True North

China sent Canada one million faulty masks that failed to meet health and safety standards.

The spokesman for the Department of Health and Canada’s Public Health Agency Eric Morrisette told the Globe and Mail that the KN95 masks are unusable in a health care setting and the government is trying to figure out ways to cut their losses. 

“To date, PHAC has identified approximately one million KN95 masks as non-compliant with specifications for health care settings,” said Morrisette.

“These items were not distributed to provinces and territories for front-line health care response, and are being subsequently assessed for use in non-health care settings.”

This is not the first time that equipment procured from China has proven to be of poor or unusable quality. 

When testifying before the Commons health committee Deputy Public Works Minister Bill Matthews told committee members that 100,000 of the coronavirus test swabs sent to Canada by China were contaminated with mould. 

As exclusively reported by True North, the City of Toronto said that the 200,000 faulty masks manufactured in China were never tested before having to be recalled and replaced after healthcare professionals reported that they were “ripping and tearing.” 

Earlier this week, China also sent two empty cargo planes back to Canada after they made the overseas journey to pick up promised personal protective equipment.

According to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, “severe restrictions” regarding airports by the Chinese are to blame for the planes returning without any cargo. 

“There are severe restrictions on the ground in China in terms of how long a plane can actually stay in their airports before having to leave – whether it’s full or not,” said Trudeau.

However, the Chinese government has since accused the prime minister and others of spreading “inaccurate” reports regarding the circumstances around the failed delivery.

 “As to the incident involving two Canadian flights returning empty, we have checked with the competent department and found relevant reports to be inaccurate,” said foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang.

“Relevant airports and civil aviation authorities place no limit on the ground time of chartered cargo planes.”

Communist Chinese government officials have called Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s explanation for why the two cargo planes that returned to Canada empty-handed “inaccurate.” 

When pressed on why the planes returned without any personal protective equipment (PPE) after making the trip, Trudeau told reporters on Tuesday that it was due to Chinese restrictions.

“There are severe restrictions on the ground in China in terms of how long a plane can actually stay in their airports before having to leave – whether it’s full or not,” said Trudeau. 

However, the Chinese government is disputing the Trudeau government’s account on the matter, refusing to take responsibility for sending back the jets without the promised cargo. 

“As to the incident involving two Canadian flights returning empty, we have checked with the competent department and found relevant reports to be inaccurate,” said foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang.

“Relevant airports and civil aviation authorities place no limit on the ground time of chartered cargo planes.”

Canada has had several issues with PPE supply chains leading back to China. Deliveries on vital items like masks, ventilators and tests have been delayed or the equipment was found to be faulty upon arrival. 

The Trudeau government says about one million face masks from China failed to meet proper standards for health care professionals, and will not be sent to the provinces.

Over 100,000 coronavirus test swabs delivered by China were also found to have been contaminated with mould upon arrival.

In Toronto, the City of Toronto recalled 200,000 faulty masks manufactured in China after front-line healthcare workers reported that the protective gear was “ripping and tearing.” 

The president of Canada’s largest police union is disappointed that the current public health orders are forcing officers to issue big fines to people for doing everyday activities.

Originally reported by Blacklock’s, Canadian Police Association President Tom Stamatakis told MPs that enforcing coronavirus-related health orders may be creating animosity between the public and police.

“The last thing we need in circumstances like this is more conflict between the public and police,” he said in the House of Commons health committee on Wednesday,

“I can certainly understand the frustration and even anger expressed by members of the public who have found themselves potentially facing significant fines for infractions that at times may seem unclear.”

Stamatakis said that enforcing orders has been made difficult because of inconsistent messaging between the various levels of government as to what can be done during the pandemic. 

He added that overreactions by police officers to infractions are contributing to public confusion and anger.

“There have been some well-documented cases of potentially overzealous enforcement of quarantine orders,” he said.

Over the past few weeks Canadians have received significant fines for breaking public health orders. In many cases the infractions were accidental and the public health risk was minor.

This week an Ottawa teenager was fined $700 for playing basketball by himself in a parking lot.

In another instance, a family of four in Oakville were fined $880 for rollerblading in the parking lot of a community centre. The family claims that there was nothing posted anywhere that suggested they were not allowed to be in the parking lot.

Along with inconsistent messaging from the government, Stamatakis says that police are also dealing with conflicted opinions from the public on how they want police to enforce public health orders.

“We’re now in the middle of the public who are saying, ‘What are you doing about this and why aren’t you taking enforcement action?’, in between people with those views and other people who are saying, ‘Well, why are you trying to prevent me from going to this park or criticizing me for leaving my home?’”

The Chinese embassy in Canada has called an open letter signed by over one hundred international and Canadian world leaders “immoral” and guilty of “malicious slander.”  

