| | | Actually, there is an important distinction to make between the different "made-in-Canada" contracts.
The Medicom 10-year contract is primarily a federal agreement, whereas the waste identified in the Ontario Auditor General’s 2025 report is largely driven by a separate provincial contract with 3M.
Here is the breakdown of how these two deals differ and which one is responsible for the Ontario surplus:
1. The Medicom Contract (Federal & Quebec)
* The Deal: In 2020, the federal government signed a 10-year agreement with Montreal-based Medicom.
* The Volume: Medicom produces 20 million N95s and 24 million surgical masks annually.
* The Scope: These masks go into the National Emergency Strategic Stockpile (NESS) to be distributed across all of Canada as needed. While some of these masks may eventually end up in Ontario, they are not the primary source of the "locked-in" provincial waste mentioned in the 2025 report.
2. The 3M Contract (The "Ontario" Surplus)
* The Deal: In August 2020, the Ontario government (partnering with the federal government) signed a major deal to expand the 3M plant in Brockville, Ontario.
* The Volume: This contract locked Ontario into purchasing 25 million N95 masks per year for five years (with options to extend).
* The Issue: The Auditor General’s 2025 report highlights that Ontario has continued to buy massive amounts of surgical masks—specifically 188 million surgical masks annually—under similar domestic long-term contracts.
Why this is causing the $1.4 billion waste:
The "locked-in" nature you mentioned refers to the fact that Ontario is legally obligated to keep buying these millions of masks every year to support "made-in-Ontario" manufacturing, even though:
* Demand has plummeted: Hospitals and long-term care homes aren't using nearly as many masks as they did in 2021.
* Hospitals won't buy them: Most Ontario hospitals prefer their own private vendors over the stock provided by Supply Ontario.
* No Storage Space: Because the province is forced to keep taking delivery of new masks from these contracts, the older masks in the warehouse expire and are sent to be incinerated to make room for the new ones.
Summary: While Medicom is the famous "10-year deal" often cited in Canadian news, it's the Ontario-specific contracts (like 3M and other local surgical mask manufacturers) that are currently fueling the $1.4 billion write-off and the incineration of 780 million pieces of PPE.
Would you like me to look into whether any of these long-term contracts can actually be renegotiated to stop the waste? |
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