Government Operations committee  There were ongoing discussions with the provinces, through Health Canada, around hospitals filling up and what capacity was there, and then PSPC moved to actually put the contracts in place with the two companies.

Government Operations committee  Again, Mr. Chair, if you waited until there was a request for this, you'd be too late. The analysis of the market was that these supplies were being snapped up.

Government Operations committee  Mr. Chair, those discussions are ongoing. The company attempted to replace them with suitable masks several times and was unsuccessful in providing masks that met our standards, so the negotiation dispute, call it what you will, is ongoing.

Government Operations committee  The discussions with the company are ongoing. There is a different interpretation of their meeting of the contract requirements.

Government Operations committee  I will check with my colleague Ms. Reza to correct me, but I believe not. Arianne, can you confirm that? They're no longer involved.

Government Operations committee  Mr. Chair, going from memory on this one, I don't believe they were, but if I have that incorrect, we can clarify with you.

Government Operations committee  As I mentioned, it's a dispute, so it's hard to say where this will go. It could end up on a number of fronts.

Government Operations committee  Certainly. The essential services contingency reserve was set up as a vehicle to acquire and distribute PPE to industries and businesses that are in the essential category, that would not have been eligible to draw from the NESS but might have been in a world where they were st

Government Operations committee  We'll have to come back in terms of actual distribution, but the types of industries we're talking about here would have been agricultural, so think of food inspection or meat-processing plants. Utilities were on the list as well. It was essentially businesses that were necessary

Government Operations committee  The provision of goods by PHAC to the provinces is done without charge. The federal government is absorbing that cost. There were some purchases that were done jointly with provinces, so there might be the odd one-off. On the essential services continency reserve, in that envir

Government Operations committee  That is correct in terms of the flow-through to the provinces. Absolutely.

Government Operations committee  There is a concerted effort to increase indigenous participation in procurement, so awarding a high number of contracts through the COVID-specific procurement as well as in general.... Mr. Chair, I may turn to my colleague Lorenzo to finish this off, if that's okay.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for the question. I would just like to say that we will be updating this web page in the next few weeks with the latest information.

Government Operations committee  I can provide the details to the committee after the meeting, if you don't mind.

Government Operations committee  Thank you, Madam Minister. As the member and the minister have already indicated, we may have too many ventilators. So there are several options. We could keep them in case we need them in the future. Alternatively, we could see if other countries need them. However, as far as