OTTAWA -- Ontario Premier Doug Ford says the province's manufacturing sector is stepping up to help battle the COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaking on Newstalk 580 CFRA's The Morning Rush with Bill Carroll, Ford said four large, Ontario-based companies are retooling to provide equipment for the province's health care system.
"If there's any good news, the good news is we have four world-wide companies based in Ontario all putting their forces together," he said. "We're going to be building ventilators here in Ontario to take care of Ontarians and take care of Canadians."
Ford named Martinrea, Woodbridge, Magna, and Linamar.
Ford said Woodbridge is also is making N95 respirator masks, because the regular manufacturer, 3M, is swamped with requests from all over the world.
"We can't rely on anyone but Ontario right now," Ford said. "We have an incredible private sector, we're an economic powerhouse, and we're putting that to use."
Ford did say the province has still put in orders for personal protective equipment from 3M and other manufacturers, including five million masks and 12 million gloves.
He also said Home Depot donated more 120,000 masks to the province.
