Canada In The News

[PlatinumPearl]

Contracts given to Baylis include $273,237 for the medical contract, and an additional
$422,946 "research contract" with the Department of Industry, totaling $696,183 in taxpayer dollars.

The Montreal-based Baylis Medical Company Inc., owned by former Quebec Liberal MP Frank Baylis, received nearly $700,000 in taxpayer dollars to make 10,000 pandemic ventilators. The machines, however, were never "approved in any jurisdiction to date," a memo from the Department of Health revealed.

"We now find out Frank Baylis, a former Liberal MP, has received an undisclosed value contract," Conservative MP John Brassard said in Commons. "While those governed are losing their homes, businesses, jobs and futures, the Prime Minister’s family and friends are doing just fine."

The biotech company was given a the go-ahead to make 10,000 ventilators by October 21. Baylis, who serves as chairman for the medical company, served one term as a Liberal MP from 2015 to 2019 and did not seek reelection.

"Will the Liberals tell us what the exact dollar figure was for the contract they gave to their friend?" Conservative MP Michael Barrett asked. “What was the amount?”

Contracts given to Baylis include $273,237 for the medical contract, and an additional $422,946 "research contract" with the Department of Industry, totaling $696,183 in taxpayer dollars.

According to Blacklock's Reporter, Baylis was a "generous donor" to the Liberal Party, having donated over $66,000 from 2005 onward.

Twitter Post
John Brassard @JohnBrassardCPC
This was the exchange in the the house yesterday with @MikeBarrettON
when the Minister said the contract was actually worth $237 Million. The
question was clear and it was specifically about the Baylis contract. The
answer comes at the end of the video. @mindingottawa #cdnpoli

Video

The contract raises immediate eyebrows, as the Conflict of Interests Act clearly states that former MPs should not "act in such a manner as to take improper advantage of his or her previous public office."

A memo from the department of health states that the ventilators, the VFC-560, are a "new" type of ventilator that "has not been approved in any jurisdiction to date."

The Baylis Medical Company website describes themselves as "a world leader in the conception, development, production and distribution of state-of-the-art medical products that improve the lives of people around the world."

A memo posted on the site published on July 17 states that "with the Health Canada approval, manufacturing of the 10,000 ventilators can begin, with the first shipment distributed shortly after that."



Source: thepostmillennial.com
Website: https://bit.ly/2Y2mc1s
Date: August 13, 2020

[PlatinumPearl]

UPDATE: Since August 14, there have been 40 additional illnesses reported in the ongoing Canadian investigation. There are now 379 confirmed cases in Canada. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has issued food recall warnings related to this outbreak. Additional food recall warnings are possible.

There is no evidence to suggest that onions grown in Canada are associated with this outbreak. Onions imported from the United States are under investigation. If you are not sure where a red, yellow, white, or sweet yellow onion was grown, do not eat it.

Do not eat, use, sell or serve any red, white, yellow, and sweet yellow onions from Thomson International Inc. of Bakersfield, California, USA, or any products made with these onions. This advice applies to all individuals across Canada, as well as retailers, distributors, manufacturers and food service establishments such as hotels, restaurants, cafeterias, hospitals and nursing homes.



Source: Posted on Facebook
Website: https://bit.ly/2Yu4mED
Date: August 21, 2020

[PlatinumPearl]

Trudeau government unveils $37 billion plan for CERB transition.

A $37-billion plan was unveiled by the Trudeau government for workers that have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic, reports Global News. The plan was released just weeks before the Canada Emergency Response Benefit is set to come to an end.

Included in the new measures are changes to the current Employment Insurance program as well as three additional benefit programs.

Those eligible for EI benefits will be able to receive the same minimum for no less than 26 weeks and are required to have accumulated 120 working hours to qualify—far below the current EI requirements.

Ottawa also plans on stretching the CERB program for an additional four weeks. It will be replaced by a new benefit that provides $400 per week for a maximum of 26 weeks for people who are not eligible for EI.

One of the new benefits is a caregiving benefit that provides $550 per week. According to Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough, the benefit helps people who are forced to stay home because of an illness or because daycare or school is closed.

During a press conference on Thursday, Qualtrough added that she believes the benefit will be a large help to women as they are often caretakers.

