COVID-19 Update for March 31, 2020 – 12:00pm

In his daily briefing, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau provided more details on the work Minister Navdeep Bains has done to mobilize industry in Canada in the fight against COVID-19.

Made in Canada solutions

Trudeau thanked the more than 3,000 companies who have already connected with Health Canada and for those who already have supply contracts — including Thornhill Medical, Medicom and Spartan Bioscience — to manufacture medical equipment, respirators, surgical masks and diagnostic materials.

He referenced Letters of Intent that have been signed with Precision Biomonitoring, Irving Oil, Calco, Stanfields and Fluid Energy Group. Updates on what these companies will be providing will be released in the coming days.

The Prime Minister mentioned a number of other companies that have donated equipment — such as Alibaba, the Chinese e-retailer giant that has sent 500,000 surgical masks and 10,000 testing kits. In addition, he referenced Bombardier, 3M, Medtronic and Toys R Us who are confirmed to be working with government to provide resources.

More money for protective equipment

Trudeau announced the government is allocating $2 billion to purchase personal protective equipment (PPE), including bulk purchases with provinces and territories. This includes items like face shields, masks, swabs and test kits.

In a rare non-COVID related announcement, Trudeau announced that he has appointed Ralph Goodale as Special Advisor to investigate the downing of Iranian flight 752.

If you have any questions about this update, please let us know.

The Enterprise Team