Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government agreed to overpay as much as $100,000,000 in a rush for ventilators last spring, the Journal de Quebec is reporting.
The kicker, the $237 Million contract was awarded without a call for bids and eventually landed with a Montreal-based medical firm headed by former Liberal MP, Frank Baylis.
The Journal released details on the contract in a lengthy article on Wednesday. On Thursday, Conservative Party leader Erin O’Toole attacked the Liberals for their tactics.
“Even in a once in a century pandemic Liberals find a way for Liberals to help themselves to taxpayer dollars,” said O’Toole. “How many more contracts did the Prime Minister hand out so that the Liberals could make money during a Covid pandemic.”
The contract for 10,000 ventilator units was awarded to FTI Professional Grade, a company that was formed just seven days before scoring the huge $237 Million deal. FTI Professional Grade then obtained Baylis Medical Company Inc. as a sub-contractor to fulfill the order of ventilators.
Frank Baylis, a former Liberal MP, is the former President and current Executive Chairman of the Board of the Baylis Medical Company.
Prime Minister Trudeau claims the government has no involvement in agreements between FTI and its suppliers but many are connecting dots to assume there is more to this deal.
The contract has since been cancelled but raises even more ethics concerns for a Trudeau government already facing scrutiny on a number of other ethics scandals.
The Journal also noted that a competing company, Medtronic, manufactures similar models of ventilators for $10,000 less per unit than the contract awarded to FTI Professional Grade.
