You mentioned a lot about challenging times and how challenging it is for you to access equipment. In a number of situations that I've seen and that I'm sure my colleagues have seen, someone may be trying to improve a respirator, for example, by coming up with a product that might use one ventilator to create something that's able to deal with two or three types of issues. Those issues obviously have to be recognized and standardized, but it's a challenge for you.
At the finance committee meeting on Friday, April 3, there was a gentleman by the name of Mr. Veso Sobot. He said, “At a time when the government is appealing to the manufacturers to retool and produce needed plastic products for the health care sector”—masks, ventilators, hoses, IV bags, IV tubing, PPEs, like plastic shields—“labelling plastics as toxic is counterproductive”. He said it “disparages and demonizes” the Canadian plastics industry, which has worked very hard to alleviate the effects of the COVID-19 crisis.
Using plastic items such as these is necessary in treating a lot of those suffering from COVID-19. If we anticipate that the crisis is going to carry on for who knows how long, and we deem these plastics basically as schedule 1 toxic substances, does PSPC see this potentially having a negative impact on the procurement of medical devices and PPE with respect to COVID-19?