all fronts we are seeking more supplies as deliveries continue to arrive. Let me now provide you with an update on specific items in terms of deliveries. Gowns—this week we received more than 600,000 gowns including from Canadian manufacturers like Logistic Unicor, Yoga Jeans and Samuelsson.

This brings our total to more than 4.4 million received with approximately 700,000 made here at home. Face shields—we now have more than 17 million received with most of these face shields made by Canadian companies such as Bauer, Jacobson Thompson, Canadian Shield and Stirling Industries to name a few.

Surgical masks—to date, we have received over 100 million surgical masks, and more are on the way.

N95 masks—we also continue to receive approximately half a million N95 respirators every month from 3M with many more arriving and being delivered.

Canada has now distributed more than 3.1 million N95 respirators to provinces and territories. These are just a few examples of the PPE we have coming in with a full list contained on our Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) website. We are also taking action on more testing and tracking of the virus. To help us do that I am pleased to announce we have finalized a contract with Abbott Laboratories for 140,000 serological test kits.

These kits can detect the presence of previous exposure to COVID-19 and will be used for research by the government of Canada’s immunity task force. These kits will play an important role in tracking how widely the virus has spread. Information made available through these kits could also prove valuable in the estimation of potential immunity and vulnerabilities in our population.

With restrictions easing across the country we know that access to PPE will prove essential for all Canadians. Business owners are opening up their doors and organizations are gearing for employees to return safely to work. They want to know how to find the right PPE to be able to function safely.

With this concern in mind we launched the PPE supply hub last week. The supply hub is an internet based platform that brings together available resources for organizations that are buying or selling personal protective equipment. It also includes consumer information and questions to be asked prior to purchase.

Since its launch in one week alone people from across the country visited the supply hub platform nearly 33,000 times. Steven Lekowski (ph), president of the Canadian Trucking Alliance, called the hub an invaluable resource and said it will help his industry find what they need to keep everyone safe while we work through this pandemic.

We know the need for sourcing PPE is out there and that`s why we at PSPC continue to buy aggressively and why our government is taking action to make sure Canadians have sufficient amounts of PPE. In closing to the thousands and thousands of Canadians who have been able to return to their jobs, a key factor in driving economic recovery, thank you.

I wish to again acknowledge the healthcare workers as well who are on the frontlines keeping Canadians safe. This voice of appreciation cannot be said enough. You are the heroes that have guided us through this pandemic and Canadians appreciate all you do. Our government will continue to ensure that you have enough PPE now and into the future. […]

Minister Navdeep Bains: Thank you very much Chrystia. Good afternoon everyone. Over the past several months our government has been doing whatever it takes to protect the health of Canadians and the Canadian economy. I’ve been proud of how communities across the country have responded as we navigate through this crisis.

We all want to be able to go back to our workplaces and the places where we meet up with others. We want to go back to school, and we want to see our elders in person. Since we issued the call to action over 6,400 companies have contacted us to offer their expertise and capacity. Of those 6,400 companies 700 have retooled to supply PPE.

We acted quickly, issuing a call to action, analyzing letters of intent and placing purchase orders. I am happy to provide a quick update on our work on developing testing and personal protective equipment capacity in Canada. We will be signing a contract with Galenvus Sciences, a Montreal-based company that will be producing the magnetic-based reagents required for lab testing.

These products are essential for lab tests. On ventilators I’m happy to say both CAE and Ventilators for Canadians have received an authorization from Health Canada. This important step is another milestone in our made in Canada project and it demonstrates the critical importance of securing domestic supply of vital lifesaving equipment to fight COVID-19.

We started by bringing together a coalition of Canadian manufacturers to design and produce multiple made in Canada ventilators. Now these firms are able to ramp up manufacturing to deliver on contracts the government has established with each group for a combined 25,000 ventilators for these 2 companies.

On masks the National Research Council is working with Dorma Filtration to adapt Dorma’s low cost reusable N95 masks for mass production to help meet the needs of Canadian healthcare workers. Before I end, I’d like to highlight the importance of our researchers and their work in all regions of our country. […]

Transcript: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau COVID-19—News conference—June 16, 2020: Brief mention of personal protective equipment and mention of including businesses owned by Black Canadians in procurement

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: […] Over the past few months, we've introduced programs that are making a real difference in the lives of millions of people right across the country. Take the Rose and Crown Pub in Canmore, Alberta. As they were getting ready to welcome customers again, they used the wage subsidy to rehire 15 employees, and they got a loan through the Canada Emergency Business Account so they could buy personal protective equipment, plexiglass screens, and additional hand-washing stations to comply with public health guidelines. […]

Question: The Black Parliamentary Caucus has a number of economic measures that they're specifically asking for, help to... in the COVID-19 recovery for Black-owned businesses as well as more work from the government to include businesses owned by Black Canadians in procurement. Are you ready to commit to those things specifically going forward?

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: Many of these things were things that we are already working on along with the Liberal Black Caucus so, yes, we know that there are significant economic measures that have been brought to the fore by this pandemic that were already existing challenges. And the success of Black-owned businesses, Black entrepreneurs and young Black professionals has been something that I've had many discussions on over the past couple of years with members of the black community in Canada, and we will be moving forward on a number of those recommendations.

Transcript: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau COVID-19—News conference—June 15, 2020: Slight mention of international supply chains and medical supplies

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: […] Earlier this morning I also joined Minister Ng and her counterparts in the Ottawa Group on World Trade Organization Reform. We discussed our work together on trade, on safeguarding international supply chains, and on building a global economy that works for everyone. Now more than ever, it is vital that we collaborate across borders to keep our economies strong and our citizens safe.

This pandemic is a global crisis and it requires global solutions, so in response to a request from the United Nations, I can also announce that Canada will provide airlift support for urgently needed medical and humanitarian supplies. Through this mission we will be delivering help to some of the world's most vulnerable people.

Transcript: Government of Canada officials COVID-19—News conference—June 12, 2020: Brief comment relating to masks

Chrystia Freeland: […] As Mr. Morneau explained and as the prime minister explained this morning, our approach is to put in place lots of measures. We want to put measures together so that we can protect the health of Canadians. Measures individually cannot guarantee the safety of Canadians. However, by taking a group of measures together, like masks, for example, like temperature screening, like quarantine, like social distancing, by doing all of these things, we are able to guarantee the safety of Canadians, and that is our priority.

Transcript: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau COVID-19—News conference—June 12, 2020: Prime Minister briefly mentions 14 billion dollars commitment to provinces and personal protective equipment in his opening statement

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: Last week, I put forward our government's commitment, $14 billion towards a safe restart agreement for the things that Canadians will need in the six months ahead. At air first ministers' meeting yesterday, the premiers, the deputy prime minister, and I continued our discussion on what this plan might look like. We talked about the measures needed, whether that's child care and paid sick leave, contact tracing, and testing, or PPE and support for the most vulnerable.

Transcript: Government of Canada officials COVID-19—News conference—June 11, 2020: Minister Joly briefly mentions support to provinces

Reporter: [Voice of interpreter]: Second question is for Melanie Joly regarding the $14 million aim to support provinces. The prime minister today said it wouldn't be a blank cheque. Why is your government so focused on targeted transfers? Why not simply hand over the money to the provinces

Minister Mélanie Joly: The government's objective in that point is to help the government and the municipalities start the economy. So in an attempt to ensure cooperation, collaboration, the prime minister has been speaking weekly with the premiers of provinces and territories and we wanted to prevent a serious offer that is also based on conditions that were L allow for a safe restart of the economy. Whether we're talking about access to PPE, whether we're talking about sufficient tests available, whether we're talking about support for daycares, child care, and to support our municipalities. We know that the provinces and territories have specific needs in the context of helping them re-open their economies. Create jobs. We have put that offer on the question and nation are ongoing and I think it is for the benefit of everyone in the country.

Transcript: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau COVID-19—News conference—June 9, 2020: Prime Minister provides updates on supplies and briefly introduces personal protective equipment supply hub website

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: […] We also signed 2 new contracts to make sure our frontline workers can continue to do their jobs safely. Joseph Ribkoff, a clothing manufacturer based out of Dorval will be providing us with 1.2 million made in Canada medical gowns with deliveries starting in July. The Stephens Company, a medical supply distributor in Brampton, will be supplying 15 million shoe covers as well as 5 million disinfectant wipes all made in Canada. […]

As we start to reopen and some people head back to work, the need for personal protective equipment and other essential supplies like hand sanitizer and disinfectant will continue to grow. We’re making sure we’re ready for that. On Saturday a ship carrying 160,000 litres of hand sanitizer arrived in Vancouver and we’re expecting 7 more ships with hand sanitizer in the coming days.

We also have almost a million face shields and more than 7 million pairs of gloves on their way to the provinces and territories. To connect businesses looking for PPE with suppliers, today we’re launching a PPE supply hub website. We also created new innovative procurement streams to allow more businesses to develop solutions and products Canadians need because of this pandemic.

Transcript: Government of Canada officials COVID-19—News conference—June 9, 2020: Update on personal protective equipment supplies and introduction of the personal protective equipment supply hub

Minister Anita Anand: Thank you Chrystia. Good afternoon. I will start today by acknowledging and thanking my provincial and territorial counterparts in procurement for their dedication and collaboration throughout this pandemic. We have spoken regularly since the beginning of this crisis to ensure that our approach to this historic procurement endeavour is coordinated and effective across the country.

As restrictions are gradually lifted, it is more important than ever to provide front-line health care workers with the equipment they need. And we need to work together to make this happen.

Now, for an update on deliveries. In keeping with our approach to diversify supply chains, flights of PPE and other supplies are coming in every day now, and Canadian companies have ramped up and retooled to help Canada in the fight against COVID-19.This past week, we received 8 plane loads of supplies, bringing us to a total of 58 cargo flights from China carrying a wide variety of PPE. And we are now transporting supplies by sea as well. The first ship arrived in the Port of Vancouver last Saturday, carrying 160,000 litres of hand sanitizer. A second ship carrying 32 shipping containers of hand sanitizer is scheduled to arrive in Vancouver today and 6 more ships are on the way.

We also continue to receive supplies from the United States (US), such as N95 respirators from 3M at a rate of approximately half a million per month. In terms of mobilizing industry, we have signed 26 domestic contracts, and I want to thank Minister Navdeep Bains and his team for their work on this front to mobilize Canadian industry. Overall, we are meeting the need when it comes to the procurement of PPE at the federal level as we supplement the procurement efforts of the provinces and territories themselves. And Canadian companies are now leading in our pandemic response on several fronts, while sustaining and creating jobs across the country. Their contribution is proving to be essential in fighting COVID-19.

For example, in this regard, we’ve received 13.8 million face shields, almost half of which were made right here in Canada. We’ve now received more than 6.6 million litres of hand sanitizer, primarily from Canadian manufacturers. And we’ve also received over 100 million masks, 34 million pairs of gloves and almost 4 million gowns.

In addition, approximately 160 ventilators have been delivered and are being inventoried by the Public Health Agency of Canada. Finally, we have distributed more than 2.7 million N95 respirators to the provinces and territories.

Moving now to new contracts. We continue to sign new contracts, focusing on domestic manufacturers, tapping into the ingenuity and the tenacity of Canadian companies to see us through the pandemic in the short and the long term. I am happy to announce that we have signed a contract with Joseph Ribkoff, a manufacturer based out of Dorval, Québec. They will provide us with 1.2 million made in Canada gowns, with deliveries starting in July.

We have also signed a contract with the Stevens Company, a distributor based in Brampton, Ontario. They will be supplying us with 15 million shoe covers as well as 5 million disinfectant wipes, all of which will be made right here in Canada. These domestic contracts are important as we continue to build multiple diversified supply chains for Canada's benefit now and into the future.

Now, for an announcement. We know that as we move forward, access to PPE will be essential to Canada's recovery. Restrictions are easing across this country in one form or another and business owners, organizations and all Canadians want to know how they can find the right PPE for their own circumstances. I am pleased to announce that we are taking action to meet that need to find information about PPE. Today, we are launching the Government of Canada's PPE supply hub to bring together available resources and information or organizations that are buying and selling personal protective equipment.

Among other things, this new online tool provides reliable information based on Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety guidelines about the type of personal protective equipment needed to ensure the safety of employees and customers. It also helps match buyers and sellers of protective equipment in the Canadian market.

We have assembled a broad collection of important resources, including web platforms launched by provinces and territories themselves and those stemming from the private sector also, such as the rapid response platform that has to date successfully matched PPE buyers and sellers more than 34,000 times. The supply hub also includes consumer information for any Canadian who wants to buy PPE to help to inform their buying decisions.

This new tool is available to all Canadians and I invite you to invite the PPE supply hub at Canada.ca/coronavirus. Over time, we will continue to expand and enhance the supply hub with new content. I would like to thank the Supply Council and my provincial and territorial counterparts for their important input into the supply hub over the past weeks. We will also continue to work with provinces and territories and industry to ascertain additional means of support and ways that we can help Canada's PPE needs. This announcement is an important step in assisting Canadians with their PPE needs as our economy reopens. As demand for PPE goes up, Canada is keeping up. […]

Minister Navdeep Bains: […] And adding to over a dozen apparel manufacturers we have worked who are now producing medical gowns, we now also have a contract in place, as mentioned by Minister Anand, with a women's apparel designer Joseph Ribkoff. They will manufacture medical grade gowns from their headquarters in Montreal. Canadian companies have also significantly stepped up to produce face shields. In addition to over a dozen companies retooling to produce more than 40 million face shields, including companies like Bauer and Burloak, we again are turning to Canadian companies to meet this need.

So I'm pleased to share with you that we have posted a request for proposal seeking made in Canada shields, face shields, and this is a positive development. It means that we have created enough made in Canada capacity to meet our needs for face shields from Canadian companies. We often talk about finding opportunities in a crisis and we're seeing so many willing partners coming together to help their fellow Canadians during this uncertain period. Together, as we continue to move forward to develop made in Canada solutions, I know we will come out of this together and stronger. I look forward to updating you again on more good news in the near future.

