Companies warn Tory motion could deter domestic production of PPE
Canadian companies that answered the government’s call to produce ventilators and other desperately needed equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic say they’re worried that opposition MPs are now demanding disclosure of the contracts they signed with Ottawa.
And they’re warning they’ll be less likely to step up in the future if they can’t trust the government to keep sensitive business information confidential.
Their concern is sparked by a sweeping Conservative motion that would order the government to turn over to the House of Commons health committee all records on a raft of issues related to the government’s handling of the pandemic — including the purchase of personal protective equipment and testing products.
The motion is poised to pass in a Commons vote Monday, with the support of the Bloc Quebecois and NDP.
“We are very concerned with the risk of proprietary, sensitive or confidential business information suddenly being disclosed to the public,” Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters president Dennis Darby says in a letter Friday to Procurement Minister Anita Anand.
“If these disclosures are too broad, it will negatively impact business operations for manufacturers in Canada and around the globe. Furthermore, we worry that the reputations of many manufacturers .. will be unfairly tarnished.”
Darby says companies sold
“desperately needed goods” to the government “on the assumption that any shared sensitive business information would be kept confidential.” The push to disclose it now could do “irreparable harm” to their reputation and to
Canada’s reputation as a good place to do business, he warns.
“Simply put, if companies cannot trust that their information will be kept confidential, a chill will set in on private enterprise seeking out government procurement contracts generally. We must avoid this scenario at all costs.”
The letter, obtained by The Canadian Press, was copied to two other ministers, as well as to the author of the motion, Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner, and several other Conservative and New Democrat MPs.
Darby says nearly 25 per cent of his group’s 90,000-member companies retooled their operations to produce PPE in the midst of the ongoing health crisis.