Ontario government procurement questioned in local election campaign

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FN Procurement says it was sidelined by Sault MPP Ross Romano and the Ontario government when it wanted to produce and provide N-95 masks for the province during the pandemic.

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Matthew Owl, president of FN Procurement Inc., said local First Nations have partnered to provide locally produced N-95 masks and wanted to be a supplier of the masks to regional long-term care homes during the pandemic and efforts to reach Romano to respond to calls for procurement and offer him a tour of their operations went unanswered.

“We put out several invitations to Minister Ross Romano to come visit our facility. Unfortunately, those invitations fell on deaf ears and we never did receive a response,” Owl said.

Instead, Owl said Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing MPP’s Carol Hughes and Mike Mantha responded to the call, touring the facility and learning more about the partnership created with Dent-X.

Romano said the Ontario government undertook a competitive procurement process to award contracts to purchase PPE “and ultimately we awarded contracts to qualified suppliers only, approved by Health Canada. If they were not approved by Health Canada, they were not a qualified supplier.”

Romano said Dent-X is not approved by Health Canada.

“The NDP are desperately trying to change the channels for their party collapse around all of Ontario,” he said in response to NDP announcement.

Romano said a minister does not make procurement decisions – that’s left to a competitive process.

He said the request to tour the Vaughan facility came only weeks ago in the weeks leading up to the election campaign and he was not in a position to do so at that time.

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Romano said “it is inappropriate for a minister of the Crown to be meeting with individual companies that want to sell products to the government. They have to go through a competitive procurement program and its about having integrity in the process. Ministers can’t be visiting individual businesses who are involved in that competitive procurement process.”

Owl said his company is proud to have created more than 50 jobs in Northern Ontario and as an Indigenous company, believes in protecting and honouring the elderly. That’s why the two companies partnered during the pandemic to provide N-95 masks for long-term care facilities, he said.

Owl said Ontario PC’s shunned the Northern Ontario company.

First Nation Procurement Inc. manufactures the PPE in Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory and Sagamok First Nation. It also has a production facility in Vaughan, Ontario.

As a result, Owl said First Nation Procurement Inc. and Dent-X are supporting the NDP in the upcoming June 2 provincial election.

“Inadequate supplies of PPE were key during the pandemic. We had nobody producing this stuff so we jumped up to the plate to produce these masks,” he said. “We created an affordable and adequate supply so we could provide masks to all of Canada,” Owl said.

In total, more than 1 million masks were donated to Ontario long-term care homes and communities to fight the pandemic.

McCleave-Kennedy said the NDP has a Buy Ontario policy.

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She said the PC’s have reduced the percentage of Ontario procurement from 25 per cent during its governmental reign and and NDP government would reverse that trend.

“We know here local we need to buy here locally and support local vendors because that’s what keeps our economy rolling in the North. This is a prime example,” she said.

McCleave-Kennedy said shunning the company is another example of how Romano has failed his constituents.

“Where was Romano when his community needed him? He should have been helping keep seniors and staff with the protective equipment they need,” she said.

Romano countered that 94 per cent of PPE is now purchased in Ontario, up from just over 30 per cent when the pandemic began.

More than 4,000 long-term care residents in Ontario died during the pandemic.