Ontario Joins Forces with the Private Sector to Fight COVID-19
New $50 million Ontario Together Fund will support the development of essential equipment and supplies April 1, 2020 1:15 P.M., Office of the Premier TORONTO ― To stop the spread of COVID-19 and keep people safe, the Ontario government is launching a new $50 million Ontario Together Fund to help businesses provide innovative solutions or […]
Emergency coronavirus bill could help auto parts firms retool to produce ventilators
Steven Chase, The Globe and Mail March 24, 2020 Canada’s emergency coronavirus legislation includes measures that could help auto parts makers retool their factories to produce life-saving ventilators for desperately ill COVID-19 patients. The COVID-19 Emergency Response Act would amend Canada’s Patent Act to grant the federal Health Minister new powers to authorize the manufacture […]
Ontario mobilizing manufacturing to fight COVID-19
Auto parts makers have been in discussions with the Ontario government to switch gears to medical equipment March 23, 2020, Canadian Manufacturing TORONTO — The Ontario government is mobilizing the province’s manufacturing sector to provide equipment and products needed to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and treat its victims. The Ontario Together website has been […]
Company set to crank out ventilators, awaiting final go-ahead from Ottawa
In rush to avoid nightmare scenario unfolding in Italian hospitals, world scrambles to make breathing machines Alexander Panetta, CBC News March 22, 2020 A Canadian company says it can ramp up production within days of potential life-saving ventilators, once it gets final instructions from the federal government. Countries are scrambling to avoid the nightmarish scenario […]
Ford urges Ontario companies to step up by manufacturing equipment to combat COVID-19
Robert Benzie, Queen’s Park Bureau Chief, Toronto Star Sat., March 21, 2020 All hands on deck. That’s the message from Premier Doug Ford, who launched a new “Ontario Together” web portal on Saturday to enable businesses to more easily mobilize to manufacture medical equipment and essential supplies including hand sanitizer in the fight against COVID-19. […]
APMA says medical suppliers will be forced to share specs with auto industry amid pandemic
Greg Layson, Automotive News Canada March 20, 2020 If medical equipment suppliers refuse to share the technical specifications of the equipment they make with the auto industry, “we will force them,” says the head of Canada’s autoparts makers association. But the question is: How? “You ask nicely, wait respectfully, get frustrated and ask the government […]
Can’t ‘snap your fingers’: Manufacturers could face time, money challenges making masks, ventilators
Hand sanitizer not as hard to make for distilleries, other companies like LVMH Mark Gollom, CBC News March 20, 2020 For Toronto-based Spirit of York Distillery Co., transforming from a gin and vodka manufacturing plant into a hand-sanitizing producer wasn’t a particularly difficult transition. It took some time to secure sufficient quantities of hydrogen peroxide […]
How auto parts manufacturers could help during the COVID-19 crisis
CBC News Windsor, March 19, 2020 As auto plants in North America temporarily close due to concerns about coronavirus, Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association, is working on having auto parts manufacturers adapt to produce medical supplies. Volpe said manufacturers can make 500,000 of a given part every year. Right now, the […]
Ventilators will be crucial to saving people’s lives, but Ottawa won’t say how many Canada needs as COVID-19 continues to spread
Alex Ballingall, Toronto Star March 19, 2020 OTTAWA—The federal government is refusing to say how many ventilators Canada might need to weather the COVID-19 pandemic, as Ontario and other provinces look to acquire hundreds of additional breathing machines for people who get dangerously sick. Experts say Canada’s supply of ventilators will be crucial to saving […]
Canadian auto suppliers in talks to build ventilators, masks during coronavirus crisis
‘If we can get the drawings and the technical guidance, we’re ready and willing to help’ Naomi Powell, Emily Jackson, Financial Post March 19, 2020 Canadian automotive industry leaders and government officials are attempting to strike commercial agreements with medical device companies to redeploy their idled production lines to make ventilators, masks and other vital […]
