Public Health Agency wrote off $331 million in supplies, handed out $27 million
Canada's emergency medical stockpile wrote off $331 million in supplies last year, more than 12 times what it gave out, much of it expired protective gear stocked far beyond the agency's own targets, the Auditor General found.
The Public Health Agency of Canada wrote off $331 million in medical supplies because of expiry and damage in the 2025-26 fiscal year, more than twelve times the $27 million it distributed to provinces, territories and federal organizations in the same year, Auditor General Karen Hogan reported on Thursday.
The audit of the National Emergency Strategic Stockpile, one of nine reports tabled in the House of Commons on October 29, found the agency "did not effectively manage" the stockpile. The stockpile's value fell from $1.27 billion on April 1, 2025 to $1.07 billion on March 31; the report puts the write-off at about one quarter of the stockpile's opening value.
The report's inventory table shows the agency holding 162.5 million N95 respirators against a target of six million, 2,708 per cent of target; 942 million gloves against a target of 94 million; 208 million surgical masks against 32 million; and 10,679 ventilators against 1,060. For gowns it held 90 per cent of target and for face shields 1,200 units against a target of one million.
"As of March 31, 2026, the stockpile contained about 84 million expired items, 97% of which were personal protective equipment. Storing this expired personal protective equipment over the last 2 years cost the agency $6.3 million," the report says. By the report's projection, about 75 per cent of the protective equipment inventory will expire by March 31, 2027.
"In 2025, more than $20 million in pharmaceuticals had to be discarded because of a variety of outstanding deficiencies, including a lack of preventative freezer maintenance, insufficient freezer space, and inadequate temperature monitoring," the report says. "These deficiencies had been identified in 2022 and 2023 but were not addressed before the inventory loss occurred."
Hogan told a House of Commons committee: "You wouldn't buy four litres of milk if you know every week you're only going to use one litre. You'll end up throwing away expired milk." Health Minister Marjorie Michel said: "If nothing happens, thank God. But we will be ready if something happens." The web version of the report names no individual official.
Rebel News reported in 2020 that Health Canada, which then ran the stockpile, discarded millions of masks and gloves before the pandemic. Six years and one pandemic later, the stockpile wrote off about a quarter of its value in the latest fiscal year.
Sheila Gunn Reid
Chief Reporter
Sheila Gunn Reid is the Editor-in-Chief, Alberta Bureau Chief, member of the board of directors, and host of The Gunn Show at Rebel News. Sheila also serves as President of the Independent Press Gallery of Canada. A mother of three and longtime conservative activist, Sheila is the author of bestselling books, including her most recent release, Independence Blueprint: What Alberta Can Learn From Quebec.
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