Ontario’s Premier says the province is in dire need of personal protective equipment including N95 masks.
Ford stresses he wouldn’t cry wolf unless it was a very serious situation.
He says they have been in contact with companies around the world to get N95 masks following the United States’ decision to ban 3M from shipping masks to Canada.
On Sunday, a shipment of personal protective equipment was held up at the Canada/US border and then later released.
“Getting it across the border right now is very difficult, but again things could change rapidly with the ongoing discussions. We just need the federal government in the US to exempt us and I think we are getting extremely close,” Ford said.
The Premier says he will believe it when he sees it since he has heard shipments have been on their way before in the past and they’ve haven’t arrived.
“I’ve heard so many numbers and until I see, physically see those 500,000 masks here in Ontario, then I’ll report back and say they are here,” Ford added.
Ford says there is about a week’s worth of PPE supplies in our province and they are working on getting an agreement with the United States to allow further shipments.
“We are grateful for anything we can get out of the US, we are relying on the US and the federal government. The federal government and we all are working around the clock on these items,” Ford said.
The province is also working on getting Ontario companies to manufacture masks but it is expected it will take some time before the masks are available.