A third benefit will give $500 per week for a maximum of two weeks to workers without access to other sick leave benefits.

There are also changes coming that will enable workers to retain more of their benefits while working.

Senior officials say that most of the changes will take place on Sept. 27 and stay in place for one year. The one-month CERB extension is expected to cost taxpayers $8 billion and the planned EI modifications are expected to cost $7 billion. Officials say the new benefit programs will cost $22 billion.

About four million Canadians are still currently receiving CERB and three million of those Canadians are expected to make the transition to EI. One million people are expected to move on to other benefits.



Source: thepostmillennial.com
Website: https://bit.ly/3aOvaEF
Date: August 20, 2020

[PlatinumPearl]

Trudeau's chief of staff's husband lobbied Trudeau government to help his business.

Trudeau's chief of staff Katie Telford's husband lobbied for changes to government policy so to help his company.

In another example of Trudeau government cronyism, Trudeau's chief of staff Katie Telford's husband lobbied for changes to government policy so to help his company.

In a bombshell Vice article, journalist Justin Ling detailed how Katie Telford’s husband, Rob Silver, attempted to persuade the former Finance Minister Bill Morneau into changing government policy. Silver has not registered as a lobbyist.

Although his lobbying attempts were unsuccessful, Silver still repeatedly asked officials within the Department of Finance and the PMO to reform emergency assistance program for businesses so that it would include his business.

If the government proceeded with Silver's suggestions, Silver's company would have been able to have the government pay up to 75 percent of their employees' salaries.

In order to get his company qualified for this program, Silver made numerous attempts to get specific reforms to this legislation that would have benefited his business.

Due to the fact that Silver was not a registered lobbyist, he may have broken The Lobbying Act as he did not register with the lobbying commissioner.



Source: thepostmillennial.com
Website: https://bit.ly/2YrTnLY
Date: August 21, 2020

[PlatinumPearl]

A 3M mask, which health-care workers need desperately during the COVID-19 pandemic,
is shown in Mississauga, Ont., in April. The federal and Ontario governments have reached a 10-year deal
with 3M to manufacture the masks in Canada. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press)

3M to make critical N95 masks at Brockville, Ont., plant.

Ontario and federal government will split $70M cost to boost production capacity, sources tell CBC News

The federal and Ontario governments have convinced manufacturing giant 3M to start making N95 respirator masks at its plant in Brockville, Ont., a move that will give Canada a domestic supply of critical personal protective equipment, CBC News has learned.

The two levels of government and the company will evenly split a financial investment of at least $70-million to boost production capacity at the existing 3M facility in Brockville, with a goal of producing masks by 2021. Both levels of government have also agreed to long-term agreements to buy masks from the company.

Federal and provincial sources tell CBC News the official announcement will be made Friday afternoon by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ontario Premier Doug Ford in Brockville.

Since the early days of the pandemic, Ottawa has made it a priority to boost the domestic PPE supply chain. It's had success on products such as surgical masks, medical gowns and gloves.

But Canada has been forced to rely heavily on factories in China and the U.S. for the more specialized N95 respirators — and there have been problems with both.

Millions of Chinese-made masks failed to meet Canadian quality standards and couldn't be used by front-line health-care workers.

Boosting domestic production

Earlier this year, U.S. border officials stopped a shipment of masks headed to Ontario after President Donald Trump ordered 3M to stop exporting critical medical supplies abroad. That touched off a frenzy of high-level diplomacy so that Canada could secure an export ban exemption to keep the critical supplies coming.

Those episodes underscored Canada's reliance on foreign countries for essential medical supplies during a crisis like COVID-19, a vulnerability that had Ford pushing to make Canada completely self-sufficient.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Canada has been forced to rely heavily on factories in China and the U.S.
for specialized N95 respirators -- and there have been problems with both. (Michael Wilson/CBC)

"We can never, ever be put in the position again that we are relying on countries around the world to support us with PPEs," Ford said in April.

Because they run the health-care systems, the provinces buy most PPE supplies. The federal government has been backstopping those supplies by using its purchasing power to buy supplies on what has become a cut-throat international market.

* Ottawa unveils plan to harness industry to ramp up production of COVID-19 medical gear.

