By Chris Brown

Update from the PM

Made-in-Canada efforts ramping up

Apr 7, 2020 | 9:40 AM

The federal government has increased its made-in-Canada efforts on ventilators during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the government is working with four companies — Thornhill Medical, CAE, Ventilators for Canadians, Starfish Medical — to produce 30,000 ventilators.

Trudeau said the entire supply of 30,000 ventilators may not be needed, and that is the hope, but the availability of them is important. Any excess ventilators can be shared with other countries, Trudeau added.

“We’re working around the clock to make sure our frontline workers have everything they need to stay safe,” the prime minister says, adding Canada is also expecting 500,000 masks from 3M on Wednesday.

Full-time work is being offered to military reservists to help during the pandemic and Health Canada is recruiting volunteers to help front-line workers.

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Trudeau also praised the efforts of the more than 5,000 companies who have stepped up to help the fight. He said companies like Stanfields and Canada Goose are working to produce other supplies like gloves and medical gowns.

Trudeau continued to hammer on a familiar message.

“The most important thing is for people to stay home. If they do go out, they need to stay two metres apart,” he said.

On fines for people not following social distancing measures, Trudeau said “we’re all in this together, we need to be there for each other and make sure everyone is doing their part.”

“We know we can and should be doing more,” Trudeau said about testing and that everyone is doing everything we can to control this disease and get the country back to restoring normalcy.

The prime minister opened his address from Rideau Cottage with words of encouragement for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has tested positive cor the virus and yesterday was moved into ICU. Trudeau called his counterpart “a fighter” and told the British public that Canadians stand with them.

As of Tuesday morning, Canada has 17,049 confirmed cases, 14 probable cases and 345 deaths. There have been 346,507 Canadians tested.

In Alberta there are 1,348 cases and 24 deaths. A total of 64,183 Albertans have been tested.