The Public Health Agency of Canada is under renewed fire after confirming it wasted more than $170 million on medical supplies that have since expired and are now bound for the dump.The revelation has MPs demanding to know why no senior officials have been dismissed over years of inventory mismanagement.In a written response to the Commons health committee, the Agency said it is “committed to transparency” while balancing national‑security concerns. The disclosure was highlighted by Conservative MP Dan Mazier, who pressed for details on the scale of expired goods still sitting in federal warehouses.According to the Agency, Ottawa is currently storing 63,998,450 expired items, including masks, gloves, respirators, face shields, medical gowns and other protective equipment. The goods were purchased between 2020 and 2022 at a cost of $150.7 million, with taxpayers spending an additional $20,096,231 to warehouse the now‑worthless supplies..The Agency said it acquired more than 4 billion units of medical countermeasures during the pandemic, deploying just over half to provinces and territories. The remainder is being cleared out as part of ongoing efforts to “divest” surplus stock. Once expired, the Agency noted, personal protective equipment cannot be used under Health Canada rules and must be recycled or disposed of.The waste comes after years of warnings. Federal audits previously found the National Emergency Strategic Stockpile was poorly managed, leaving Canada short of critical supplies at the onset of COVID‑19. Officials acknowledged they failed to maintain proper electronic inventory systems despite receiving $675 million annually.Sally Thornton, then a vice‑president overseeing the stockpile, told MPs in 2020 that the Agency was making “interim course corrections” but insisted it had not been mandated or funded to modernize its systems earlier.MPs on the public accounts committee expressed disbelief in 2022 that no one had been fired over what they called a “tremendous failure.” Conservative MP Philip Lawrence said the lapses were significant and pressed officials on whether anyone had faced consequences. “Has any individual at Public Health realized any repercussions due to this tremendous failure?” he asked.