Transcript: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau COVID-19—News conference—June 8, 2020: Brief comments related to 14 billion dollars aid to provinces

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: […] On Friday I announced that the federal government would contribute $14 billion dollars towards a safe restart agreement with the provinces and territories for the things that all Canadians need as we get our country back up and running. Right now, we're working with the premiers on what this restart could look like in the coming months and as we do that, we're staying focused on people's new realities. If you work in a hospital or in a business that's reopening, you'll need PPE to stay safe.

Transcript: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau COVID-19—News conference—June 5, 2020: Brief discussion related to $14  billion dollars contribution to provinces

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: […] The federal government is ready to contribute $14 billion more for the things that all Canadians need. As you go back to work, we want to make sure you are protected wherever you are. Here's what the premiers and I will work on for a safe restart agreement, which would cover the next critical 6 to 8 months. We're talking about more personal protective equipment for healthcare workers on the frontlines so they can focus on saving lives instead of worrying about their safety. We're talking about making sure businesses have the PPE they need so that every Canadian is safe on the job, no matter where in the country they go back to work. We're talking about childcare, so that every parent knows there's a safe place for their kids, because when mums and dads get back to work, they shouldn't have to worry about how their kids are doing. […]

Transcript: Government of Canada officials COVID-19—News conference—June 5, 2020: Brief discussion related to financial aid for provinces

Reporter: Question. Press Canadian. Question: My question is for you Mr. Duclos and also for Ms. Freeland. This 14 billion dollars to be transferred to the provinces seems attached to conditions. I would like to know how provinces took to that. Do you really think you will be able to agree with the provinces given the fact that these are provincial areas of jurisdiction, mainly health Nick?

Chrystia Freeland: Voice of interpreter: Answer: […]. 14 billion dollars is a significant amount, and of course aid is important for the federal government to be sure that by working through the provinces we can guarantee the right conditions, the necessary conditions in -- are in place for all Canadians throughout the country. [End of interpretation] The important thing from our perspective is to ensure we have the conditions here in Canada for a safe and effective restart of the economy. The jobs numbers that Carla and Jean-Yves have just spoken about show us that this restart is beginning and I am so grateful to all the Canadian workers, all the Canadian businesses who are participating in it. We understand that we have to make sure that people have the things that they need to make that safe restart healthy, to make it safe, and to make it possible. That includes things like ensuring there is enough PPE, ensuring we are effectively testing and tracing, ensuring -- and here I am speaking as a mother, you know, ensuring that there is child care available

Transcript: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau COVID-19—News conference—June 2, 2020: Personal protective equipment update and update on Canadian companies producing supplies

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: […] Of course help for cities and towns is just one piece of the puzzle. We know that provinces and territories also need support on securing personal protective equipment and other vital supplies. Here too we’re stepping up. Since day one our government has been working around the clock to procure vital PPE.

Just take the fact that we’ve received more than 100 million surgical masks and nearly 40 million gloves and are continuing to send a whole range of supplies to the provinces and territories or that we’ve signed a contract for millions of syringes to have the supplies needed once a vaccine is ready.

Working with suppliers from around the world is key to keeping Canadians safe. At the end of the day, one of the best ways to ensure we have what we need, well it’s to make it right here at home. Our government has been working with Canadian manufacturers to make that happen.

Over half of our face shields were produced in Canada. Working with companies like Canadian Shield which retooled to manufacture visors and went from 10 employees to 200 is a win/win. Not only do we build our capacity to make these supplies at home, we support good jobs for Canadians.

The same goes for testing. We are now funding 4 Canadian companies working on what may be breakthrough solutions for COVID-19 rapid testing: Deep Biologics in Guelph, Nakoya (ph) Life Sciences in Kitchener, Forion (phonetics (ph)) in Edmonton and Metabolic Insights in Kelowna.

This is on top of the support we’ve already (technical problem at source) testing including for precision biomonitoring as they set up a test kit manufacturing facility in Ontario. We’re making huge progress but we have to keep going. As we restart the economy demand for supplies will go up and Canada must be able to keep up.

Whether it’s N95 masks or intensive care unit (ICU) equipment, we will continue our work with the provinces and territories on the supplies we need going forward. Whether it be obtaining personal protective equipment or supporting municipalities, we will continue to work with provincial and territorial premiers to keep people safe. […]

Question: Hi Prime Minister, Molly Thomas CTV National News. I was looking at the latest procurement numbers and we have less than 10% of N95 masks we have asked for across the globe, a fraction of the gloves and gowns that we need. How far away are we from domestically supplying everything we need for PPE here in Canada? Are we 20% there? Are we 50% there? How far along are we?

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: From the very beginning we have worked extremely hard to ensure that our frontline workers and more across the country get the PPE they need. We have worked with partners around the globe to procure millions of items to ensure people are protected but at the same time we’ve ramped up local production in a significant way.

We’ve restarted domestic production of many of these items so that we don’t have to be reliant on overseas imports. That has worked very well. We continue to have enough supplies to supply the provinces and their needs right now. But as we reopen we know we’re going to need more as more and more industries begin to restart and need PPE.

That’s why we’re continuing to ramp up production. We’re continuing to ramp up the scale of importation. We will continue to ensure there is enough PPE right across the country.

Transcript: Government of Canada officials COVID-19—News conference—June 2, 2020: Update on the personal protective equipment received to date

Minister Anita Anand: […] Moving to discuss supply chains, as I have said from the beginning our approach is twofold, to buy aggressively and to diversify our supply chains. As a result of our government’s aggressive procurement strategy we are now receiving millions of items of protective equipment every week with deliveries set to continue for the months to come.

Moving forward, our focus on diversifying supply chains, particularly in terms of domestic production, allows us to better adapt to external market volatility. In terms of procuring equipment and supplies, our plan remains to meet short term and anticipated long term needs as the pandemic evolves.

This is why we have placed large orders in bulk and we continue to make additional procurements to meet Canada`s immediate needs and to prepare for the future. It’s thanks to this mixed approach that we are seeing greater consistency and stability in our supply chains, despite growing global demand.

For example we have received 500,000 N95 masks from 3M in each of the last 2 months and we await delivery of more. These deliveries are in addition to the large quantities of N75 masks that 3M is providing directly to the provinces and territories on a regular basis. In terms of planning ahead, while researchers around the world are working quickly to develop a vaccine, our government is already preparing.

I am pleased to announce we have signed a contract with Becton Dickinson Canada for 37 million syringes in this regard. We are also continuing to work to procure other supplies needed for eventual mass vaccinations on a systemic level. We are making sure that when a viable vaccine is discovered Canada is ready for its administration.

Moving to international shipments, over the course of the last few months Canada has brought goods back home from international destinations—China, Ireland and Malaysia are some of the countries we are continuing to procure from. These shipments are now arriving by different means of transportation.

This morning, for example, the 51st plane chartered by our government to bring PPE home from Shanghai is now en route to Canada. These shipments are in addition to the commercial flights on which Canada frequently secures space for PPE cargo. Also, this week, the first ship carrying hand sanitizer is scheduled to dock in the Port of Vancouver.

Four other ships are already at sea and are also carrying several million litres of additional disinfectant. Now for PPE update on individual items—from the beginning of this pandemic we have maintained 1 driving priority, to keep Canadians especially frontline healthcare workers safe and healthy.

Our efforts at home and abroad are paying off. Gloves: in terms of aggregate PPE supplies from all sources, over the past 10 days we more than doubled the number of gloves received to nearly 40 million pairs. Gowns: we also doubled the number of gowns received to just over 3 million with deliveries coming from Canadian companies such as Yoga Jeans based in St. Laurent Quebec.

Surgical masks: I am also pleased to report we have now surpassed the 100 million mark of surgical masks received including large deliveries from priMED headquartered in Edmonton Alberta. Face shields: in addition we have received nearly 3 million more face shields over the past week.

More than half of the nearly 10 million face shields in aggregate received to date were made right here at home in Canada, including from companies such as the Canadian Shield, Jacobs and Thompson from Toronto and the Windsor Mold Group. I will take a moment now to highlight the incredible story of the Canadian Shield based in the Waterloo region.

Before the pandemic hit, the Canadian Shield’s parent company Inksmith was producing 3D printers, laser cutters and high tech instruction materials for schools. When asked if the company could use its technology to produce much needed face shields it met the challenge head on.

The Canadian Shield expanded from just 10 employees to more than 200 working around the clock to meet the high demand for its product. So far, the Canadian Shield has provided the federal government with more than 1.2 million face shields with more on the way.

This is an example of the several innovative Canadian companies that are helping Canadians fight COVID-19 while also sustaining and even creating local jobs allowing Canadians to get back to work. All of these companies are now delivering the goods, not just us at the federal level.

The provinces and territories, as well as health care facilities, are buying directly from some of these suppliers or from other sources. At the government level, we are working with the provinces and territories to explore ways to help support access to equipment for buyers and sellers in the Canadian market.

As the pandemic evolves, Canadians can be assured that the government remains committed to ensuring that personal protective equipment and other supplies continue to be delivered to the provinces and territories so that frontline health care workers have the equipment they need to keep Canadians safe.

I also want to thank the employees of Canadian companies who have stepped up during this very challenging time to make essential supplies. The work that you and your businesses are doing to manufacture supplies here in Canada is quite literally saving lives. As demand goes up Canada is keeping up. Thank you so much, thank you so much.

Question: This question is for Minister Anand. The government has ordered close to 40,000 ventilators but only 203 have arrived, a number that’s remained largely the same for weeks now.

Is there a problem? In terms of KN95 masks millions have been redirected outside the healthcare system. Where exactly are they being redirected and are you allowing the resale of them to the public?

Minister Anita Anand: Thank you so much for those 2 questions. The first question relating to ventilators is a good one. You’re right. We have received just over 200 ventilators. The contracts we have in place for a large portion of the remainder are in place with Canadian manufacturers as both Minister Bains and I have discussed at these pressers in the past.

They will be arriving over the next months as these companies, some of which are retooling, some of which are starting up to do the ventilator production, are doing just that. You will see the numbers of ventilators on our chart, on our website, increasing over the next months.

I will say that those ventilator procurements are in addition to the existing stock of ventilators that the Public Health Agency of Canada has and of course provinces and individual healthcare systems are making their own procurements across a range of PPE and other items as well.

Moving on to KN95 masks, close to 2 billion masks have been redeployed to other areas of government. At this point there is no plan to make those available for retail use. I want to remind you and everyone that we are still in the middle of the crisis especially from a procurement perspective.

All of our procurements at the current time are based on federal and provincial orders that have come into us for delivery out to the healthcare system. There is a demand for PPE outside of the healthcare system and we are currently devising a means by which we can be more broad-based in terms of supplies and use of PPE across Canada.

Question: Thanks so much for taking my question. Just on the syringe order, when will the syringes start arriving? The second part of that for Dr. Tam if I can, do you think in order for a vaccine to be effective it needs to be mandatory? We have 37 million syringes coming in that basically all of Canada must be vaccinated when this arrives?

Minister Anita Anand: Thank you so much Alex for that question. The contract with Becton Dickinson for the syringes is a new contract and the delivery schedule is still being determined. I will say that we are planning ahead for the eventual discovery of a vaccine.

The need for those syringes at this moment is not as high as we are seeing across other PPE items. Having said that we are working to procure supplies including those syringes and other supplies that would be needed for the eventual discovery of a vaccine and its administration throughout Canada, but for the health aspect of that I’ll turn it over to Dr. Tam who may have more to say on vaccine administration.

Question: Hi everyone. My first question is for Minister Anand and perhaps Minister Bains. You have indicated that you would like to see Canada be self-sufficient in terms of personal equipment.

I was wondering whether you consider that Canada is following the trajectory that was planned at the time, and when you think we will no longer need to import equipment from other countries, such as China?

Minister Anita Anand: I’d like to start and give the floor to Minister Bains. We won’t give up. Although there are challenges, we are maintaining a constant flow of goods from various domestic and international sources to keep the supply chain moving.

We have contracts with domestic and international suppliers, and our priority needs to be to maintain and to order, to have orders, equipment, for Canadians. So, it’s very important in the short and long terms, and we are acting progressively and proactively for Canadians. So, Nav, as well.

Question: That didn’t quite answer my question about when we’ll be able to be selfsufficient, but I also had another question about syringes and I wanted to hear you on that in French. Where do the syringes come from and when can we expect to receive them?

Minister Anita Anand: We’re making sure that we have all the products Canada needs, and now products like syringes are coming in the short term, but it’s not the product we’re so concerned about. We need a lot of things before syringes, such as gowns, gloves and ventilators. We're focusing on those products now and also on the other products over the long term.

Transcript: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau COVID-19—News conference—May 26, 2020: Announcement of contract with General Motors Canada and personal protective equipment update

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: […] This morning I also want to provide an update on personal protective equipment. In the last 10 weeks alone over 40 flights have arrived in Canada carrying much needed PPE. This represents hundreds of thousands of items, everything from masks to hospital gowns that we’ve shipped to our frontline workers. At the same time we’re also investing in production here at home. On that front today we’re taking yet another critical step forward. I can announce we’ve signed a contract with General Motors (GM) to produce 10 million face masks. As we speak GM employees are already making these masks. They will keep people safe and help slow the spread of COVID-19. For the auto workers in Oshawa this contract will support good well-paying jobs in an industry that’s faced tough times. On testing we’re also making progress. We’re supporting companies and research centres across the country as they develop new improved COVID-19 test kits and products. For lifesaving healthcare equipment we’ve signed a new contract for 10,000 ventilators being produced through a partnership between Canadian Nobel laureate Dr Art McDonald, his team and Vexos. Deliveries will begin this summer bringing our total of made in Canada ventilators to 40,000. On this and other supplies for frontline workers I know Minister Bains and Minister Anand will have more details to share later today. Over the past 10 weeks, more than 40 planes carrying personal protective equipment have arrived in Canada. We're talking about hundreds of thousands of items including masks and hospital gowns that have been distributed to our frontline workers.

