Millions of dollars worth of COVID ventilators purchased through a former Liberal MP’s company were immediately warehoused as medical surplus, records show. The ventilators cost the equivalent of $23,700 apiece..According to Blacklock's Reporter, Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) figures disclosed the majority of 10,000 Baylis Medical Company ventilators it bought, more than 90%, were never used in any clinic or hospital. The devices were bought under a sole-sourced $237 million contract through a holding company, FTI Professional Grade Inc. of Guelph, Ontario..“The Public Health Agency of Canada received the 10,000 ventilators,” staff wrote in a submission to the Commons government operations committee. “The National Emergency Strategic Stockpile currently has 9,056.” The figures were requested by Conservative MP Kelly McCauley (Edmonton West)..Of the 944 Baylis ventilators used to treat COVID patients, a total of 350 were offered free of charge to India. The PHAC did not explain what became of the rest..Foreign deliveries were suspended after New Delhi authorities complained “the ventilators require a different electrical cord for use in India,” according to a June 18, 2021 briefing note..Baylis (Pierrefonds-Dollard, Que.) served a single term in Parliament before retiring in 2019. Baylis in 2020 testimony at the House of Commons ethics committee testified his company was so short of cash he remortgaged the factory..“When the crisis hit my partner and I, we took a decision,” testified Baylis. “We said we don’t want to lay anybody off but we have 750 people, so we have an enormous payroll. So we started taking a lot of actions. Well, two people got laid off, my partner and I actually took our salaries to zero.”.“We cut expenses,” said Baylis. “We said no more travel. We used to pay for people to take courses, we cut courses. We cut matching your RRSPs so we could keep everybody. Then we re-mortgaged all our buildings, we extended our line of credit.”.The ventilator contract was finalized April 10, 2020 less than a month from the outbreak of the pandemic. Baylis devices were not federally licensed at the time. Baylis said his company required cash payment up front to fill the order. “We needed an advance,” he said..Baylis Medical last February 15 was sold to Boston Scientific Corporation of Marlborough, Massachusetts for US$1.75 billion..Internal memos from the Prime Minister’s Office showed the Baylis Medical contract was approved by the Department of Industry in a single day. “Baylis Medical was involved in the contract negotiations,” said an April 2, 2020 memo.
