They couldn't even give them away.Documents show the Public Health Agency of Canada auctioned off ventilators worth $22,000 each as scrap metal for mere pennies per pound. The StarFish Medical devices, purchased under a sole-sourced $169.5 million contract in 2020, were deemed surplus just months after acquisition.Despite efforts to divest themselves of the surplus assets, the Agency couldn't find any takers. Provincial and territorial health authorities, the Department of National Defence, and even international donation efforts through the Department of Foreign Affairs all declined the offer. The ventilators were eventually sold for parts in an auction in Langley, B.C., with some still in their original factory packaging being sold for a mere $6 apiece in Concord, Ont.This fiasco is part of a larger trend, as cabinet awarded over $720 million in sole-sourced contracts for ventilators during the pandemic, with most being warehoused. Then-Public Works Minister Anita Anand defended the purchases, citing uncertainty around the number of ventilators needed. However, only 839 surplus machines were donated to hospitals in India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Ukraine.The StarFish Medical devices, once hailed as innovative, were reduced to scrap metal. The company has declined to comment on why their devices met this fate. The incident raises questions about the government's handling of pandemic resources and the wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars.Conservative MP Gerald Soroka, who requested the Inquiry Of Ministry, expressed concern over the classification and sale of the ventilators as scrap metal.
They couldn't even give them away.Documents show the Public Health Agency of Canada auctioned off ventilators worth $22,000 each as scrap metal for mere pennies per pound. The StarFish Medical devices, purchased under a sole-sourced $169.5 million contract in 2020, were deemed surplus just months after acquisition.Despite efforts to divest themselves of the surplus assets, the Agency couldn't find any takers. Provincial and territorial health authorities, the Department of National Defence, and even international donation efforts through the Department of Foreign Affairs all declined the offer. The ventilators were eventually sold for parts in an auction in Langley, B.C., with some still in their original factory packaging being sold for a mere $6 apiece in Concord, Ont.This fiasco is part of a larger trend, as cabinet awarded over $720 million in sole-sourced contracts for ventilators during the pandemic, with most being warehoused. Then-Public Works Minister Anita Anand defended the purchases, citing uncertainty around the number of ventilators needed. However, only 839 surplus machines were donated to hospitals in India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Ukraine.The StarFish Medical devices, once hailed as innovative, were reduced to scrap metal. The company has declined to comment on why their devices met this fate. The incident raises questions about the government's handling of pandemic resources and the wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars.Conservative MP Gerald Soroka, who requested the Inquiry Of Ministry, expressed concern over the classification and sale of the ventilators as scrap metal.