Question: If I could ask you about PPE. You were talking about the flights that have arrived but where are we running into bottlenecks? What’s preventing us from getting even more of this equipment?

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: I think there is a—there are global challenges around provision of PPE. We have demonstrated with 40 flights and hundreds of thousands of items, many in the millions that we have received and distributed across the country that we are providing for Canadians as we need to. But at the same time we recognize that as the economy reopens, as perhaps a second wave might hit us, we need to be ready and that’s why we continue to draw on even more PPE. We continue to go through stringent and rigorous quality control because we have seen a rise in counterfeit products and products that don’t meet a rigorous Canadian challenge standard. We have ensured that every item distributed in Canada has met our standards but it’s why we’ve also moved towards increasing and creating domestic production for PPE and Canadians stepping up to help Canadians is what this country is all about. We’re going to continue to do the work necessary to ensure that right across the country we have the PPE necessary to move forward safely. From the very beginning, we have been working to ensure that the personal protective equipment that is distributed across the country is of high quality. We continue to receive products from various countries around the world. At the same time as we are creating local production, domestic production, because we know that as the economy re-opens we are going to need personal protective equipment even more and we must be ready for a possible second wave. We’re going to be ready because that’s what we are doing as a country.

Transcript: Government of Canada officials COVID-19—News conference—May 26, 2020: Updates related to personal protective equipment supplies and new contract with General Motors Canada

Minister Anita Anand: […] As I stated before, because this is very important, a contract has been signed with the corporation LuminUltra in New Brunswick to produce reagents in quantities that could enable us to carry out 500,000 tests a week up until March 2021. [End of interpretation] -- We have also placed large orders of reagent with 4 premier suppliers that work closely with provincial laboratories. These contracts will allow provinces and territories to access reagent and other lab products required for testing while we remain in negotiation with others. I am also pleased to report that last week 6 letters of interest were sent to 5 companies and post-secondary institutions to procure chemical agents for the domestic production of reagent. When it comes to swabs, we have ordered close to 12 million and have received over 3 million so far. The specific types of swabs necessary for COVID-19 testing remain in very short supply globally, so we are working with domestic suppliers with capacity for 3D printing of swabs and with techniques for swab sterilization. In this process, we are collaborating closely with minister Hajdu and Health Canada in the area of rapid testing and serological testing to build a base supply as tests become approved and more widely available. Turning now to domestic supplies of PPE, in terms of overall domestic supply of PPE. Here at home, capacity is on the rise, and we are seeing tremendous ingenuity on the part of Canadians as they ramp up, re-tool production lines. I continue to work closely with minister Bains on this front, and our efforts to date have resulted in 24 contracts with Canadian companies to help Canada in the fight against COVID-19. Today, as the prime minister mentioned, we are also proud to announce a contract with GM Canada. Under this contract, 10 million surgical masks and face coverings for Canadians will be produced here at home in Oshawa, Ontario over the coming year. GM joins a growing list of companies right across the country who are using their manufacturing capabilities and skilled workforce to help shore up the supplies that Canada needs. Turning now to international procurement, while domestic production of all types of PPE ramps up, we must still continue to procure from abroad to meet our immediate needs. International supply chains are stretched across the board with global demand for vital supplies continuing to accelerate. [Speaking French] [Voice of interpreter] -- Are now arriving the country regularly. Just last week 7 cargo flights supplied more cargo to Canada representing in total 42 cargo flights from China over the last 10 weeks. We now intend to resort to maritime transportation considering the significant volume of PPE that could be shipped. [End of interpretation ] In the past week alone, major shipments have arrived from our own chartered flights and from our suppliers. Two of the biggest models of planes in the world delivered hundreds of thousands of medical gowns to Canada bringing our weekly total of gowns received to more than half a million as part of 1.9 million overall. In addition, large sea containers of hand sanitizer are also en route, complementing the 5.2 million litres of hand sanitizer that we have received to date, the majority of which was produced right here at home by Fluid Energy out west and Irving Oil in Atlantic Canada. On N95s, we received hundreds of thousands of N95 respirators that this week passed testing and are now being distributed to the provinces. We have also received 7.6 million more surgical masks this week, bringing our aggregate total to more than 87 million surgical masks. Finally in the past week alone, the number of gloves received has more than doubled, bringing our total to 31 million pairs, which we now know are in need in some of our provinces. In conclusion, with every order and every delivery, challenges remain to be overcome. At this point we anticipate demand to continue to accelerate in Canada and around the world. It is for this reason that I must stress that while the numbers of deliveries are encouraging and we are definitely moving in the right direction, my message to my team is to be vigilant. We must keep going. That is precisely what our government intends to do. I want Canadians to know that we will remain steadfast in our efforts to send safe and effective supplies to our front-line health care workers as quickly as possible. Thank you so much.

Reporter: […] When we look at the equipment that was ordered and what we received, in spite of all our efforts, I think we received only 10% of what we ordered, so we don't have all we need. My question is what are the challenges? Secondly, is this a cause for concern, considering a potential second wave?

Minister Anita Anand: (Voice of interpreter): Thank you very much for your question. There is no doubt that we are dealing with a very competitive market. Challenges still remain. There's a constant flow of goods coming from various sources. Now, and for the months and years to come. So we need plans for now, and for the future as well. The figures you see on our website are current figures, but we have other products, which will be arriving in the future as well. Lots of products will be arriving in the future. Thank you very much. […]

Minister Navdeep Bains: Thank you very much, just to build on the comments made by minister Anand, today what we announced in the meeting Canada project update is strengthening local supply chains as well. This is about building domestic capacity, but also identifying the key inputs and the raw materials that we need to build this personal protective equipment. And so I think that is a key component of our strategy as well, and we'll continue to support entrepreneurs, support local businesses, support highly skilled workers and their ideas, and so this is a complementary strategy. It is built not solely on procurement, but a made in Canada project, that's designed to invest in Canadians and their ideas, and we're seeing that domestic capacity continue to build in many areas, we highlighted, for example, medical-grade gowns, where we used locally supplied construction house wrap, as well as nylon from airbags to meet those medical-grade gown requirements. We're looking at key chemical inputs we need for reagent, as well as other aspects to build that domestic supply for testing. And also for N95 respirators, we talked about a reconfiguration of plastic equipment that's needed domestically, as well as novel cellulose-based material. So we're not only building personal protective equipment, we're also starting to identify the unique supply chains that support them within Canada to make sure that we have a domestic supply chain in order to meet the exceeding demands for personal protective equipment.

Reporter: As a follow up on that right now, what is the proportion of PPEs that we're producing locally, according to our needs. (Voice of interpreter): A more general question. How concerned are you that we may not have the equipment we need for the second wave, since we only have 10% of what we need now. Thank you. [End of Interpretation]

Minister Anita Anand: From the very beginning, we have been planning for a potential second wave. So while our needs are opening up on the one hand, we are continuing to ensure that our contracts that we have in place now are actually operating in the short and the long term. So the goods that you are seeing and the products you're seeing on our website, reflects the amounts of goods that are coming in, in increments. And you are going to see those numbers rise over time, as we execute additional contracts, and as we plan for the future. And so whether we're talking about face shields, gloves, gowns, hand sanitizer, N95 masks, surgical masks, we have complex supply chains in place. We have, as minister Bain said a domestic supply chain operating at the same time as international goods coming in. So for example, 42 flights have come in from China carrying PPE for Canadians and front line healthcare workers. That's for the present time. But in addition to now, we are also planning for the potential second wave or surge or whatever you'd like to call it, to ensure that Canada is at all times ready. And my final point is that we have to remember that we are purchasing, the federal government, is purchasing goods, domestically and internationally in addition to the goods that are being procured by provinces and territories themselves, and individuals healthcare centres. And so this exemplifies the full force team Canada approach that is occurring in this country and is so heartening to see. Thank you very much.

Transcript: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau COVID-19—News conference—May 25, 2020: Comments related to personal protective equipment supplies and preparedness for possible second wave

Question: Good morning Prime Minister. Your government, as well as provincial and local ones asked Canadians to make pretty big sacrifices to curb the spread of COVID-19, in order to give the healthcare system time to get ready. When we look at federal procurement data, it suggests you've obtained anywhere from about .6% to 23% of the goods you've set out to buy, help equip the hospitals and frontline workers. So, I'm wondering if you have confidence that the system is in fact ready for a potential second wave?

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: We have been... we have received over 40 flights of PPE into Canada over the past weeks, and we'll continue to receive flights almost every single day. The amount of PPE we're procuring from international sources continues to increase, while at the same time we are ramping up domestic production of things like masks, and gowns, and ventilators; the kinds of things that are actually necessary to handle that second wave. We know there's lots more to do, but we have been delivering on the needs that we're seeing right across the country.

Transcript: Government of Canada officials COVID-19—News conference—May 19, 2020: Discussions related to personal protective equipment and supplies

Reporter [Speaking French]: […] We seem very quickly to get more PPE, but as I know, no province has said they have a lack of ventilators. What will they be used for?

Minister Anita Anand [Speaking French]: Thank you for the question. It's important to have some plans for the short and long-term. We don't know what will happen with the COVID-19, and we must put in place some plans for the weeks to come and the months to come, and also the year to come. So it's very important to have the proper equipment for Canadians now and for the future.

Reporter: Good morning. For minister Anand, I wanted to ask you about domestic companies retooling for medical supplies. As the economy is reopening and they want to be getting back to their usual business, how long do you foresee them continuing to make these supplies, and should it be something that we consider in the very long-term, having more domestic production of these kinds of things?

Minister Anita Anand: It's a very good question, and as I just responded in French, I'll say a similar thing in English. We don't know how the pandemic is going to affect regions throughout this country in the short and long-term. We also believe that it is important that health care frontline professionals have the equipment they need now and in the months and years to come. And so our approach in terms of contracting both domestically and internationally is to ensure that we have a steady supply of goods coming into Canada. We've had 34 flights coming in from China recently. You asked about domestic production. It is so incredibly important to focus on that. Because we want to make sure that Canadian stores of personal protective equipment and other supplies will be van in short and long-term. That's why we have contracts in place to ensure steady streams of these supplies over the short and long-term. This applies not only to surgical masks but also to N95 masks. There's a company in Montreal, Medicom, producing both kinds of masks in the coming weeks and months. In addition, gowns and face shields, hand sanitizer also very important for us to have these supplies on hand ready to serve Canadians as we move through the next phases of this pandemic.

[…]

Reporter: […] In anticipation of a vaccine being developed, is there anything you're doing now to get ready? Perhaps talking to domestic international companies about making sure that such a vaccine can be manufactured here. Are you purchasing supplies related to vaccines in advance? Syringes and other things.

Minister Anita Anand: It’s a really good question. Obviously as I just said we are preparing for the short and the long-term, and the key point in the long-term preparation is to make sure that Canada is positioned well in terms of procuring and manufacturing vaccines. So by all means, we are planning for that. We are ensuring that Canada would have the additional supplies that you mentioned, to ensure that we can move forward with vaccinations when the time is right. No question about it.

Transcript: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau COVID-19—News conference—May 14, 2020: Brief comment related to personal protective equipment

Question: […] My follow-up is concerning the rapid tests that were supposed to be coming out a couple of weeks ago. I know Indigenous communities have tests, but they're not the rapid test, what happened to that?

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: As was highlighted a number... last week, I believe, there have been challenges around the rapid tests that I believe an Ottawa company had put forward. They've gone back to try and improve them or repair them. We've seen many, many new technologies come forward in terms of helping, and we've moved very quickly on them, but it also requires us to adjust when things aren't working exactly the way they were hoped to be working, so I know people are working very, very hard to make sure that Indigenous communities, and indeed our remote northern communities, get the testing capacity they need as quickly as possible, but we need to make sure they are reliable tests.

Transcript: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau COVID-19—News conference—May 11, 2020: Brief comment related to personal protective equipment

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: I think as we move forward, the role of the federal government will be to support provinces in their reopening plans. We will be there to help them make sure that there are enough testing for their levels, that there is more PPE arriving, that we're putting in place measures to follow the guidelines agreed to by all provinces and the federal government on necessary prerequisites to opening.

Transcript: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau COVID-19—News conference—May 9, 2020: Discussion related to suspended shipment of N95 masks

Question: […] The government has suspended the shipment of 8 million N95 masks made in China that failed to meet specifications. How big of a loss is that for Canada? And given that this was a Montreal company that had outsourced to China, does this not prove that we should not be relying on foreign outsourcing for such critical equipment?

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: We have been working very, very hard since the very beginning to bring in as much PPE as we possibly can, we've talked about almost... about 23 different flights just from China of millions of items of PPE, because we know the need is, and has been so pressing. At the same time we have ensured that we are ramping up domestic capacity to be able to ensure that we're covering the needs that we have for the longer term, and I want to thank all the companies and manufacturers who've stepped up. At the same time, we also know that in the millions of items that we've received, we have to ensure that they are at the top quality expected by our Canadian healthcare workers, and the withholding or the suspending of shipments from this particular supplier is proof that our system works. We are testing all those masks, all those items, before they reach our healthcare workers, because we will not compromise on the safety and protection for our healthcare workers.

Question: […] Prime Minister, a few weeks ago one of your deputy ministers said that Canada was spending between $1.50... or sorry, excuse me, $1.20 and $6 per N95 mask. How much did we pay for these ones?

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: Right now, we're in discussions with the supplier because we will not be burdened with masks that do not fit our stringent requirements. There are discussions ongoing with them about whether there are alternative uses for these masks, but we will not be paying for masks that do not hit the standards that we expect to give to our frontline workers.

Transcript: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau COVID-19—News conference—May 8, 2020: Discussion related to Taiwanese donation of surgical masks

Question: […] Taiwan has donated 500,000 surgical masks needed by Canadian healthcare workers on the front lines of the pandemic. Your foreign minister wouldn't thank the country by name, will you?

