Federal And Provincial Government Partner With 3M To Produce N-95 Respirator Masks

Friday, 21 August 2020 14:15

The federal government and provincial government have reached an agreement with 3M to produce N-95 respirator masks at their manufacturing plant in Brockville.

ONTARIO - The provincial and federal government are partnering with 3M Canada to expand its manufacturing facility in Brockville to produce made-in-Ontario N-95 respirators.

Both levels of government are investing $23.33 million to support 3M's capital investment of $70 million. The facility will produce enough respirators to meet private sector, provincial and North American market demand during the pandemic and beyond.

The announcement was made today by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier Doug Ford. Canada's Minister of Public Services and Procurement, Anita Anand, and Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. Vic Fedeli were also on hand.

Premier Ford says the equipment needed to give nurses and doctors who are directly treating people with COVID-19 will include the 3M N-95 respirator.

"Ontario is a manufacturing powerhouse. We can build anything right here on our beautiful soil. And when things got ugly we put out a call to Ontario businesses, we asked Ontario companies, 'please if you can, retool your production, start manufacturing the PPE we needed.' and the response was truly overwhelming. I have never been more proud to be your Premier of this great province."

Both levels of government have reached a five-year agreement with 3M for the provision of 50 million respirators every year, which will begin in early 2021 to meet current demand for frontline healthcare workers in the province and across Canada.

The respirators will be shared equally between the Province and Ottawa.

Prime Minister Trudeau says the federal government has worked closely with the provinces and territories since the start of this crisis to get Canadians the support they need.

"Fighting COVID-19 is a team Canada effort and since March we have shipped out millions of pieces of personal protective equipment to our provincial and territorial partners. Whether it's hospital gowns, gloves, face shields or masks, we're working around the clock to help our essential workers."

Prime Minister Trudeau says this not only creates good, middle class jobs, it also helps ensure that we have the capacity to make whatever we need here in our own communities.

30 jobs in Brockville are expected to come from this project, including production operators, maintenance technicians, process engineers, supervisors and quality assurance professionals.