Thunder Bay Rainy River MP Marcus Powlowski has expressed his support for the recently announced deal between Bombardier and O-Two Medical Technologies to have Bombardier’s Thunder Bay plant take part in the manufacturing of 18,000 e700 ventilators in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
MP Powlowski, a former Emergency Room doctor at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, initially put Bombardier Thunder Bay in contact with O-Two in mid-March as part of his personal efforts to help increase Canada’s domestic production of ventilators – an issue the Member had raised as early as January on the Standing Committee for Health in Ottawa. Powlowski said that he was happy to see both companies quickly reach a deal over the following weeks to have the urgently needed medical devices produced with the help of the Thunder Bay plant.
“The Thunder Bay rail-car plant is one of the jewels of Canada’s manufacturing industry,” MP Powlowski was quoted as saying. “In World War II, this plant built Hawker Hurricanes to fight the Nazis. Now our country – and the whole world, really – is once again facing a deadly threat, and this plant and its workers are once again playing a key role in the fight. If we are at war with COVID-19, these ventilators are our Hawker Hurricanes.”
MP Powlowski also expressed his hope that this deal would play a role in securing the long-term future of the Thunder Bay plant: “I am proud to have helped facilitate this deal – not just because it will produce a much needed medical device, but because it shows the entire country the skill the Thunder Bay plant has and the importance of keeping it operational. I have been advocating for our plant since I was elected. Each one of these ventilators is another success myself and my provincial and municipal colleagues can point at.”
The deal signed between Bombardier and O-Two will see 18,000 ventilators produced for the Ontario healthcare system. Bombardier Thunder Bay has said that the project will temporarily bring back 40-50 workers, three quarters of whom will be called back.