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: I'm happy to thank Taiwan for its generous donation. It is important at this point that Canadians and all people around the world pull together to be there for each other, because this is a global challenge that is going to face a global response. We need to do this together and we will.

Question: […] The former Prime Minister of Australia, Malcolm Turnbull, says China is a bully, and that the way for Canada to deal with China is to stand up for it instead of backing down. Is your government standing up to China, or is it backing away from China?

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: […] We're going to ensure that Canadians have the equipment, the supplies, the support they need to make it through this pandemic. And of course, at the same time, we will be asking difficult questions about how we're making it through this pandemic, how this came to happen, how we can learn from this. There will be plenty of time for questions in the months to come, my focus, rightly, is on doing everything I can to help Canadians through this.

Transcript: Interview with Minister Anita Anand—CBC Radio 1 (London)—CBCL FM – May 7, 2020: Minister Anand discusses the COVID-19 Supply Council

Rebecca Zandbergen (host): Tell me a little bit about this National Supply Council. What is it intended to do?

Minister Anita Anand: The Supply Council is another tool in our federal toolbox to ensure that our response to the crisis is comprehensive and continuing to be effective. What we're doing is bringing together a group of leaders from private and non-profit sectors to ensure that Canada is well equipped with the PPE and medical supplies that we need today and moving forward. So it's on top of our efforts to ensure that we are doing what Canada needs.

Rebecca Zandbergen (host): Okay. What is the current state of supply in Canada? We know we had issues early on. Where are we at now?

Minister Anita Anand: The question is a good one and it's a difficult one because you have to remember that we are purchasing multiple different types of PPE: face shields, ventilators, surgical masks, respirators, gloves, hand sanitizer, gowns in bulk that we are continuing to bring in goods from international ports as well as producing domestic goods in bulk. And in a market characterized by a surge in demand, we are buying existing inventory wherever possible from a diverse range of sources in the short and the long-term to make sure that front-line healthcare workers have what they need to keep Canadians safe.

Rebecca Zandbergen (host): We have heard that there is this global shortage though and that's been part of the problem and now Health Canada is sort of easing up on its own standards to allow it to import more things like masks and gowns. Is that happening right now still?

Minister Anita Anand: Well let's be clear, Health Canada has particular standards and it is working quickly to make sure that numerous goods are able to enter the Canadian marketplace after passing through their testing. So for example last week's 14 new tests were approved in Canada and this movement by Health Canada to ensure that we have product being approved is for sure very, very helpful to ensure that we can bring PPE into Canada. But we can't forget our domestic suppliers. Domestic manufacturers across the country have really stepped up. We've got Medicom in Quebec producing masks. Logistik Unicorp in Quebec also will be producing gowns. And in the London area we have InkSmith from Kitchener producing 10 million face shields and further in Southwestern Ontario, Windsor Mold, producing face shields also. So it's a Team Canada approach right across the country.

Transcript: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau COVID-19—News conference—May 7, 2020: Question related to rejected N95 masks

Question: […] Earlier this week the Chinese embassy tweeted that the N95 masks which were rejected by Canada last month were the result of a contractual issue that has now been resolved. Your deputy prime minister and Health minister said that they would look into it but have yet to respond to explain what happened. Was there a contract problem that led to 1 million masks from China being rejected, what was the issue, and has it been resolved?

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: We have over the past weeks received millions upon millions of items of PPE from around the world, including from China. Over the course of this time, there have been a small number that have been not to the levels that Canadians expected. We are continuing to follow up and work on it to make sure that the equipment that we deliver to our frontline workers, to our healthcare workers across this country is at Canadian standards. We will be receiving flights of PPE from China and other places almost daily over the coming weeks. We know that we are needing to ensure enough high-quality equipment for Canadians right across the country, and we're continuing to do just that.

Transcript: Interview with Minister Anita Anand—The Rob Snow Show 1310 News—May 4, 2020: Announcement of COVID-19 Supply Council

Minister Anita Anand: […] The Supply Council's another tool in our toolbox to make sure that our response to the COVID-19 crisis is effective and widespread. We are, with the Supply Council, bringing together a group of leaders from the private and non-profit sectors to ensure that Canada is well equipped with PPE and medical supplies that we need today and moving forward. So, the council will provide advice on establishing further diversified and adaptable supply chains for key items like masks, gloves, and disinfectants from point A to point Z as the circumstances around COVID-19 continue to evolve.

[…] We are buying in bulk, we are being aggressive because we need to compete in this market, and so the approach has been effective to date and as I said, the Supply Council's another tool in our toolbox to ensure that our response is effective, broadly speaking.

[…] Without question. We are taking an aggressive procurement approach to secure lifesaving equipment and supplies that Canada needs from a diverse range of suppliers around the world and right here at home, so Canadian businesses of all sizes right across the country have truly stepped up to meet our needs in the fight against COVID-19. For example, we have agreements with companies to produce gowns and masks and test kits and face shields. These are all coming from Canadian companies.

Transcript: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau COVID-19—News conference—May 3, 2020: Brief discussions related to the announcement of the COVID-19 Supply Council

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: […] But until we have effective treatments, or better yet, a vaccine, we still need a reliable supply of everything from masks to ventilators. So later today, Minister Anand will announce the details of a new COVID-19 Supply Council. This council will be tasked with finding innovative solutions to ensure our country continues to have the vital supplies necessary to keep Canadians safe.

Question: […] Prime Minister, can you tell us more about the Supply Council, what specifically will it be focusing on, and how long is its mandate?

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: From the very beginning, we've made it an absolute priority to procure the necessary personal protective equipment for our frontline workers in this country. We have managed to work with the provinces on sourcing necessary products from around the world so that we've been able to meet the demand across the country. At the same time, we recognize that it was important to develop our own domestic capacity for PPE, and that is coming online now. At the same time, we recognize that as the economy starts to open in different places in different ways, it is going to be important to have even more personal protective equipment for people working in the private sector in various industries, and that's why we need to do everything we can to ensure we're getting the right procurement. That's why we're moving forward with this Supply Council and Minister Anand will be at the noon press conference to answer more questions on the council.

Transcript: Government of Canada officials COVID-19—News conference—May 3, 2020: Discussions related to personal protective equipment, supplies and introduction of the COVID-19 Supply Council

Minister Anita Anand: […] As with the rest of the world, most of our supplies continue coming from abroad. We are still facing logistical challenges because of the heightened global demand but significant progress being made. [End of interpretation] Air Canada has helped us bring home 20 plane loads of supplies with flights coming in nearly every day this past week. We have also engaged United Parcel Service (UPS) to provide additional assistance with moving PPE out of Shanghai ensuring that supplies are coming into the warehouse and making their way onto the plane back to Canada. [Speaking French] Our objective is to put safe, reliable and effective equipment in the hands of our health professionals. And we are taking all necessary measures for this to happen. We are remaining extremely vigilant when it comes to the quality of the products we are distributing. [End of Interpretation] We make needed adjustments so that we are only dealing with companies that can meet the standards that we require. [Speaking French] Nationally, Canadian companies are continuing to increase production and deliveries are underway. [End of interpretation] Based in Toronto, Thornhill Medical delivered the first shipment of ventilators to the federal government. Our first shipment of face shields began to come in this week more than 740,000 received to date. Half of which were produced here in Canada by companies like Bauer. We have also signed new contracts for 15.5 million face shields from Sterling Industries, affiliated with Honda and HP Canada. We managed to secure a shipment from China of vital chemical components required to produce the agent. This week, we have finalized a new agreement with a leading Biotech company in New Brunswick as the corporation now has the components that it needs to produce enough reagent for 500,000 more tests per week right through to March of next year, domestic production right here at home. [Speaking French] We are signing a long-term agreement with Medicom for the manufacturing of 20 million N95 respirators and 18 million surgical masks per year for next 10 years. This is part of our plan to ensure that Canada is prepared now and in the future in collaboration with minister Bains. Furthermore, we have signed a new contract with Logistik Unicorp, a manufacturing company in St. Jean sur Richelieu in Quebec. They are providing 11 million medical gowns. Logistik Unicorp is one of the 30,000 corporations which responded to the call for action that was published on the buy and sell sites where we are asking suppliers to help us fight COVID-19. [End of interpretation] How companies have stepped up to meet the current challenges that we are facing to. Their ingenuity and tenacity will help us through this crisis. Last week relaunched a running report of our procurement on our website. Which was updated on Friday. [Speaking French] The figures are showing we made progress in ordering and obtaining supplies from the country and abroad. We will not slow down our efforts. [End of interpretation] In addition, we continue. We are not letting up. A sudden resurgence would renew a further order of critical supplies. That is why I have formed a COVID-19 Supply Council, which brings together a diverse group of leaders, from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce to the Red Cross, to provide advice on buildings innovative and agile supply chains from start to finish. This council is about bringing together diverse industry and experiences in order to best serve Canadians. The council complements my work with procurement ministers from provinces and territories right across the country. When we spoke on Friday, my counterpart in Nunavut raised and urgent shortage of swabs. With the Department of National Defense we were able to ensure a shipment of swab was sent on its way to Nunavut within 24 hours. Cooperation has proof on to be in valuable, time and time again, throughout this crisis. […]

Question: […] Exactly what gap is currently in the supply of PPE that you're hoping this council will fill. What happen specifically is missing from the complement this will now help?

Minister Anita Anand: […] The Supply Council isn't meant to fill a particular gap in the supply chain per se. The goal in establishing the Supply Council is to surprise another lens into the point to point procurements that we are doing from start to finish, from manufacturer to arrival to production in Canada, what is it that we can be doing differently to ensure that we have proper and effective and efficient procurements with -- within our government and across the country. And so the idea is that it is adding to our existing processes by drawing on the expertise of multiple individuals from a diverse set of sectors so that we can ensure that we are thinking about all the necessary things that we need to be thinking about in procurement. So for example, in terms of distribution, we have much to learn in terms of diverse communities. Should we be adopting alternative and additional processes to ensure that we can reach vulnerable populations and part of our conversation with the Supply Council will resolve around Canada's incredible diversity and how we can do better in terms of our procurement to ensure that everyone has supplies that are necessary across this country?

Question: What is the government's forecast of how much PPE we will need either for a number of population or per week or mix of those, when we reopen. How much more PPE will we need? Once we are all trying to get back to work?

Minister Anita Anand: It is definitely true that across the country, wherever you are, people are talking about personal protective equipment and the incredible needs that we are foreseeing. Let me be clear, our first priority as the federal government at the current time is to procurement PPE for the frontline healthcare workers. And that is what we are doing every single day and procuring from international sources and domestic retooling is also part of that equation. Diversifying supply chains. In terms of what is needed for PPE, this is an ongoing conversation that I have been having with my provincial and territorial counter parts and we are going to be continuing to have as we go through the next -- go through the next phases of the pandemic, but I will say that from a procurement perspective, we are planning for the short and long term. […]

Question: Yeah, so more Minister Anand, as we speak, some provinces move faster to recovery. Or I guess in later stages where they are starting to reopen, I guess before some others, will PPE distribution be affected by that, so after province, further along, in to a recovery phase, does that factor in to how PPE is distributed? I know it currently is per capita. Can you elaborate?

Minister Anita Anand: Based on requests that have come from the provinces and territories or purchases they require for frontline healthcare workers and so I said that is the priority at the current time. […]

But I will say that there is much, with to be done on essential services and PPE for special services and it is important to remember that the federal government is not the only purchasers of PPEs in the country. Hospitals are procuring PPE, individual businesses are procuring PPE and health care centres themselves are procuring PPE. So this is an ongoing conversation but it is important to remember that there are a number of purchases, purchasers in the country and the most important point is that the global environment is incredibly strained. The demand is high. […]

Transcript: Interview with Minister Anita Anand—CBC News Network with Michael Serapio (weekend)—May 3, 2020: Discussion related to Health Canada’s decision regarding the Spartan Cube and personal protective equipment updates

Minister Anita Anand: […] I Wanna be clear that Health Canada last week did approve 14 new different types of tests and so the delay that you're referring to is one that isn't actually a recall or a delay, it is part of the process of building new technology. Now, the point that you raise about vulnerable communities needing to be tested and needing to have access to tests is an important one and in that vein, I would like to highlight that we did sign a contract with LuminUltra this week for the production and dissemination of 500,000 tests per week into March 2021. So we are diversifying our supply chains, we're diversifying the ability to test and the ways and means that we're going to be using 2 effect tests. The Spartan test is just one piece of that diversification story and we are making sure that millions of Canadians are going to be tested including in vulnerable communities as you suggest. […]

Transcript: Question Period in the House of Commons with Minister Anand— Reported by CBC News Now with Suhana Meharchand (weekday)—April 29, 2020: Discussion related to counterfeit personal protective equipment

Minister Anita Anand: Mr. Speaker our priority is always to make sure that we have safe, effective equipment and supplies in the hands of our frontline healthcare workers. Given the complexity of the global supply chain, ensuring quality of the product is extremely important. We are working with established suppliers and distributors as well as quality assurance experts and we have strong processes in place to help ensure that the supplies we receive meet all the necessary standards. In addition, the Public Health Agency of Canada has robust testing measures in place. We must make sure that equipment is safe.

Member of Parliament (MP) Kelly Block: Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to ask the Minister how many shipments, um, or if she can tell us who is ordering these supplies.

Minister Anita Anand: […] The process that we are following at Public Services and Procurement is that we are ordering based on orders that have come from the provinces based on what Public Health tells us they've requested.

MP Kelly Brock: Thank you very much. Can the Minister at least tell us what measures are in place to ensure Canada is only buying PPE from reputable sources?

Minister Anita Anand: There are a number of points at which quality assurance is occurring, Mr. Speaker. We are ensuring that manufacturers are required to certify that they're meeting specific standards, new controls by the Chinese government for international procurements require additional oversight and the PSPC is working closely with Public Health to ensure that there is quality assurance taking place right here in Canada, in Canadian warehouses.

