Prime Minister Justin Trudeau provided an update on the national push to procure personal protective equipment on Tuesday morning, in an ongoing effort to continue to protect Canadians against COVID-19.
During his daily address, Trudeau announced that the federal government has signed a contract with General Motors Canada to produce 10 million face masks for Canadians. He also stated that these masks are already in production, and will be shipped out to provinces and territories soon.
A new contract has also been signed for 10,000 ventilators to be produced on Canadian soil by Nobel Laureate Art McDonald and his team.
This will bring the total of Canadian-made ventilators to 40,000.
See all the latest updates about the global COVID-19 pandemic on Vancouver Island
According to Trudeau, forty flights have already arrived in Canada over last ten weeks, bringing “hundreds of thousands of items” of PPE.
As of last month, the federal government had heard from 6,000 companies looking to help with PPE production, and contracts were in the works with over a dozen of those.
Many companies across the country are now at work making everything from COVID-19 test kits, to face shields and surgical masks.
Also announced by Trudeau on Tuesday was that the government will be funding up to 700 jobs in the food and farming industry for youth, a sector that has struggled due to COVID-19.
