Made-In-Ontario Respirators and Masks – Production of PPE will create jobs and protect frontline workers

The Ontario government is investing more than $5 million through the Ontario Together Fund to help three companies: O2 Canada (Kitchener), RONCO (Concord), and Swenco Ltd. (Kitchener-Waterloo) create jobs by designing and producing respirators and surgical masks for frontline and healthcare workers.

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. “With a global shortage of PPE, Canadian healthcare workers need access to premium respiratory protection produced here at home. This grant will support production and distribution of an Ontario-made medical respirator designed to keep healthcare workers safe, without compromising on comfort or breathability.”

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.

“RONCO always had plans to bring PPE manufacturing back to Canada. The Ontario Together Funding program has helped accelerate our plans,” said Ron Pecchioli, President and CEO of RONCO. “This will provide a boost to our economy through the nurturing of internal talent, knowledge sharing and technological innovations; in turn creating jobs and better future for our coming generations.”

Ontario is also investing $2 million 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. Like many Canadians and Canadian businesses, we were hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Paul Sweeny, President of Swenco Limited. “We decided that we needed to come forward and be a part of the solution. With the incredible support from the Ontario Together Fund, we were able to open a state-of-the-art mask production facility in Waterloo and with this expansion we hope to continue supporting our community for years to come.”

Through the Ontario Together Fund, the government is delivering targeted investments that will increase the province’s stockpile of Ontario-made products and PPE. This new manufacturing capacity will help the province to combat the current COVID-19 outbreak and prepare for potential challenges in the future, while supporting local businesses during the safe and gradual reopening of the province.