Transcript: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau COVID-19—News conference—April 28, 2020: Prime Minister discusses impact of personal protective equipment on reopening of economy

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: Our priority over the past weeks has been to ensure enough personal protective equipment for our frontline workers who are doing extraordinary work to keep us all safe. But we also know that as different provinces look at starting to reopen certain sectors, certain industries, certain parts of the economy, there is going to be an increased need for personal protective equipment. That's why we continue to procure massive amounts of PPE from overseas, while at the same time watching the Canadian production come online so that we can have our domestic capacity to rely on as well. We know that having the right amounts of PPE for industries that want to reopen will be essential before they reopen, and that's why we're accelerating the rate at which we are taking in personal protective equipment.

Transcript: Interview with Minister Anita Anand—Breakfast Television (City TV)—April 28, 2020: Discussion related to personal protective equipment

Melanie Ng (reporter): […] No doubt, need to go hand in hand. Minister, I wanna talk to you about PPE because that is a major topic of conversation. Just out this morning, the Canadian Medical Association is calling for more transparency when it comes to the availability of PPE. Can you provide an update on where we stand when it comes to shipments, getting in protective equipment that we can use, 'cause we have seen some mishaps coming in from various areas, where it stands especially if we go through phase 2 or phase 3, another wave.

Minister Anita Anand: An excellent question. I will say that we are operating in a highly competitive global environment with countries competing for the same goods, the same PPE, largely from China, and so we have been buying in bulk and bringing goods back to Canada. We have had over 10 shipments back from China and in order to increase transparency which I think where your question was going, we have placed a web page up on our website, the PSPC website, to allow Canadians to see what we are purchasing and what has been delivered back to Canada, so once again, this is an ongoing process of bringing goods, bringing PPE back to Canada, and we have a steady stream of goods coming in. We're watching the supply chain very closely because of the strained international circumstances. At the same time, we are re-tooling domestic industry, so we had the first ventilators delivered to the federal government yesterday, produced by Thornhill Medical, we are seeing ramping up in PPE by companies across the country producing things like rapid test kits, gowns, face masks, face shields. These are all things that Canadian companies are producing from coast to coast to coast.

Melanie Ng (reporter): I guess the big question, Minister, are you confident that there will be enough?

Minister Anita Anand: The important thing to remember is that the federal government is one of many different purchasers in the country. The provincial governments and health care centres are themselves purchasing personal protective equipment and so we are contributing to the supply of PPE in the country. We are buying millions of items in bulk every single day and working collaboratively with the provinces and territories to ensure that our front-line health care workers have what they need not only today but going into the long term so that as we roll out into a more normal way of working, we can ensure that our health care officials have what they need as they're keeping Canadians safe.

Transcript: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau COVID-19—News conference—April 27, 2020: Prime Minister briefly discusses shipments and domestic production

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: Every single day, every week we are ramping up our supplies of personal protective equipment. We have been ensuring that, as much as possible, our healthcare workers, our frontline essential workers get the equipment they need to keep themselves safe. But as we look at reopening the economy in different parts of the country, we know there is going to be an increased demand for personal protective equipment. That's one of the principles and guidelines we have to keep in mind as we look at reopening: will there be enough PPE for various sectors to open up? And that's a piece of it. We are expecting to receive a shipment of PPE every day on flights from China this week; we are ramping up our domestic production capacities for personal protective equipment because we know that is going to be an important source for Canadian businesses and Canadian industry in the coming months. These are all things we're doing to make sure we can take the decisions that will gradually reopen the economy while keeping Canadians safe.

Transcript: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau COVID-19—News conference—April 25, 2020: Prime Minister discusses impact of personal protective equipment on reopening of economy

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: […] So today, we're announcing $62.5 million to support fish and seafood processors through this crisis. As we fight COVID-19, people who work in fish and seafood processing plants across the country are playing a crucial role when it comes to getting food to our tables. This funding will help ensure that they can safely continue their important work. We're giving more money to processors so that they can purchase personal protective equipment for workers, adapt to health protocols, and support other social distancing measures. For example, fish processing plants could buy new equipment like freezers or storage space so that their product, food for Canadians, can stay good while they respond to a changing market. With this announcement we're giving fish and seafood processors more resources to adapt to the many challenges brought on by the pandemic, and above all, keep workers safe. […]

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: First of all, one of the criteria for starting to reopen certain industries will certainly be making sure there’s enough personal protective equipment to be able to work safely, and so we know that demand will continue to grow across the country. We're going to do it gradually, in part because we need to have enough equipment in all provinces to protect workers, and not just the workers in our health care system. That’s why we’re significantly increasing our capacity, both in terms of Canadian production and imports from abroad; however, if we do not have enough equipment, we will not be able to reopen certain industries. […]

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: Adequate PPE supplies will be a part of that, but I can assure you that we are very much on that; whether it's the plane loads of PPE supplies that will be coming in almost every single day next week, or the domestic production capacity which is ramping up rapidly and will be ready to support Canadians as we move forward on steps towards reopening. These are the things that we need to make sure we're getting right so as to ensure that all the sacrifices we've made over the past weeks won't be for nothing.

Transcript: Government of Canada officials COVID-19—News conference—April 24, 2020: Minister Anand provides update on procurement and new contracts with Canadian companies

Minister Anita Anand: […] I will be addressing international procurements, domestic production, and I will provide an update on our procurements. Given the intense global demand for equipment and supplies, we are facing many challenges. Much of the world's supply is manufactured in China. And moving materials out of that country is highly complex. We have experienced challenges as the prime minister discussed earlier this week. I want to reassure Canadians that we can continue to adjust and refine our logistical and diplomatic approaches on the ground not just in response to supply chain challenges, but in anticipation of these challenges. The aggressive approach that we are taking to expeditiously bring home supplies means that we are building in contingencies. Over buying in some cases and implementing rigorous progress product testing. Progress is being made. We have received 6 plane loads carrying supplies from China since last Friday alone. And over 10 carriers have brought goods back to Canada over all from China. They have helped to carry millions more N95 respirators and surgical masks into Canada that are now in the public health agency for testing. I want to thank air Canada and Cargojet for continuing to step up and deliver. Last weekend, we also received an international shipment of an important based chemical needed for reducing reagent as my colleague Minister Bains mentioned at LuminUltra in New Brunswick that will allow for more COVID-19 testing. The company is now gearing up to deliver reagent for up to 500,000 tests on a weekly basis. [Speaking French] Imported products undergo rigorous testing both at the source and in Canada. Where they are inspected by the Public Health Agency of Canada. Quality issues while unwelcome are not unexpected given the surge in global demand for these goods. [End of translation] Only coming from abroad domestic production is ramping up and Canadian companies are delivering. I am pleased to announce with my colleague Minister Bains that this week we have signed contracts with 3 more Canadian companies including Jacobs & Thompson out of Toronto, Windsor Mold Group out of Windsor, Ontario, to produce a total of 16 million medical face shields. The third company Canadian Shield out of Kitchener has moved from 3D laser -- 3D printing to laser cutting technology to produce masks that can be easily sanitized for reuse. These are great examples of Canadian ingenuity and innovation. [Speaking French] I am inspired by the way that these and other companies have risen to the challenge. And I am proud to say that we continue to add to our Canadian line up. [End of translation] Some parts of the country models suggest that there may be future out breaks. Even after we get through this first peak. In terms of our procurements, this possibility means that we are still preparing for all eventualities. In light of this reality, I am pleased to announce that Stryker, a company headquartered in Waterdown and with production based in Quebec City will provide us with 82 sterilization units that have been approved by Health Canada. These machines allow for the sterilization and reuse of equipment like N95 respirators, extending life cycle of this important piece of equipment in health care facilities across the country. I am pleased to announce that Stryker, a company headquartered in Waterdown and with production based in Quebec City, will provide us with 82 sterilization units that have been approved by Health Canada. These machines allow for the sterilization and reuse of N95 respirators. Extending the life cycle of this important piece of equipment in health care facilities across the country. We have also signed contracts to meet the potential needs for up to 10 mobile health hubs. These units which are built specifically for providing respiratory care so that local health authorities can address over flows of patients if necessary. [End of translation] We are taking every precaution to keep Canadians safe. The COVID-19 situation is very worrying and stressful. Canadians want to know what we are doing to protect them. We are taking new steps to be as transparent as possible and to keep Canadians up to date on our work. Today, we are launching an on line report detailing the progress that we are making on procuring key COVID-19 supplies. This running inventory will be updated weekly. And gives information on key supplies that have been ordered and received. Of course, these numbers only tell part of the story. As our provinces, territories and health care centres are also procuring supplies on their own. We are dealing with massive quantities of goods. Behind those numbers is an army of hardworking Canadians working here and overseas. Doing all they can to deliver these goods. [Speaking French] I want to personally thank them for the extraordinary efforts. [End of translation] It is full steam ahead as we work to secure the supplies that health care workers need to keep themselves and Canadians safe today, tomorrow, and in the months to come. Thank you so much.

Transcript: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau COVID-19—News conference—April 21, 2020: Prime Minister discusses the 2 charter planes that landed in Canada empty

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: We have... I got more information on the issues around the 2 planes that landed empty yesterday. One was a Government of Canada charter, the other was chartered by a specific province for one of their orders. There are severe restrictions on the ground in China in terms of how long a plane can actually stay in their airports before having to leave, whether it's full or not, and at the same time, supply lines and truck shipments to the airports are difficult and interrupted by checkpoints and quarantine measures. For the most part we've been able to navigate through those and ensure that Canada has received the equipment that it needs, but these 2 airplanes were forced to take off empty.

We will continue to work through a very difficult situation to ensure that, as we have been, we make sure that Canadians get, Canadian provinces, Canadian institutions, get the equipment that they so desperately need. We're continuing to receive millions of pieces of PPE over the past days. We expect many more over the past... over the next days and weeks, as well as the Canadian industrial facilities tooling up their ability to deliver PPE's. It's always a challenge to get the PPE into Canada at a time where the global market is very, very competitive for these, but we have managed so far to get the equipment the provinces have asked for, and we will continue to make sure we're prioritizing support for our front-line workers who are going into battle every day against this virus. […]

Different provinces are managing their stockpiles differently. The federal government is there to support provinces in their requests and until this point have been... up until this point and beyond this point have been able to respond to the specific requests that provinces have made. At the same time, we have been fighting in a very competitive international environment where everyone is looking for PPE, which is why we've made significant investments in domestic capacity to make the kinds of equipment that is going to keep frontline health workers safe across the country.

Transcript: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau COVID-19—News conference—April 18, 2020: Prime Minister updates on shipments on medical supplies such as N95 masks and coveralls

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: […] It will get easier, but until it does, we need to be prepared to persevere, and that includes ensuring that our frontline workers have the equipment and tools they need to do their jobs and stay safe. Yesterday 2 planes full of N95 masks and coveralls arrived in Canada. More shipments will be coming in this weekend and into next week with additional medical supplies. I can also announce that we will begin receiving deliveries of face shields from Toronto Stamp very soon. They've shifted from their usual production of rubber stamps and identification (ID) badges and will be providing millions of face shields over the next 2 months. Canada continues to receive shipments of personal protective equipment.

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: […] We are confident that we are in a good place around PPE, and we'll only get better as more and more Canadian producers and suppliers come online. It has been something extraordinary to see; the level to which Canadian manufacturers have been stepping up to get involved, and we are in a much better place than we were a number of weeks ago. Of course, there is a need for continued vigilance and there will of course be many lessons learned on how Canada can be better prepared for any future outbreaks than we were this time.

Transcript: Interview with Minister Anita Anand—The Bill Kelly Show CHML AM—April 17, 2020: Minister discusses procurement approach, updates on personal protective equipment and lists Canadian companies who have re-tooled in order to provide supplies

Minister Anita Anand: […] We are aggressively procuring in the global marketplace, recognizing the risks posed by fragile supply chains as you mentioned, the fluidity of the current situation, and extremely high global demand. What we've done is set up an A to Z procurement approach to bring in supplies from international organizations and countries such as China but also to make sure that domestic companies have re-tooled and in that regard, we are seeing regular shipments arriving with significant quantities of personal protective equipment including, to date, we have received over 17.5 million surgical masks, around 2 million N95 masks which are continually ordered as a priority, and those have been delivered to Canada and they're getting out to the provinces. To date, we've received more than 14 million pairs of medical gloves and we're also helping to bring provinces back orders that they have made directly, whether it's from Ontario, Nova Scotia, Quebec, all of those provinces have put cargo on our flights so far, so that's on the international front and I mentioned domestic re-tooling. We've got a number of Canadian companies that are stepping up in our effort to battle COVID-19 whether it's Stanfield's on gowns, Irving Oil on hand sanitizer, Thornhill Medical on ventilators, Spartan on test kits, Medicom on masks, and even a Hamilton company also has come forward, Mariner Endosurgery, which was identified through our buy and sell website.

Transcript: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau COVID-19—News conference—April 16, 2020: Prime Minister mentions that Canada is working alongside other countries for tests, vaccines, treatment, medical supplies

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: […] Just this morning I had a call with the other G7 leaders to discuss the pandemic. We all remain committed to doing whatever it takes to help people and our economies rebound after this crisis. We're working together to support international efforts to develop a vaccine, expand treatment, expand testing, and ensure the critical medical supplies get to the front lines.

