On the same day that an American company has revealed a deal with the US government to continue to provide Canada with N95 masks, Canada announced they will make 30,000 ventilators at home.

In a news conference on Tuesday, April 7, 2020, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau revealed the government is working with Thornhill Medical, CAE, Ventilators for Canadians and a group led by StarFish Medical to produce the 30,000 ventilators.

Canada has also had a delivery of 20,000 litres of hand sanitizer in the last 24 hours and they are expecting another 20,000 liters this week.

He explained that over the past few weeks over 5,000 Canadian companies have stepped forward to help fight COVID19. “Thank you for stepping up,” said Trudeau.

“The demand for critical supplies like test kits, ventilators, and personal protective equipment is going up,” he said. “We need a sustainable, stable supply of these products and that means making them at home.”

“These purchases will help increase our capacity to make sure these life-saving machines are made right here at home,” said Trudeau.

He said they are also working with Nobel Prize Scientist Arthur McDonald to develop ventilators that are easy to make.

“Our government is working around the clock to ensure that our frontline workers have everything they need to save lives and stay safe,” he said.

Canada is still expecting to receive 500,00 masks from 3M on Wednesday, but the prime minister said,

“We need to be ready for any circumstances and every circumstance. The opportunity to make sure that we have ventilators available if we need them is going to be extremely important. We have told these companies across the country who have put up their hands, to go ahead and get building ventilators as quickly as possible and as many as possible in case we need them in Canada.”

“We certainly hope that we won’t be needing all of those ventilators, but we also know that there are countries around the world where they are not able to tool up local production to create more ventilators they are going to be reliant on a global supply that is already stretched thin,” said Trudeau.

“If we end up making more ventilators than Canada needs because Canadians continue to practice social distancing continue to follow best health advice that will be great news and we will have ventilators to share with countries that are facing more difficult circumstances,” he said.