In their statement published online on Sunday, the embassy lashed out at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute (MLI) for publishing the document and accused them of “ulterior motives.” 

“Recently, the Macdonald-Laurier Institute published the so-called open letter, falsely claimed that the roots of the pandemic are in a cover-up by China, carried out malicious slander and attacks on the Communist Party of China and the Chinese government, and grossly interfered in China’s internal affairs,” claimed remarks by the Chinese embassy’s spokesperson. 

“While China and the international community, including Canada, are fighting against the pandemic, it is immoral for the MLI to spread the so-called ‘China’s cover-up,’ and there must be an ulterior motive behind this.”

Among those who have signed the letter are Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer, several MPs and a number of current and former Canadian politicians. They are joined by numerous other parliamentarians, academics and experts from across the world. 

As exclusively reported by True North, the first Canadian signatories were Conservative Party leadership candidate Peter MacKay, and Conservative MPs James Bezan and John Williamson. 

In the letter, the Chinese Communist Party is accused of covering up the coronavirus with the help of the World Health Organization, which peddled false claims about the disease during the early stages of the outbreak. 

“The roots of the pandemic are in a cover-up by CCP authorities in Wuhan, Hubei province. Under the influence of the CCP the World Health Organisation first downplayed the pandemic,” says the letter. 

“Taiwanese health officials also allege that they ignored their alerts of human-to-human transmission in late December. Under pressure from the CCP, democratic Taiwan—which has coped with the pandemic in exemplary fashion—is excluded from the WHO.”

True North spoke to Shuvaloy Majumdar who is the Munk Senior Fellow for Foreign Policy and Program Director for Foreign Policy Work at MLI about how Canada should interpret China’s recent posturing over criticisms about its coronavirus response.

“We’ve seen them conflate credible critiques with charges of racism and it’s silly to do that and they’re growing sharper and more immature in how they’re responding to it,” said Majumdar.

“The Chinese embassy posting on their own embassy website is different from how they had Global Times which is a communist party rag do a hit piece on us about two weeks ago, but it shows a sustained effort to try and abuse and intimidate independent voices around the world.”

According to Majumdar, the response by Canadian politicians to the letter has been supportive but there is room for others to take a harder stance on China.

“I think some very specific Canadian leaders have an aversion to naming China or criticizing China, perhaps because they are stuck in an ideological position. I don’t think that they have taken in the facts of the Communist Party’s record in recent times and despite the best advice of Canadian researchers but also bureaucratic officials, they single-handedly and stubbornly stick with defending China’s reputation,” said Majumdar.

“I expect Canadian leaders independent of party to stand by the free society that Canadians treasure, critical thinking and independent voices are a cornerstone of our democracy and I expect Canadian leaders to show the kind of fortitude necessary to defend what makes Canada great.”

According to the Chinese embassy in Canada, China’s response to the pandemic was “open and transparent.” The embassy also accused the MLI of “collaborating with anti-China forces.”

“The MLI claimed itself to be an independent think tank. However, it has long been collaborating with anti-China forces such as the ‘Taiwan Independence’ forces and the anti-humanity, anti-society and anti-science Falun Gong cult, and has frequently attacked and smeared China,” said the embassy’s spokesperson. 

The denturist who killed at least 22 people in a weekend rampage in Nova Scotia did not have a firearms license, police believe.

“We have a fairly good idea, at least in Canada, that he did not have an FAC – a firearms acquisition certificate,” Nova Scotia RCMP superintendent Chris Leather said at a Wednesday afternoon press conference.

Leather was referring to the possession and acquisition license (PAL) required to buy and own firearms in Canada, which replaced the firearms acquisition certificate (FAC) in 1995.

Police remain tight-lipped on the type or types of guns used in the attacks. With the knowledge Gabriel Wortman didn’t have a firearms license, it’s not clear where he obtained the firearms, or the RCMP uniform he wore and the mock police car he drove.

After pleading guilty to an assault charge in 2002, Wortman was banned from owning firearms for nine months as part of a conditional discharge agreement.

Leather’s acknowledgement came one day after RCMP and government officials declined to say whether Wortman was a licensed gun owner – information they would have been able to glean as soon as they learned Wortman’s name.

“The RCMP are in the earliest hours and days of this investigation, and it’s a complex one and I think it’s quite appropriate for them to be careful about the release of information until they’ve had the opportunity to verify it and confirm it,” Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said Tuesday. “And, so it is, I think inappropriate and the Commissioner would, would quite naturally be very reluctant to reveal details of that investigation until it is complete.”

In the wake of the shooting, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reaffirmed his commitment to further restricting firearms access in Canada, calling the Nova Scotia killing “a tragic reminder of the fact that we need to do more to keep Canadians safe.”