This is the case of a Quebec mask manufacturing company that has decided to repatriate a good part of its production to Montreal. Every day, Medicom’s factory makes a million masks. However, last year the factory did not yet exist. The Quebec company instead manufactured this type of protective equipment abroad, especially in China.
But in March 2020, the company faced supply challenges as the pandemic was in its infancy. China had requisitioned our factories, our productions for the local population. We found ourselves in our factory no longer able to export masks
, explains Guillaume Laverdure, Chief Operating Officer of Medicom.
Medicom then decides to explore an avenue that it had ruled out in the past: manufacturing locally.
Some security
The Montreal company then obtained a loan of $ 4 million from Investissement Québec as well as purchase contracts from the federal and provincial governments for 10 years.
Guillaume Laverdure explains, however, that with labor, which is less cheap here than in China, it costs him more to manufacture locally.
The decision to repatriate a good part of the production has its advantages, however. If a new pandemic strikes, for example, or if China decides to block its exports for political reasons, Canada will be less vulnerable.
It’s a very good thing not to be dependent on China anymore. It gives us a certain security, visibility for the future.
But beyond the pandemic, with the rise in tensions between Beijing and Ottawa, should Canada seek to be less dependent on the Chinese giant?
According to the federal government, China is economically essential and even if Ottawa criticizes Xi Jinping’s policies, as in the case of the Uyghurs, this does not prevent the maintenance of good trade relations.
In some cases, it is to our advantage to work together
, explains Marc Garneau, Minister of Foreign Affairs, adding that that doesn’t mean that we don’t say the real stuff when it’s time to say it
.
However, political scientist and China specialist Loïc Tassé believes that this position is increasingly untenable.
We cannot do “business as usual” because the Chinese link political issues and trade issues, which other countries don’t normally do. […] The Chinese, to exert political pressure, use the economic weapon.
According to him, it is high time for Canada to diversify its markets. Former Canadian Ambassador to Beijing Guy Saint-Jacques shares the same opinion. I say that knowing that China will not want to give us a gift and that the relationship will remain difficult, why not take better advantage of the free trade agreements that we have signed with other countries in the Asian region? peaceful?
According to him, Canada should redeploy some of its trade representatives.
Medicom does not exclude the possibility of establishing itself in other Asian countries. The company recently opened a factory in Singapore, although for the moment it is concentrating its efforts on local production.
With information from Laurence Martin
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