Ottawa Needs to Manufacture Medical Supplies in Canada, Not China.

I was surprised when the prime minister announced that, henceforth, Canada would arrange the manufacture of its own p.p.e. supplies - in China.

That is so wrong for so many reasons.  If this pandemic has taught us anything it's that each nation must establish and maintain a strategic stockpile of its own ventilators, masks, gowns, testing equipment, mattresses, cots and more - enough for the needs of our medical personnel and, when it comes to gear such as masks, the general public also.

When you must meet a strategic need you do it in house, in your own country. You do that so that you have the established capacity to get all that gear to those in need just as soon as possible.

Our supposed best friend next door intervened to direct 3M to suspend deliveries to Canada because America needed those supplies and had a priority claim to them. So much for that "special relationship." But China? We should rely on China? The same China that's currently holding two of our citizens in jail as hostages? The China that whipsaws our economy, especially our agriculture industry when it wants to twist our arm?

And then, there's this.

A Chinese-made mask approved by Health Canada is the subject of a counterfeit warning issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S. 

The Associated Press has reported that counterfeit masks, intended to mimic medical-grade N95 masks made by the Shanghai Dasheng company and approved for use in Canada, already have been distributed to front-line medical staff at some U.S. hospitals. 

And a separate Chinese mask maker also licensed by Health Canada has seen its approval pulled by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States.

This is the same China that gave us all those great hits such as the Hong Kong flu (1968/1969/1970), the Avian flu (1996/ 2013-2017) and, who can forget, the legendary Swine flu (actually H1N1 is said to have originated in Mexico) that lasted 20-months. Oh yeah, SARS too (2012/2013). The same China that now appears to have endowed the world with Covid-19.  I put the dates in just in case you think Covid-19 will be a "one and done" problem.

So, yeah, find Canadian manufacturers for these strategic supplies who will make them here in Canada, not outsource them, and maintain necessary stockpiles for each region of the country.