(Ottawa) After spending $81 million to buy millions of KN95 masks that turned out to be defective during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trudeau government was forced to take out the checkbook again to destroy them. The bill linked to the destruction of these masks amounts to $456,000, confirmed to The Press the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC).
Published at 12:48 a.m.
Updated at 5:00 a.m.
And the costs paid for this saga do not stop there: a legal dispute between Ottawa and the supplier of the masks has dragged on for three years.
The destruction of these masks took place three years ago, in November 2021, approximately a year after their delivery to the government by the Montreal firm Tango Communication Marketing, which specializes in the importation of promotional material. But this operation was only recently confirmed The Press.
“Due to quality and performance issues, it was determined that these masks could only be distributed in Canada as a non-medical face covering. As a result, PHAC assessed them as surplus […] and explored investment options such as transfers to other federal departments, donations and sales,” said Nicholas Janveau, PHAC spokesperson.
Due to a saturated global market (and considering the costs of shipping masks to Canada, relabeling them as non-medical goods as well as warehousing costs due to low demand in Canada), PHAC has decided to convert these masks into waste at a cost of approximately $456,000.
Nicholas Janveau, spokesperson for the Public Health Agency of Canada
The contract for the destruction of some 26.7 million masks was awarded to the firm Metro Supply Chain Inc.
The Press was able to obtain confirmation of this decision from PHAC more than two and a half years after submitting a request under the Access to Information Act in order to obtain a document on this subject. This long deadline exceeds that of 30 days which is normally imposed on government departments and agencies subject to this law.
Financial pit
The purchase of these masks has become a real financial pit for the federal government. Ottawa is trying to recover the money paid in advance for this purchase, and has taken legal action against Tango, in addition to having to foot the bill to destroy the masks.
“Justin Trudeau and the Liberals have added billions of dollars of unnecessary spending to the fire of inflation, and this is just one more example. They have lost the trust of Canadians and made life more difficult for families. Canadians cannot afford another year of Justin Trudeau. The damage is already too great,” said conservative MP Pierre Paul-Hus.
Remember that at the start of the pandemic, in March 2020, many countries were engaged in a mad race to get their hands on sufficient stocks of protective equipment, including masks. A large portion of orders often had to be paid in advance.
This is the option chosen by the Ministry of Supply and Public Services to quickly obtain masks. Thus, the federal government awarded three contracts under emergency powers linked to the pandemic to the Tango firm. This was to deliver 37 million masks for $111 million – a sum that includes taxes. About $81 million was made in advance payments.
However, when the masks began to arrive in Canada, federal officials subjected them to careful inspections. At the end of these inspections, the federal government concluded that the masks did not meet the expected quality criteria.
Result: Ottawa decided to cancel the contracts in May 2021, after The Press asked questions, and he demanded repayment of the $81 million that had been paid in advance. The case has been before the courts for three years.
“Misleading” remarks, argues Ottawa
In a lawsuit filed in Superior Court in the spring of 2021, lawyers for the Department of Justice claim that the Tango company made a presentation to officials riddled with “inaccurate, false or misleading, negligently made” remarks.
According to them, the company had provided test results in March 2020 which showed that its product met high quality standards. Still according to the federal government, the masks that it subsequently delivered to Canada did not come from the manufacturer who had successfully passed the tests.
Tango leaders responded that they had acted in good faith by responding to the government’s call which feared a shortage of protective equipment. They are asking the courts to force Ottawa to pay them compensation of some $31.6 million for breach of contract as well as an amount that will be determined before the trial “as damages for loss of profits and breach of obligations good faith and honesty in the execution of contracts.
According to Tango, the order concerned masks meeting the Chinese KN95 standard, intended to filter 95% of suspended particles (the Chinese equivalent of the American N95 standard). The company maintained that it had always been clear that it was a “civilian” model, with no facial fit testing.
With the collaboration of William Leclerc, The Press