Transcript: Government of Canada officials COVID-19—News conference—April 16, 2020: Minister provides update on procurement process, personal protective equipment procured to date, and names Canadian suppliers

Minister Anita Anand: […] I can tell you that this is truly a team Canada approach to procurement with all hands on deck and all of the government working together. Furthermore, I will be speaking with my counterparts tomorrow. In a market characterized by high demand, we are buying existing inventory where we can and placing large orders to create and to maintain a steady stream of goods flowing from diverse sources over the coming months. (Speaking French). Our officials are working closely with partners on the ground which includes embassy and logistic experts to get these supplies into Canada. In particular, we are working with Logistics Canada based out of Montreal and with Deloitte Canada for receiving, storing services and custom's clearances. Cargojet and Air Canada have stepped up, as well, to bring home to Canada federal orders, as well as provincial and territorial borders. And we continue to work with other officials in China including our formidable ambassador Dominick Vartan to navigate the complex campaign chain environment. […]

In addition to our international buying efforts, Canadian companies have responded en masse to our suppliers and buy and sell. Through this call to action, we have signed contracts with suppliers like Geometric Energy Corporation based in Calgary and this company will provide millions of nitral gloves for Canada's healthcare workers. (Speaking French). Over the past few weeks, we have also heard about the many Canadian companies that are ramping up production with some manufacturers completely shifting their production lines. Thinking of Canadian companies like Bauer in Quebec that have gone from making hockey gear to making face shields for front-line medical workers or Stanfield’s that is set to provide us with 100,000 medical gowns. (Speaking French). I am very happy to announce that we can add another name to that growing list. The government of Canada has signed a contract with Irving Oil which has retooled parts of its production line for much-needed sanitizer. Production will start being delivered over the next few weeks. This is a part of more than 20 million liters of hand sanitizer that we've ordered. […]

We have chartered 6 flights and we expect 4 more in the next week carrying a variety of goods from China, including N95 masks. These flights are, of course, in addition to goods that arrive by other means. As of today, we have ordered just under 300 million surgical masks and approximately 145 million and 95 respirators. Today, we have received deliveries of more than 17 million surgical masks and roughly 800,000 N95 masks were delivered to the provinces and territories last week and we expect 1.1 million to reach them this week. (Speaking French). We've ordered 100,000 pairs of glasses and more than 14 million have arrived in Canada. Up to 30,000 ventilators with CAE and StarFish, and all 3 are Canadian companies that will be manufacturing these life-saving machines right here at home. […]

Minister Anita Anand: I will say that we have received over just in the past 2 weeks alone around 2 million N95 masks that are expected to be delivered to the provinces in total by the end of the week. So that's the first point to directly answer your question on numbers. […]

And so, monitoring that supply chain from start to finish on the ground in China, for example, is a key priority of our ministry and our government and we will not stop until we have the supplies Canadians need. […]

Minister Anita Anand: The issue of quality control of goods coming from outside of Canada and in this case China is one that we are watching very closely. On the ground in China, we make sure to have quality control checks there and then, on the ground in Canada, the public health agency of Canada also runs inspections. And where the goods are un-useable, we then move to a secondary or terciary supply chain and so, it is a constant place of attention for our government to make sure that the goods that are getting out to all parts of Canada are in good condition and it's something we take from point A to point Z. Having said that, it appears that there was a mishap and it is something that we are taking very, very close watch over to make sure it doesn't happen in the future in terms of the inspections in Canada, it would be appropriate for Dr. Tam to add any words here.

Transcript: Interview with Minister Anita Anand—CITV FM—April 16, 2020: Minister provides update on personal protective equipment procured to date and lists Canadian suppliers

Minister Anita Anand: […] Having said that, we have made significant procurements of personal protective equipment. For example, we have shipments arriving of over 16 million surgical masks just last week, we have over 2 million N95 respirator masks that are being inspected and going out to the provinces, 20,000 litres of hand sanitizer with approximately 10,000 more litres expected, and we are also helping the provinces bring back orders that they have made directly, and I will say that these procurements are occurring from a number of countries but we do have regular flights coming in from China and we also have Canadian suppliers like Canada Goose in Toronto, Stanfield's, Medicom, Spartan Medical, Thornhill Medical. These are all Canadian companies that are re-tooling and ramping up so that we have a domestic supply chain running as well as an international supply chain. It's really an all hands on deck moment for our country and it's wonderful to see Canadian businesses step up. […]

Minister Anita Anand: We have a close attention being paid to quality control. To begin, on the ground, before shipment comes to Canada, we make sure that we have quality control being looked over. In addition, when goods come into Canada to a warehouse here, the Public Health Agency of Canada does its own inspection to make sure that the goods meet a certain quality and if they don't, then we work very hard to procure substitute goods, so it is a continual process but we do not let up. We make sure that we've got quality control processes operating. […]

Minister Anita Anand: Another company that comes to mind is Fluid Energy in Alberta with millions of litres of hand sanitizer that they are bringing to market. All across this country, from the East Coast to the West Coast to the North, we are seeing Canadians come together and domestic re-tooling is just one important aspect of that Team Canada approach. […]

Transcript: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau COVID-19—News conference—April 15, 2020. PM highlights purchase of personal protective equipment and medications

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: […] Public Health Canada and Procurement Canada are working together to ensure the steady supply of essential medications to Canada, both related to COVID-19 and not. We recognize that this is a global health crisis. So there are challenges but Canada has a very strong pharmaceutical industry. We have very strong relationships around the world on getting medication and necessary supplies. We will continue to do everything we can to ensure that Canadians get what they need.

Transcript: Interview with Minister Anita Anand—CBC—April 14, 2020: Minister talks about procurement of tests

Minister Anita Anand: So Vassy my role isn't to decide how many people we test, my role as the minister of public services and procurement is to purchase, to procure the test based on the decision that public health and Health Canada are making regarding our testing approach. And I will say that in terms of procuring tests, we are procuring different types of tests, the traditional type which we are ensuring that we have tests to test millions of Canadians, as well as the rapid test kits that you were referring to in your question from Spartan Medical, which is the new rapid test kit that we've been talking about a lot today which will be on the testing facilities very soon.

Kapelos: On the procurement of the Spartan tests, are those figures accurate, that's what the chief executive officer (CEO) said yesterday but I'm wondering if there's any intent on behalf of the federal government to invest more, to see the company scale up more, what can you tell us about that?

Minister Anita Anand: Well one of the things that is so exciting, that we've been talking to Spartan Medical for weeks about having them produce these rapid test kits so that we can get them out into use much more quickly uh and so that's exactly what's happening over the next weeks and months, and we've heard a lot about those tests—those rapid tests, and it is very exciting for Canada to be able to move into that direction. But I will note that there are multiple different types of tests, and we are open to thinking about many different types of approaches to testing and venues for that matter, so we'll have to keep watching that. […]

Minister Anita Anand: And so as I mentioned we are procuring tests to be able to test millions of Canadians, both in terms of rapid tests as well as the traditional type of testing. So the question about testing is an ongoing one, it is continually evolving as new technologies come to market and we are as I said very excited to build up domestic capacity in this regard so that we have multiple supply channels operating at the same time—both domestic and international. […]

Kapelos: Have there been any—has there been any movements since a week when we last spoke though, has there been any loosening of those bureaucratic challenges on the Chinese side from your perspective?

Minister Anita Anand: No. Not from my perspective, in fact the challenge is there for us each and every day to work with our team on the ground, Ambassador Barton and his team, which has been incredible and from private companies as well, to make sure every step of the way that we are doing our procurements in a very careful and expeditious way to get them back to Canada. Remember we've had 3 or 4 flights already from China, we're expecting 4 or 5 more in the near future, and so this is an unending journey for us at the current time, which we are approaching with great skill I believe, and the appropriate amount of caution, uh not to be sure about our orders until we actually see them right here on the ground in Canada so we can get them out to the frontline workers where they belong.

Transcript: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau COVID-19—News conference—April 14, 2020: Prime Minister highlights procurement of personal protective equipment

Rt Hon. J. Trudeau: […] Over the weekend we received new shipments of essential personal protective equipment, including 4 planes' worth of N95 masks. As we speak, workers are unpacking and validating these supplies so we can start shipping them to the provinces and territories as quickly as possible.

These new N95 masks are in addition to the more than 820,000 that went to provinces last week. All told, this means that we have 1.1 million N95s ready to be shipped to the provinces and territories, with more to come. We have also received millions of pairs of gloves and we'll be getting new protective gowns delivered from domestic suppliers starting next Monday. […]

In the last few days, we've also made progress on testing. Right now we're moving forward on a range of rapid testing kits, both from here in Canada and internationally. This includes Ottawa-based Spartan Bioscience, who will soon be supplying tens of thousands of kits per month, and potentially more as production increases.

Transcript: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau COVID-19—News conference—April 10, 2020: Prime Minister highlights contract with Fluid Energy for hand sanitizer

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: We've had thousands and thousands of Canadian companies step up and offer to be part of supply chains for essential services, for essential equipment and medications. We are working with all of them as quickly as possible. There have had to be choices as to who we could move quickest with, who was furthest along, but we will continue to work with all companies who put up their hands to be helpful, to figure out ways they can best help. […]

“We're helping companies join in the effort. Look no further than Fluid Energy from Alberta. They will produce over a million liters of hand sanitizer each month, with shipments starting as early as next week. We've invested in this large-scale production as part of our plan to have enough vital supplies produced right here at home.” […]

The procurement challenge is not necessarily one of purchasing power or cost. Costs are rising. The reality is that the provinces, and even hospitals themselves, have connections with producers around the world, and are using these contacts, these connections, to try to get the equipment they need, in addition to all the efforts that Canada and the provinces are making.

Transcript: Government of Canada officials COVID-19—News conference—April 8, 2020: Deputy prime minister discussed 3M masks coming in from US, integrated supply chain, bilateral relationship with US and how GC is able to help provinces

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland: […] There may be other purchases by provinces and hospitals, but I do want to assure you and tell you right now that—and tell all provinces and hospitals that the federal government is here to help the provinces and help our hospitals in making these purchases outside the country. We are moving ahead. We have excellent ambassador in the US, in China, across the world and we're working in close collaboration with provinces and even certain hospitals to make these purchases. With respect to the United States, and the issue of purchasing medical supplies from the US, this is an issue we are currently discussing and resolving. All Canadians now know that we did have issues around the purchase of the 3M masks, but we are resolving many other specific issues as well. I would like to emphasize that we have had and are continuing to have a conversation on several other levels with respect to this issue with our American partners. We've explained that when it comes to medical services, like all of the relationships, various relationships we have with the United States is a reciprocal relationship. It is a relationship that is truly interdependent. We need the United States, but at the same time, they need us, too. And I must also have emphasize how important the premiers and the provinces' role is. This is an issue we're all working together on as team Canada. […]

With respect to 3M's masks, the first batch of masks arrived in Canada last night at 11:20 pm Those masks are now here in Canada. We are now organizing the distribution of those masks across the country… These masks are so important and necessary for them... when it comes to medical supplies, we have a very complex relationship in that area, just like every other industry. It's not just an issue of finished products, it's about all of the required elements to produce a mask. […]

There might be orders done by provinces or hospitals that I'm not aware of, but we've been encouraging provinces and hospitals to get in touch with the federal government if they're having any concerns, any issues in the United States or anywhere in the world. […]

We are delighted that the first part of Canada's order from 3M has been resolved and those 500,000 masks are here in Canada. […]

Thus far, we have been met with real comprehension from our American partners, both in the administration and also at the business level, because American businesses really understand the extent to which the supply chains are interdependent.

Transcript: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau COVID-19—News conference—April 7, 2020: Prime Minister explains global need for personal protective equipment, our own procurement items and companies GC is contracting

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: We're working with Thornhill Medical, CAE, Ventilators for Canadians, and a group led by StarFish Medical to produce up to 30,000 'Made in Canada' ventilators. These purchases will help increase our capacity to make sure these life-saving machines are made right here at home. We're also working with Nobel Prize winning researcher Dr. Art McDonald, who is leading a team of scientists to develop ventilators that are easy to make. […]

And to produce medical gowns and establish new supply chains right here in Canada, we're teaming up with over 20 companies, including Arc'teryx, Canada Goose and Stansfield’s. One thing that is particularly inspiring to see is just how many companies are not just producing these goods, but innovating. For example, AutoLiv is looking to make medical gowns out of material they'd normally use to produce airbags. […]

At the same time, our government continues to buy masks to protect our health care professionals who are doing such a great job. Millions of surgical masks have been ordered from a number of Canadian companies, and we are supporting Medicom, which will increase its production capacity for N95 masks. Hand sanitizer is also being purchased, and Health Canada has authorized the sale of over 85 of these products to Canadians. While we’re working to secure critical equipment from Canadian sources, we're also in touch with other suppliers around the world who want to sell to Canada. We're expecting 500,000 masks from 3M tomorrow and we're working as fast as we can to get them to our frontline workers. From the outset, our priority has been the health and safety of all Canadians. So, whether you're making medical gowns, delivering ventilators or treating a patient with COVID-19, we have your back.. […]

Over the past few weeks almost 5,000 Canadian companies have stepped forward to help fight COVID-19. To keep our frontline workers safe and care for Canadians with COVID-19, we need a stable supply of these products, and that means making them at home. With our plan to mobilize industry, we're helping companies retool, repurpose and innovate to fight COVID-19. We've already signed letters of intent with a number of partners to produce the things we need, and today we have more good news to share. […]

I think we're seeing right now that the entire world was unprepared to have as much PPE as needed. Some places are facing far greater shortages than Canada. We have worked extremely hard to step up both on our procurement of PPEs, but mostly on increasing the Canadian production of personal protective equipment and materials like ventilators and testing kits. […]

So, we have told these companies across the country who have put up their hands to go ahead and get building ventilators as quickly as possible and as many as possible in case we need them in Canada. We certainly hope that we won't be needing all those ventilators, but we also know that there are countries around the world where they are not able to tool up local production to create more ventilators. They're going to be reliant on a global supply that's already stretched thin, and if we end up making more ventilators than Canada needs because Canadians continued to stay social distancing, continued to follow best health advice, that will be great news, and we will have ventilators to share with other countries that are facing more difficult circumstances. For us, doing more right now and doing 'quicker' right now is really the only option. […]

Transcript: Government of Canada officials COVID-19—News conference—April 7, 2020: Public Services and Procurement Canada minister’s opening remarks and questions and answers along with deputy prime minister outlining procurement efforts, diplomacy and agreement with Amazon

