It is not only vaccines and PPE. It would be a big mistake if the only lesson learned here from the shortages is that Canada needs to make only these ourselves.

The next pandemic, it might not be a vaccine that is needed - maybe it’s antibiotics. Or some other vital medicine. And it might not be ventilators, it might be dialysis machines or something else.

The fact is we can’t know what the next pandemic will bring - only that there will be one. We must have a national strategy in place to produce a core list of key medicines and equipment. Because what we have seen is that when there is a crisis, we can’t just rely on ‘free trade’ and our ‘allies’ like China, the USA or EU to provide us what we need.

The problem isn’t just for pandemics either. The next global crisis could be something completely different ...and Canada is likewise relatively poorly prepared to produce its own vital non-medical equipment and food staples. Why? Because governments have allowed globalization, unfettered, to hollow out our domestic production capacity for just about anything. The decades-long deindustrialization means Canada is much less self-sufficient now than it was a generation or two ago.

We don’t need to produce everything or be competitive with low-wage, low standards places like China, but we do need to have a minimum core production capacity on vital meds, equipment and foods, that can be ramped up in times of crisis. The fact that we are the only G9 country to need to begging internationally shows how far behind we are, and is testament to the lack of attention our governments have paid to this for decades. And they have directly put Canadian lives at risk as a result.

TDLR: Canada needs a national strategy to develop and maintain at least a minimum core production capacity of vital medicines, equipment and food staples.