* Canada building its own PPE network in China.

In March, Ottawa also outlined its plan to kickstart domestic production of PPE to create a longer-term supply. That included working with another company, Medicom, to establish an N95 production line in Montreal. The company said Thursday production of N95-type masks is underway at that facility and it is working through regulatory requirements in order to be able to deliver the product.

Since January, 3M has boosted its global production of N95 and hopes to ramp up to 2-billion N95 masks a year by the end of 2020.



Source: cbc.ca
Website: https://bit.ly/2EvWMSZ
Date: August 21, 2020

[PlatinumPearl]

Montreal-based ventilation company becomes fourth company banned from federal contracts for 10 years.


The 63-year-old company, which bills itself as “Montreal's largest and most innovative leader in
air conditioning services for commercial, industrial, residential and institutional sectors”, is only the
fourth company to be deemed ineligible for federal contracts or real property agreements under the Integrity Regime.

OTTAWA – For the first time in four years, the federal government has added a new company to its black list of suppliers. Montreal-based Les Industries Garanties Limitée is banned from bidding on federal contracts for a decade after an employee admitting bid-rigging in 2017.

The 63-year-old company, which bills itself as “Montreal’s largest and most innovative leader in air conditioning services for commercial, industrial, residential and institutional sectors”, is only the fourth company to be deemed ineligible for federal contracts or real property agreements under the Integrity Regime.

The regime, which came into effect in 2015, aims to weed out and sanction any potential federal supplier who has been convicted of certain crimes, such as bribery, bid-rigging or illegal lobbying.

According to the federal department responsible for the Integrity Regime, Public Service and Procurement Canada, Les Industries Garanties Limitée was first flagged for ineligibility after it submitted a bid in response to an unspecified public tender.

At issue: the company’s involvement in a bid-rigging scheme for the installation of ventilation systems on Montreal high rises that led to charges in 2010 against itself, one of its evaluators Houmam Al Nashar, as well as seven other companies and four other individuals.

“Homeowners in the Montreal region were defrauded by this illegal scheme,” said Melanie Aitken, Commissioner of Competition in a 2010 release. At the time, the companies were accused of “inflating the cost of their goods and services, depriving consumers of the benefits of honest competition, including competitive prices.”

In 2017, Al Nashar pled guilty to one count of bid-rigging in exchange for 50 hours of community service and a promise to collaborate with the Competition Bureau as the investigation into the bid-rigging scheme continued.

“Mr. Al Nashar admitted that he took part in an agreement with representatives of three competing firms to obtain a ventilation contract in the Faubourg St-Laurent Phase II project” in Montreal, the Bureau said in an October 2017 press release.

“He also admitted that he participated in two other agreements that sought to ensure competing firms would get contracts for two other projects: Le Roc Fleuri and Tour St-Antoine,” the statement continues.

A few weeks later, Cardinal Ventilation, a company the Bureau says is linked to Les Industries Garanties Limitée, also pled guilty to one count of bid-rigging involving the same three projects. It was ordered to pay a $375,000 fine.

But why was Les Industries Garanties Limitée only barred from federal contracts nearly three years after the bid-rigging guilty pleas?

That’s because companies are not automatically added to the Integrity Regime’s ineligible suppliers list after a conviction. Rather, in many cases, a potential vendor will be barred following a regular review conducted after it submits a formal bid for a government contracts, the government says.

The company is then informed that it risks being barred from contracts for a decade, and is afforded a chance to respond with reasons as to why it should stay off the ineligibility list.

“As part of the verification, Public Services and Procurement Canada became aware that the company might be ineligible,” PSPC spokesperson Charles Drouin wrote in an email about Les Industries Garanties Limitée.

“Following a review of all information, the Registrar declared the supplier to be ineligible. A Notice of Ineligibility was sent to Les Industries Garanties Limitée on June 17, 2020, to inform the supplier that it would be ineligible to enter into contracts or real property agreements with the Government of Canada for a period of 10 years.”

When National Post contacted Les Industries Garanties Limitée on Monday, an unnamed representative said to call back in October. No one responded to questions left on a spokesperson’s voicemail.



Source: msn.com
Website: https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canad...id=mailsignout
Date: August 31, 2020