Minister Anita Anand: […] Public services and Procurement Canada is aggressively and proactively buying in bulk from all available suppliers and distributers. (Speaking French). As the Prime Minister mentioned, there was a delivery from China yesterday. We received approximately 8 million surgical masks and orders made directly by Nova Scotia and Quebec who were also on board. We are expecting more deliveries in the days and weeks to come. The reality is that we are operating in a highly competitive global environment and international logistics are challenging. We are working closely with our partners around the world including embassies, as well, with on-the-ground logistics to ensure that supplies can move from source to where they are needed in Canada right here, right now. With hundreds of millions of pieces of equipment ordered, this is a complex undertaking, even as those supplies arrive in Canada. As the Prime Minister announced late last week, we have entered into an agreement with Amazon Canada which will use its Canadian distribution network including key partners, Canada Post and Purolator to manage the distribution of personal, protective equipment and supplies purchased by the government. As part of our efforts to ensure these supplies are delivered absolutely as fast as possible when they are ready to ship, Amazon is providing these services to Canadians at cost without profit. (Speaking French). When it comes to collaboration between jurisdictions, I can confirm that last Friday I held my first call of the federal provincial territorial meeting. This is essential to securing as many supplies as possible in highly competitive markets and we are working collaboratively together and it is truly heartening to see. I would also like to note that we are working closely with all provinces and territories to offer space on our cargo flights in order to help them bring their shipments back to Canada. The orders from Nova Scotia and Quebec yesterday are examples of that collaborative shipping approach. As an update on equipment ordered, including this order delivered yesterday, we have sourced more than 230 million surgical masks to support the response, over 16 million have been delivered to date. We have also roughly 75 million N95 masks on order. We expect to have roughly 2.3 million masks in Canada's possession by the end of the week. Among other suppliers, we have also ordered over 113,000 liters of hand sanitizer, most of which is expected to be delivered this month. We have received 20,000-liters in the past 24 hours and are expecting another roughly 10 thousand litres this week alone. On ventilators, as the prime minister mentioned, we have relationships with CAE ventilators for Canadians and StarFish medical for thousands more of these life-saving machines. […]

In terms of your question relating to supplies and timelines, ordering, of course does not guarantee a delivery. Ordering means that we have placed an order and contract for products that we need to make sure find their way back to Canada. And in order to make sure that goods find their way back to Canada, we are taking very serious steps on the ground, in to make sure it meets the requirement that countries have before the leave the jurisdiction. For example, in China, we have engaged our embassy on the ground in efforts to ensure our orders are delivered on schedule and those parties are also identifying new opportunities for us. We are also engaging directly with manufacturers on the ground in China. We are also engaged with private firms who are assisting us with quality assurance, opportunities in country logistics, arranging transportation and, for example, assisting us in leasing a warehouse in Shanghai that can store goods once they are sourced and ready to export. Finally, we are arranging our own transportation from Canada. You've been told that 2 planes have already left China and landed here successfully. And we have another one coming this week. And you can see these supply chains are complex, but we are taking every effort to make sure that we get those goods back to Canada and in the hands of front-line healthcare workers. […]

It is difficult, but I will say we are working on short-term and long-term timelines. And we have 2.3 million N95 masks arriving in Canada by the end of this week. So we are seeing progress on that front. […]

So when a situation crops up with regards to supplies coming into Canada, whether it be from the United States or any other country diplomatically and ensuring the supplies make their way back into Canada and that's why I described that situation with China and Chrystia has done a great job. We are determined to make sure supplies get back to Canada once they are ordered and procured and that is our main task didn't and we won't stop until we get it done. […]

Let me start off by saying that talking about the supply chain and the stresses on the supply chain at the current time requires us to be sanguine about the numbers but also realistic. I can assure you that now, that the 3M shipment is coming across the border and will arrive tomorrow. I can also assure you we have a plane that will leave China this week with another shipment of N95 masks on it. Apart from that, I won't be able to and I'm sure people here will agree with me that we are in an era of volatility in global markets. And so every step of the way, we are making sure that the supply chain can function as it should. And where we see shortfall, we will be definitely relying on domestic supply chains to be ramped up and providing equipment to Canadians so that we have complimentary supply chains operating at the same time, both domestic and international. […]

I would say when we ordered masks, we had to ensure that the goods will actually arrive. So it's not just a question of ordering. It's a question of getting them in.

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland: (Speaking French, voice of translator) Yes, of course, there are other American companies that are major suppliers for Canada. And we are continuing to work on a case-by-case basis to work with those suppliers and, obviously, with the American government. […]

3M has received clear assurances from the government of the United States that shipments to Canada will continue unimpeded. As the prime minister said, we are expecting a shipment very soon of 500,000 masks and more shipments from 3M to come. We have other pending shipments from other sources in the United States and we are working collaboratively with our American partners to be sure that those shipments also can make it to Canada. Just as our American partners are working collaboratively with Canada to make sure the medical supplies and services that the United States' services depends on from Canada can continue to flow to the United States. […]

We truly did find a good solution with 3M and I want to thank 3M and our American partners and neighbours and all of the team in Canada who worked on that. With regard to the future, we told our American partners that we have a mutual relationship that is very balanced when it comes to medical care and services. We are interdependent and the best results for Canada and for the United States is to continue to work together. […]

It is a reciprocal relationship and both countries do best when we work together and that's why we were able to achieve a win-win outcome. That will be the argument that we continue to make and advance in our relationship with the United States in these truly difficult and complicated times.

Transcript: PSPC Minister Anand COVID-19 interview—Power & Politics—April 7, 2020: Minister references procurement efforts, evaluation of products, and China

Minister Anita Anand: […] We are facing a very tight international market at the current time, meaning that demand for PPE and the N95 in particular is very high, and in addition, the market is very volatile so once we order a good, it's always important for us to keep our eye on that good and make sure that it makes its way to Canada, so what do we do? We work very closely with teams on the ground in the country where we are doing the procurement to ensure that that product is going through the bureaucratic channels and then ultimately making its way via air transport or otherwise back to Canada. In China, for example, we are working closely with Ambassador Barton and his team to make sure that goods get to warehouse. We have a warehouse in Shanghai that we have made sure is available for goods there. We are also working with private companies in China to evaluate the goods, to assist us through the bureaucratic process, and ultimately, we're sending planes over to China to make sure those goods get back to Canada. Already this week, 2 planes have come back to Canada with goods and we're expecting another one this week. […]

The bulk of masks this week, yes, are coming from China and in addition, we have masks, as you know, coming from the United States via that 3M order, so 500,000 masks coming via the border with the United States which should arrive here in Canada this evening or tomorrow. […]

What's so important to remember is that this is procurement like we've never done it before. We are working 24/7, using all diplomatic channels to make sure that goods that we have ordered and procured make their way back to Canada. In the case of 3M, we worked very closely with the American government on launching a full court press to make sure that those goods came back to Canada and we are prepared to do that again with other corporations and other suppliers in the United States and outside of the North American continent if need be. […]

In China, for example, we have retained firms to ensure that we have quality control on the ground in China, then once the goods get back to Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada has the responsibility to go through the goods, to make sure that they are up to speck before they are distributed out, so it's really a 2-tier process to make sure that we are able to meet speck and get those goods out to front-line health care workers in good form. […]

Let me start by saying that we are running, at the same time, complementary channels of supply. That is, we are seeking international procurements at the same time as domestic procurements and so, on ventilators, on masks, on gloves and gowns, we are working very hard with multiple suppliers, leveraging existing supply change and meeting up and contracting with new suppliers so that we can make sure we have luminous goods to distribute to the health care system. On the subject of the 3 companies that are going to be making ventilators for the Canadian market, we are very confident that in the short and the long term, we will be able to rely on these firms for ventilators. The timeline is evolving but Minister Bains, this morning, put a very short timeline on that being weeks and months, so we're very hopeful that these negotiations and contracts can continue to yield positive benefits so that we can run domestic and international supply change in tandem to make sure that we get the goods back home where they need to be. […]

What we have to remember is that there is an existing stock of ventilators in Canada at present and that number is at about 5,000. In addition to that 5,000 number, we also have international procurement contracts for the supply of ventilators and so this domestic re-tooling, building up domestic capacity, is in addition to what we already have, and so we have to remember that there are multiple supply chains operating at once and we are doing our level best to get things completed and out to front-line health care workers as soon as possible.

Transcript: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau COVID-19—News conference—April 6, 2020: Prime Minister discusses relations with US to procure medical equipment

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: […] We continue to have constructive and productive conversations with officials in the American administration who understand that essential services and supplies are very much a 2-way street between Canada and the United States. We are interconnected and interlinked in so many ways, from primary resources flowing to American companies to make the equipment that is so desperately needed both in North America and around the world, to actual shipments of products that go from Canada to the United States and that go from the United States to Canada. We will continue to work together. We're going to make sure that goods and services that are essential continue to flow, and I expect those shipments to come in soon. […]

We have recognized over the past weeks a number of situations in which shipments coming from different countries around the world have been delayed; haven't arrived with as many products as we were hoping to see. This continues to be an ongoing problem, but specifically with the United States, we are working with them to ensure that the orders that Canada has placed get delivered. We expect those shipments to come. […]

We realize that it is a reality around the world that some shipments have less equipment than we would have liked, or have been delayed because of actions by various countries around the world. But we will continue to work to ensure that Canada receives everything it needs.

Transcript: Government of Canada officials COVID-19—News conference—April 6, 2020: Deputy prime minister discusses working with US to procure medical equipment

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland: [Speaking French, voice of interpreter] We are very committed to working with all the provinces. We are working hard with the US administration to ensure that all the masks that we've purchased will be exported to Canada. And we did have positive conversations, and we continue to work to solve this situation, which is so vital to our country, with respect to the situation with health services in general. All provinces are working very hard, as is the federal government, of course the situation in Ontario is one that we know very well. There's very good communication with the provinces, with Ontario, with the premier. And we are going to continue to work very hard to ensure that people who are doing essential work to protect us at our hospitals do have the necessary equipment that they need. So we are very aware of the situation that Ontario experienced with some masks it had purchased in the United States and having some trouble getting them across the border. I spoke about that with Premier Ford just a few minutes before this press conference. And immediately called Ambassador Hillman who is now very seized of the issue also. More broadly, we have been working throughout the weekend very, very hard with our American neighbors to ensure that medical supplies can continue to flow across the Canada/US border. And let me emphasize, as we emphasized in our conversations with our American neighbors, that that flow is a 2-way street. The relationship when it comes to medical supplies, when it comes to healthcare between Canada and the United States is, like all aspects of our economic relationship, very balanced, very reciprocal. […]

It's in the interest of both countries to continue supporting each other when it comes to healthcare. Let me just add. I also spoke to the global CEO of 3M, Mike Rowman, who has been doing a great job. The company is taking a very, very responsible position. They understand the very special place they are in right now. And I would really like to commend the company for its approach and for its very constructive relationship with Canada. […]

As Patty pointed out at one of these press conferences last week, it is really a wild west when it comes to buying medical supplies right now. This is a global pandemic. And every country in the world is doing its best in a truly fierce competition to get medical equipment. […]

And it is also why I am so grateful to all of the Canadian manufacturers right across the country who are stepping up to figure out ways that we can make the medical equipment the testing equipment that we need here in Canada. So it's a 2-pronged approach. We are working hard. But it is absolutely very, very tough right now. […]

[Speaking French, voice of interpreter]: It's not up to a company to ignore their country's laws. It's up to a country to solve its issues in this respect. As for 3M, we had a constructive conversation. 3M's approach, while I appreciate it greatly, they have been very responsible, and we discussed what 3M needed from the US administration to continue to export its masks to Canada. We also had discussions with 3M about a central point, and that is there are mutual dependency. We have our 2 countries depend on each other.

Transcript: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau COVID-19—News conference—April 5, 2020: Prime Minister discusses working with the US to procure medical equipment

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: We continue to know that we have to get the necessary equipment and PPE to our frontline health workers. There is a global shortage right now, where people are trying to get as much as they can, and we are continuing to work with all our traditional suppliers and new suppliers to make sure that we're providing the equipment needed for Canadians. That's why we've ramped up domestic production as well and look to have the ability to fill all of our needs domestically within the coming weeks. At the same time, the conversations continue with the American administration in terms of solving this issue because, as I've said, both sides of the border benefit tremendously from the flow back and forth of essential supplies, and of medical goods and services, and that is the point that we're making to the administration. I am confident that we're going to be able to solve this, and I look forward to speaking with the president in the coming days. […]

There was a... many of the shipments are a blend of surgical masks and N95 masks, I'm not entirely sure which particular proportion was in that shipment, but we can get the... more answers to you soon.

Transcript: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau COVID-19—News conference—April 4, 2020: Prime Minister Trudeau talks about masks shipment from China, and how the Canadian industry is shifting its production to develop personal protective equipment to cover our needs

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: At the same time, we're working around the clock to get Canada the resources we need. In the next 48 hours we will be receiving a shipment of millions of masks by a chartered cargo flight. We're also working with provinces to transport their medical supplies when possible. Items ordered by Quebec will be on this flight. Our government has also leased a warehouse in China to help collect and distribute these items as quickly as possible, and going forward, the flights we're chartering to get the materials here include Canadian companies Cargojet and Air Canada. […]

No, these masks will come from China. We are working to ensure that China’s supply chains keep working, and these masks are from that order. […]

Yes, all the different essential materials and goods and services that pass through both sides of the border have been highlighted at many levels. We don’t want to start restricting our exports or the services we send to the US. We understand that our 2 countries will be in much better situations if we continue to rely on each other, and I am confident that we will be able to find a solution to this situation. […]

As we've said, we have been working day and night to source medical supplies for Canadian frontline workers. We have shipments coming in in the next 24 hours, we've received shipments over the past days; we continue to work with suppliers around the world to ensure that we do get the medical equipment that we need, and we have more coming in regularly. […]

We are also, of course, turning towards Canadian manufacturers as the tremendous effort that Canadian companies are putting in to develop 'Made in Canada' productsPPE equipment and medical supplies that is going to actually not just supply Canada, but be there to supply other countries who need them as we meet our own needs. […]

We know that there is a global competition for these products. Every country in the world needs more of them. That's why Canada is shifting over so much of its industrial production to develop these masks, these solutions, these equipment, so that we can cover our own needs over the medium and long term and be there to help other countries as... at a point where we have enough for ourselves as we manage the spread of COVID-19. At the same time, in the short term we're continuing to procure the necessary equipment that our women and men on the frontlines need right now.

