3M to make N95 masks at Brockville, Ont. plant
Canadian Plastics
Canadian Plastics COVID-19The company will produce as many as 100 million N95 masks a year following a roughly $70-million agreement with the federal and Ontario governments.
3M Canada in Brockville, Ont. will produce as many as 100 million N95 masks a year following a roughly $70-million agreement with the federal and Ontario governments.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced the deal on Aug. 21 at the Brockville facility.
Ottawa and the province will each contribute $23.3 million to expand manufacturing capabilities at the Brockville plant – where 3M makes tape and other materials – allowing it to produce the increased amount of masks, which are made from synthetic plastic fibres.
The masks are considered a critical piece of protection in the ongoing battle against COVID-19.
The masks made at the expanded facility will be used to meet “private sector, provincial, and North American market demand throughout the pandemic and beyond,” said Robert Gibson, a spokesman for Ontario’s minister of economic development.
“With mask production in Brockville, it increases public confidence in our PPE supply chain. We can count on Canadians making masks for Canadians,” Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes MP Michael Barrett said in a statement. “It’s important that Canadians have a secure and reliable source for these important products and our skilled workers here are certainly up to the task.”
