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The biggest threat facing health-care workers, and by extension the rest of the population, is the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) in the middle of this COVID-19 fight.

The worst part of that shortage is that it might be self-inflicted.

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I’m not talking about the lack of manufacturing here in Canada or the blocking of mask sales to Canada by U.S. President Donald Trump.

I’m not even talking about the Trudeau government’s decision to send 16 tonnes of PPE to China as the coronavirus was taking hold in Canada. All of those issues are problems to be addressed but not the big self-inflicted wound we need to deal with.

I’m talking about the federal government failing to ensure sufficient supplies of masks, gloves and other material in the National Emergency Strategic Stockpile.

The stockpile “contains supplies that provinces and territories can request in emergencies, such as infectious disease outbreaks, natural disasters and other public health events, when their own resources are not enough.”