Transcript: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau holds a news conference to address Canadians on the COVID-19 situation—April 3 2020: Prime Minister announces the agreement with Amazon Canada

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: Before we get into things, I have 2 pieces of news to share with everyone. The first one is about the distribution of critical equipment to provinces and territories. For the past few weeks our government has been working closely with industry to produce the supplies our healthcare workers need, like masks, face shields, gowns, ventilators and test kits. Well, today I can announce that our government has signed an agreement with Amazon Canada to manage the distribution of this equipment to the provinces and territories. […]

Transcript: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau holds a news conference to address Canadians on the COVID-19 situation—April 2 2020: Prime Minister announces shipment of masks to Hamilton, Ontario, and the plan to mobilize the industry

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: […] Last night, we received a shipment of over a million masks to a Hamilton warehouse. I know the people there have been working overnight to validate these supplies. This is in addition to the 10 million masks that have come in over the last days and are being distributed to the provinces and territories as quickly as possible. […]

And this team Canada effort goes beyond government. About 2 weeks ago, we launched Canada's plan to mobilize industry to fight COVID-19. Since then, we've spoken to almost 3,000 companies, helping us secure millions of pieces of vital equipment. And I want to share a quintessentially Canadian example of this collaboration: our government has ordered hundreds of thousands of face shields from Bauer, the people who make hockey gear. They're creating shields to protect nurses and doctors against COVID-19. This is exactly the kind of innovative, collaborative thinking we need right now. And I know we're going to see more of it in the coming days. […]

I have seen with great concern this report which seems to indicate that there may have been misappropriation. We are very concerned and will follow up on this matter. I understand the concern on the part of Premier Legault and others. We will follow up with Minister Garneau, Minister Blair and the ministers in charge, to find out exactly what happened and, above all, to make sure that equipment earmarked for Canada actually makes it to Canada. […]

Our goal is to ensure that, once we’ve gotten through this period during which these items are not being made in Canada, or there is not enough of this essential equipment being made in Canada, that we’re at a point where Canadian production is sufficient for the entire country, and can even be shared, once we have enough for ourselves, with other countries that need it.

Transcript: Ministers and Government of Canada officials—News conference—April 1 2020: Deputy prime minister explains that Canada has discussions with the US on a regular basis about trade issues and the health situation in both countries

Question: Yes. Hello. I would like to come back to the age of masks in Quebec. Mr. Trudeau said right now, in a very short time masks would be delivered to Quebec from Ottawa’s stockpile. But a few minutes ago, Minister Hajdu gave a more nuanced answer. Will Quebec receive masks from Ottawa in the next few days?

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland: I can confirm yes. […] We discussed the relationship between the United States and Canada daily. We discussed trade issues between Canada and the US Every day. And we discuss the health situation in Canada and in the United States on a daily basis.

Transcript: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau holds a news conference to address Canadians on the COVID-19 situation—April 1 2020: Prime Minister talks about working with provinces and the Defence Production Act

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau […] In this situation, nothing is guaranteed. We are working extremely hard to meet the various needs, to ensure that the necessary equipment arriving from abroad is being properly distributed throughout the country, and to be able to develop solutions right here in Canada to replace equipment that we use every day to help save lives and ensure that our health care workers stay well. We will continue to work with the provinces and the various jurisdictions to meet these needs, but a lot depends on the choices people will make, on how people act now and in the coming weeks . . . choices that they make in order to keep this pandemic under control and to be able to keep protecting those who work to protect us all. […]

Yes, absolutely. The federal reserve is there to help Canadians where they need it. I have spoken directly with Premier Legault, who told me about the challenges they are facing in Quebec, and we’ll be there working very hard to meet these needs. We’re expecting shipments of equipment to arrive soon, and we continue to expect other shipments. We’re looking at the various resources they have across the country. […]

The Defense Production Act that we've seen in the United States is about forcing and ordering companies who might not otherwise do it, to step up and produce the necessary equipment for a wartime or crisis situation. Here in Canada, what we've seen is companies across this country putting up their hands and asking to do it; offering any help they can right across the country to switch their manufacturing over to necessary goods, necessary equipment. We, so far, have seen such an overwhelming response from businesses that we have no need of bringing in at this point a similar act, but of course we'll always keep an eye on what we need to do in future situations, or how we can adjust. And the federal stockpile has been ensuring over the past weeks that there is enough equipment across the country to respond to the needs that the provinces have asked us for. […]

For example, our embassy in China is diligently following up to ensure we receive the equipment we ordered. It’s a problematic situation because there are so many countries around the world running after the same equipment, but we’re working hard and doing everything we can to make sure there are no shortages anywhere in Canada, but there’s still a lot of work to do. […]

I can tell you that we are expecting deliveries very, very soon . . . in the coming days, if not before then.

Transcript: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau holds a news conference to address Canadians on the COVID-19 situation—March 31 2020: Prime Minister announces agreements with Canadian companies to make medical supplies

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: From coast to coast to coast, businesses are retooling to produce face shields, ventilators, hand sanitizers and other supplies our healthcare professionals need. To make it easier for companies to help out during this critical time, we launched Canada's plan to mobilize industry to fight COVID-19 a little over a week ago. In the time since, we've spoken directly to almost 3,000 companies who have reached out to offer their help. […]

When we announced our plan to mobilize industry, we said that we were close to reaching agreements with Thornhill Medical, Medicom and Spartan Bioscience. Today we're announcing that we have moved forward with contracts with these 3 Canadian companies to make medical supplies such as ventilators, surgical masks, and test kits. […]

We've also signed letters of intent with 5 other companies: Precision Biomonitoring, Fluid Energy Group, Irving Oil, Calko Group and Stanfield's. We know that the demand for critical equipment and supplies will grow in the coming weeks, so we need a sustainable, stable supply of these products; and that means making them at home. And we're optimistic that they will be available in the coming weeks.

So today I'm also announcing that our existing Next Generation Manufacturing supercluster will be leading companies in developing and scaling up new technologies to test and treat Canadians. Demand for these goods is going up, so we're making sure Canada is ready to keep up. That's why our government is also allocating $2 billion to purchase protective personal equipment, including for bulk purchases with provinces and territories. This includes things like more masks and face shields, gowns, ventilators, test kits and swabs, and hand sanitizer. […]

And on the second question, yes, on procurement. The entire world is trying to get its hands on the various equipment needed to fight this virus. That is why we know that it will be important to be able to have 'Made in Canada' solutions, and I am incredibly, incredibly proud of Canadian companies, Canadian suppliers and manufacturers who are stepping up and saying, we want to help, we will help make ventilators, we will help make masks and gowns, and all the things that we are going to need in the coming weeks. […]

We are accelerating all these processes, but we realize that it’ll take a bit of time . . . we’re talking about probably a few weeks before this equipment arrives from our Canadian manufacturers. That’s why we continue to accept and receive shipments of equipment from around the world. […]

I think there’s a lot of things that we should be worried about in this situation. I. We are working with our international embassies to ensure the supply of other equipment. We expect to receive some in the coming days as well. We will continue to be there to accept deliveries to Canada. But, that’s why, at the same time, it’s so important to create an industry that will create these measures, this equipment, at home . . . to have fully Canadian supply chains; and that’s exactly what we’re doing. […]

We are facing... looking at a global demand for these supplies that is unprecedented. Countries around the world are trying to get more of these supplies. We are expecting to see some shipments coming in very shortly that will help in Canada; we're continuing to work on more shipments in the coming weeks, and we are also working on tooling up our own production so that we can have 'Made in Canada' solutions for the coming weeks and perhaps months if that's how long this lasts. […]

We are offering all the help that we possibly can to all provinces, particularly Ontario and Quebec that are facing difficult situations in terms of supplies. I can tell you that we are going to be receiving shipment very soon of necessary equipment, and there are more to come in the coming days and weeks as well.

Transcript: Ministers and Government of Canada officials—News conference—March 31, 2020: Minister Anand announces contract agreements with Medicom, Spartan and Thornhill Medical

Minister Anita Anand: […] As part of these efforts, Public Services and Procurement Canada is aggressively buying in bulk from all available suppliers and distributors. To date, we have ordered millions of swabs, gloves, masks, and other vital equipment. I'll take a moment now to highlight additional progress that we are making. [Speaking French] [Voice of interpreter] We have signed a contract with Medicom to provide an important supply of surgical masks. [End of translation] Including this order, we have now managed to secure more than 157 million surgical masks to support the response. To date, we have also ordered more than 60 million N95 masks, a key piece of protection for healthcare workers. Delivery of these will begin this week. [Speaking French] [Voice of interpreter] We are also working with Spartan, the Ottawa-based company that will provide kits. [End of translation] This will allow us to test many more Canadians over and above the millions of tests we have already ordered. On ventilators, we have a significant order through Thornhill Medical in Toronto, part of the 1,570 ventilators that we have ordered from companies in Canada, Europe, the United States, and overseas. We are working to secure upwards of 4,000 additional ventilators and very possibly more. Canadians have always risen to the occasion in times of challenge. The companies with whom we are working from every region in Canada and abroad are clear examples of this important point. I also want to thank Suncor and Home Depot for stepping up with generous donations of personal protective equipment. [Speaking French] [Voice of interpreter] We know that this type of equipment is very important in order to fight against COVID-19. We will be investing $2 billion additionally in terms of purchasing PPE as well as bulk purchasing in coordination with the provinces and territories. [End of translation] We know how important these supplies are to the fight against COVID-19. […]

[Speaking French] [Voice of Iiterpreter] I have reached out to my provincial and territorial counterparts to assure we have strong and established lines of communication with regard to procurement in addition to the work being done by ministers of health. [End of translation] Extraordinary measures are required in these extraordinary times.

Transcript: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau holds a news conference to address Canadians on the COVID-19 situation—March 26 2020: Prime Minister indicates that Canada will also take care of other countries as this is a global issue

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: […] It’s a global pandemic, and that requires a global response. Canada understands that helping others is also a way of helping ourselves. But I can reassure Canadians that, for a start, we’ve always met the needs identified by the provinces in terms of equipment, and in the coming days we’ll be receiving millions more items of medical supplies and equipment to be able to meet all these needs. We also see that Canadian companies are manufacturing equipment and coming up with solutions. We’ll have the equipment we need to keep Canadians safe, while at the same time doing our part internationally, because this is a global crisis.

Transcript: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau holds a news conference to address Canadians on the COVID-19 situation—March 23 2020: Prime Minister talks about the callout to industry on Buyandsell

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: […] Minister Bains has also sent a call to action to every university, college, polytechnic and college of general and professional instruction (CEGEP) in the country. Their labs have the resources and expertise to be part of this fight. We’ve asked them to identify equipment they've got, like masks and ventilators. At the same time, we’re looking at innovative solutions they can be part of, including 3D printing of medical supplies. Many institutions have already stepped up, and many more will do the same. If you need more information, please go to buyandsell.gc.ca. We need all hands on deck.

Transcript: Ministers and Government of Canada officials—News conference—March 20, 2020: Minister Anand talks about the success of the callout on Buysandsell

Minister Anita Anand: We have actively promoted this to industry associations and circulated it to all Parliamentarians and together we have had over 5,800 submissions from companies offering goods or services to combat COVID-19. […] Our goal is to be over prepared. We are planning for the future by considering both current and anticipated needs as much as possible. For example we have been able to secure 11.3 million N95 masks which is over and above the order we received for 7.3 million with deliveries beginning immediately. […]

Through the success of the callout and our existing relationships with suppliers we have been able to purchase a broad range of personal protective equipment and supplies including gloves, masks, gowns, hand sanitizers, wipes, ventilators and thermometers among many others. Certain supplies have already been delivered while others will follow.

In many cases we are securing any available supply including smaller quantity purchases to ensure we have what we need. We have made significant progress, but we know that global demand for these products will continue to grow. Issues such as border restrictions around the world may impact supply chains. …

Exactly Nav, the most important point there is these are complementary strategies. We are working together to ensure we are leveraging our relationships with existing suppliers. We’re also working additional supply chains and developing new supply chains because we know that this is an era of global demand and we want to be ready.

Transcript: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau COVID-19—News conference—March 19, 2020: Prime Minister talks about solutions we will need to consider to do what is necessary

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau: […] Yes, we are considering using any measures necessary to ensure that Canadians and our healthcare systems have the supports they need. We’ve already been engaged with industry on production and ramping up capacity to build and create more equipment. We will, of course, look at military procurement as a solution as well. There’s a range of things that we can do and we will do what’s necessary.

Transcript: Ministers and Government of Canada officials COVID-19—News conference—March 19, 2020: Deputy prime minister talks procurement efforts and indicates that Minister Anand will speak about procurement at Cabinet Committee

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland: […] So let me—did you want to answer—let me just say when it comes to procurement, Minister Anita Anand will be speaking about that at our Cabinet Committee on Coronavirus this afternoon. As you've heard from Minister Hajdu, from Patty and from Dr. Tam, and indeed from Minister Miller and from Dr. Wong, this is an area that we are very urgently focused on and we are looking at every single option, every single possibility, whether it is, as Patty mentioned yesterday, the possibility of making some of this stuff at home, whether it is, you know, various really extraordinary procurement efforts around the world that we are engaged in and also in being sure that we know what everyone has so we are able to manage surges across the country.

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