You are the procurement minister. It is something that your government is pledging is a top priority, but you're not responding like it is. I'm concerned.
Minister, at the beginning of the pandemic, Canada was caught unprepared with respect to personal protective equipment, which put frontline workers at unacceptable risk. The value of having a domestically manufactured supply of essential PPE became abundantly clear. The government encouraged Canadian industry to fill that void. Canadian businesses answered the call, but many small and medium-sized enterprises have since shut down or are at risk of closing because the government has awarded contracts to multinationals instead of supporting this emerging domestic industry.
Wayward Distillery is in my riding. It's owned by Dave Brimacombe, who pivoted in the early days of the pandemic to produce ethanol for hand sanitizer. He was unable to secure government contracts and had to sell his stock at a $400,000 loss. This is a former veteran, Minister. If Canada does not support its own PPE industry, it will disappear. We're at risk of going back to where we were in 2020, once again being caught unprepared when global demand exceeds supply.
What is PSPC doing to support Canadian PPE manufacturers as it continues to procure supplies for the health care system?