But will other businesses follow suit?
General Motors Canada is shifting gears temporarily amid the COVID-19 crisis: the car maker has retooled part of its facilities in Ontario to produce 10 million masks for the country.
The federal government enlisted the help of GM Canada in a bid to fast-track the production of personal protective equipment (PPE) deemed vital in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. The Public Health Agency of Canada will purchase the supplies.
GM Canada was granted a license to manufacture protective equipment in April and has since trained idled employees for the new assignment.
READ MORE: GM, Ford and Tesla aim to fast-track ventilator production
Within weeks, the company was able to reopen its plant in Oshawa, Ontario – which was shuttered in December 2019 as part of a wider cost-cutting strategy across North America – and to rehire 60 workers with help from the union Unifor.
The workers are rostered to handle two shifts in an effort to scale the medical supply production efficiently and meet the demand for a huge volume of masks throughout the year.
“We built and installed the mask-making machinery, sourced materials and trained workers in approximately one month,” GM spokesperson Jennifer Wright said. “We are proud to be helping Canadians during this COVID-19 emergency.”
The masks are reportedly produced in a facility that undergoes deep cleaning and follows strict workplace health and safety protocols.
This joint initiative of the government and GM Canada is one of the ways by which Canadian businesses and workers are “answering the call” to help their community in these challenging times, according to Anita Anand, minister of public services and procurement.
“With this agreement, we are making sure Canada’s frontline healthcare workers know there is a steady and reliable domestic supply of this vital equipment,” Anand said.
READ MORE: Laid-off workers called back to build 10,000 respirators
Aviation training specialist CAE also recalled 1,500 furloughed employees, or more than half of its workforce, when it began building 10,000 respirators for Canadian hospitals in April.
CAE receives government assistance through the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy program, which covers up to 75% of a worker’s pay at businesses badly hit by the pandemic.
The employees are “proud to play a role in saving lives by equipping the country with a made-in-Canada ventilator,” said Marc Parent, chief executive of CAE.
