by Rebecca Bozzato, Office of the Honourable Victor Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade
“Since we launched Ontario Together on March 21, more than 17,000 offers of supplies, services, and production capacity have been submitted by the Ontario business community to fight COVID-19. We’ve been working tirelessly to rapidly assess and implement these submissions and more that continue to pour in to help our health system and front line workers.
There have been a number of businesses and organizations in the Ottawa area that have stepped up to the plate to do their part in the fight against COVID-19.
Mayor Watson did a great job teaming up with Harley Finkelstein, COO of Shopify to fundraise for the Ottawa Food Bank.
Spartan Bioscience, a cutting-edge firm based in Ottawa has had its cube testing devices approved by Health Canada, which are now being sought out around the world for their efficacy. Ontario has placed an order for 900,000 units over the next 9 to 12 months.
Jordan Harding and his girlfriend have transformed their Ottawa condo into a mini hand sanitizer factory, and have given away over 500 bottles to nurses, doctors, and therapists. Jordan is doing the bottling while the North of 7 Distillery run by a friend of is doing the production. You can sign up at handsan.ca.
D-Squared Construction, based in Greely, is donating $25,000 to busi- nesses and people in need.
Impacto in Belleville has re-tooled to make face masks, and delivered 250 of those masks to Quinte Health Care in late March.
The service of others in times of need reflects the very best of the Ontario Spirit, and our businesses continue to step up at a critical time to lend a hand. These leads have been converted into nearly $90 million in purchases of critical supplies and equipment such as gloves, face masks, and hand sanitizer bottles to support our hero frontline workers, and we’re just getting started.
To support the development of proposals submitted by businesses and individuals through the Ontario Together web portal and help businesses retool their operations, our government launched the $50 million Ontario Together Fund. All submissions received through the portal are being reviewed and prioritized to focus on solutions that can respond to where the need is greatest and can be implemented quickly.
While our government continues to pursue and exhaust every avenue available to secure the PPE needed to fight COVID-19, these efforts are focused on Ontario moving towards greater self-sufficiency on vital supplies that will keep us well equipped now and into the future.”
