Most of the Canadian companies that created a national personal protective equipment (PPE) industry during the COVID-19 pandemic have collapsed.
The association that represents them says that 90% of them have been forced to close or turn to other sectors because the governments of Canada and Ontario awarded contracts to an American multinational company and to a Quebec firm.
Barry Hunt, president of the Canadian PPE Manufacturers Association, said in an interview that “most companies are bankrupt and those that aren’t will be bankrupt quickly. »
Barry Hunt reports that large orders for PPE from the federal and Ontario governments have been placed with US-based 3M, which has a facility in Brockville, Ontario, and Medicom, Quebec. Hospitals, which buy as larger groups, have also excluded national PPE suppliers, he says.
The rush for PPE began in the spring of 2020, when governments around the world rushed to procure masks, gowns, gloves and other protective gear as COVID-19 spread.
In April 2020, George Irwin answered calls for help from governments. He suspended operations of his family toy company, Irwin Toy, to import masks into Ontario.
While many countries struggled to source masks, Irwin’s connections in China, along with help from Air Canada, enabled him to secure 2.5 million masks.
This success prompted the governments of Canada and Ontario to ask Irwin to consider establishing a factory in Canada. George Irwin calculated he could make a better mask than those imported from China for about the same price.
He received about $2 million in Ontario grants and invested about $6 million to build a mask manufacturing plant in Collingwood, Ontario. With his background in toys, an ever-changing innovative industry, Mr. Irwin created a four-layer antimicrobial face mask. It has also developed a reusable and recyclable breathing mask.
George Irwin believed Canadian and Ontario Premiers Justin Trudeau and Doug Ford when they said they wanted to create a national PPE industry, but no government bought a single mask from him. George Irwin’s company went into receivership last summer and he could lose everything, including his house.
“We didn’t do anything wrong, all we did was make a better product that was ignored. »
For his part, Paul Sweeny runs Swenco in Waterloo, Ontario, a company started by his father 60 years ago. Swenco manufactures components for safety footwear and in 2019 entered the N95 mask business after signing a distribution agreement with a company in Singapore.
When COVID-19 hit, Sweeny sold a shipping container of N95 in three days. “We decided on the spot to get into the mask business,” says Sweeny.
Ontario gave him a $2 million grant, he says, noting that the total investment in the business is about $6 million.
Mr. Sweeny now has 11 machines in his factory, a huge clean room, automated packaging and robots. The factory has the capacity to manufacture more than 25 million masks per month and employs 60 people. But the factory is inactive.
Paul Sweeny says: “Just give me an order so we can put the machines into operation. »
Barry Hunt of the PPE Manufacturers Association said governments owe a debt to companies that responded to the pandemic emergency call. Ottawa and Ontario may have provided funding and helped with research and development, but they didn’t place orders, he notes.
“If governments never buy Canadian PPE and you asked all these companies to invest and develop all of this, then give them their money back,” says Barry Hunt. “Let them make a transition to start something else. »
What really bothers many companies, according to Barry Hunt, is the announcement by Prime Ministers Trudeau and Ford in August 2020 that they would invest $47 million in 3M to produce N95 masks for governments over the next five years.
Hunt runs a company that makes reusable and biodegradable respirators made from corn, without hard plastics or metal, and believed after conversations with various governments that he and other Canadian companies would see business opportunities there. “We were totally caught off guard by the deal with 3M,” says Hunt.
Ontario’s Ministry of Commercial and Public Service Delivery did not respond to questions about deals with Quebec’s 3M and Medicom, or whether it plans to help struggling PPE companies. Spokesman Colin Blachar said he has created a stockpile of PPE from Ontario manufacturers and that 93% of the PPE planned for the next 18 months will be purchased from Ontario or Canadian manufacturers.
Public Services and Procurement Canada said the federal government took an aggressive procurement approach early in the pandemic to meet immediate and long-term needs for medical supplies. As the pandemic has evolved, so have government requirements for PPE.
“We are grateful to all Canadian businesses that have responded to the Government of Canada’s call to action to support the response to the pandemic,” wrote federal ministry spokesperson Stéfanie Hamel.
“These efforts have helped secure domestic production of critical PPE and medical supplies urgently needed by frontline healthcare workers and helped meet the most urgent and immediate demands for personal protective equipment.” , she added.
The Association of PPE Manufacturers still has 15 member companies.