TORONTO: The Ontario government is investing more than $5 million through the Ontario Together Fund to help three companies create jobs by designing and producing respirators and surgical masks for frontline and healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic and to ensure we are prepared for future challenges.
“We need Ontario’s top-notch entrepreneurs and innovators to continue to work with us and help mobilize our manufacturing and innovation might,” said Vic Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade.
“That’s why we are supporting companies like O2 Canada, RONCO and Swenco to provide a made-in-Ontario solution to reduce our dependence on foreign supply chains, strengthen our domestic capacity and be better prepared for the future.”
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Ontario is investing more than $1.8 million in Kitchener-based O2 Canada to design double-filtered, soft-sealed and reusable respirators that will help healthcare and frontline workers fight COVID-19 by filtering particulates, bacteria and viruses.
The project will create 50 new jobs at O2 Canada and 25 at Barrie-based Jomi Technical Services, who partnered with O2 to manufacture the respirator.
“We’re thrilled that the Government of Ontario has identified O2 Industries as the organization to bring high-grade medical respirators to healthcare professionals on a mass scale,” said co-founder and CEO of O2 Industries, Peter Whitby.
Ontario is also investing $1,475,000 in Concord-based RONCO to help the company establish the production capacity to manufacture surgical masks and respirators at its Ontario plant, replacing production that is currently happening in China.
With Ontario’s support, the company will establish three surgical mask production lines to make more than three million masks monthly and will add one N95 respirator production line to make up to 260,000 respirators monthly.
$2 million will be invested in Kitchener-Waterloo-based Swenco Ltd. to help the company establish a new production facility to make ASTM level 1, 2 and 3 surgical masks. It anticipates creating 24 new jobs with the project.
Swenco Limited has been in business in Ontario for over 58 years. Paul Sweeny, President of Swenco said:.“With the incredible support from the Ontario Together Fund, we were able to open a state-of-the-art mask production facility in Waterloo.”