Trudeau Liberals refuse to disclose details of $200 million ventilator boondoggle

Public Works Minister Anita Anand personally called a federal contractor in a cabinet colleague’s riding to "speak about your needs," according to internal emails. Cabinet to date has not disclosed details of the sole-sourced $200,451,621 contract for COVID ventilators that were shipped for storage in an Ottawa warehouse.

"I am reaching out to arrange a phone call between yourself and Minister Anand sometime early next week," Anand’s executive assistant emailed the CEO of Thornhill Medical of Toronto on April 17, 2020. "Minister Anand is looking to touch base with you to speak about your needs and to discuss timelines and what support Canada can provide to accelerate production."

The CEO of Thornhill replied seven minutes later to book the meeting. The company’s head office is in Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s riding, University-Rosedale.

Internal memos urged staff to keep quiet about terms of the Thornhill contract, including unit costs for ventilators that were shipped to a warehouse. A March 23, 2020 email indicated the Department of Public Works ordered 550 ventilators with "1900 pending" from Thornhill, reported Blacklock's.

"We cannot disclose the quantity of units ordered as doing so would allow the price paid per unit to be determined," said André Gagnon, spokesperson for the health department. "This is considered commercially confidential information and as such cannot be provided," continued Gagnon.

The contractor, Thornhill Medical, could not comment on the matter.

Federal authorities, when contacted by Blacklock’s August 11, would neither confirm nor deny Thornhill was paid the equivalent of $138,106 for each ventilator. Most of the Thornhill machines "are maintained at the Public Health Agency’s warehouse," a spokesperson said.

"When it comes to Thornhill, we should not be saying how much they have committed for consistency’s sake," staff in Minister Anand’s office wrote in a March 29, 2020 email. "Many suppliers are very touchy about the information we are sharing as they feel it leaves them vulnerable to having their stock ordered or stock bought out from under them. If we start putting out numbers, it’s going to be very hard not to provide them when suppliers really need us not to."

The Thornhill Medical contract was signed on March 19. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced it the following day. "We’re close to reaching agreements with several companies, including Thornhill Medical," said Trudeau.

Thornhill Medical’s contract was finalized on March 22, 2020, just eleven days after the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic. "We’re close to reaching agreements with several companies, including Thornhill Medical," the prime minister told reporters on March 20.

"Thornhill Medical, a ventilator manufacturer, located in Toronto, has stepped up," then-Industry Minister Navdeep Bains said on March 20.

Finance Minister Freeland on July 10 thanked Thornhill by name. They "stepped up to support the made in Canada project, helping to keep our frontline and essential workers safe across the country," said Freeland. Blacklock’s could find no evidence any Thornhill ventilators were used in hospitals.

"I am proud of Thornhill Medical in my riding," said Freeland. "It has delivered some ventilators to the Government of Canada, thank you very much."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau personally endorsed the Thornhill contract though the devices were not required.

Almost all of the ventilators remain in an Ottawa warehouse, the department confirmed on August 11.

"Fifty-three Thornhill Medical ventilators have been allocated," said Spokesperson Gagne. The rest "are maintained at the Public Health Agency’s warehouse," he said.

Records earlier disclosed the Department of Health did not want the Thornhill machines. Staff were "advising not to proceed with it as it does not meet technical requirements," said a March 19, 2020 Note To File.

Managers in the health department "expressed concern in writing," precisely "a concern as to whether it would be able to meet the need for COVID-19 ventilators and the cost of the product."

Health Agency managers questioned "the Thornhill product’s utility in an intensive care unit and its ability to do long term ventilation." They were told by the company "it had no real flexibility to modify its product."

One unidentified Department of Industry executive complained bureaucrats were "too fussy" and pressed for the Thornhill order. "It was better to have the Thornhill product than no product," said the industry department.