Ontario Wrote Off $1.4 Billion Worth of PPE, Now Burning Expired Equipment: Auditor General

Toronto :Ontario has written off more than one billion items of personal protective equipment (PPE) at a cost of $1.4 billion since 2021, and is now burning large quantities of expired supplies, according to a new report from the province’s Auditor General.

Auditor General Shelley Spence found that Ontario continues to purchase masks, gowns and other protective gear at levels similar to the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, despite a steep decline in demand.

“We found that expired products began to accumulate in the provincial stockpile as some of the products purchased during the pandemic fell short of desired quality standards and were not used,” Spence said in her annual report.

Ontario faced a critical shortage of PPE during the early stages of the pandemic, when much of the province’s existing stockpile had already expired. In response, the government created Supply Ontario in late 2020 to manage procurement and inventory.

However, the auditor found that Supply Ontario still lacks an effective system to properly track PPE supplies. “Supply Ontario does not have an effective inventory management system in place to report costs on a timely basis and instead relies on inefficient manual processes to report yearly,” Spence wrote.

The report raises serious concerns about financial oversight, inventory management, and long-term planning for emergency preparedness in the province.