Health Canada won’t explain loss of $20M in pharmaceuticals from national stockpile

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OTTAWA — The Public Health Agency of Canada said a “temperature deviation” caused the loss of more than $20-million worth of pharmaceutical products from the national emergency stockpile, but it will not give details about what was lost.

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The figure was reported in the 2025 public accounts, the audited financial statements of the federal government for the 2024-25 fiscal year.

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In a statement, Health Canada said the line item in the public accounts refers to pharmaceutical products, such as vaccines, that are held in the national emergency stockpile.

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The statement did not say how the temperature deviation happened or whether it was the result of a single incident.

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“While the Public Health Agency of Canada cannot disclose any further details concerning assets held by the (stockpile), including types and volumes, due to national security implications, we can confirm that the identified losses will not compromise the (stockpile’s) capacity to respond to public health events,” the statement said.

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The national stockpile is a network of warehouses across the country where the government stores medical supplies, vaccines and emergency response equipment.

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First established during the Cold War, the stockpile was initially intended to respond to a nuclear emergency.

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Since then, it has been adapted to respond to disease outbreaks, including SARS and COVID-19, and natural disasters like hurricanes and floods, bioterrorism attacks and other emergencies.

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It came under intense scrutiny in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic after it was reported that personal protective equipment supplies held in the stockpile — including millions of N95 masks — had expired and were not replaced years before the pandemic began.

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At the time, Canada and countries around the world were competing to buy massive amounts of gloves, masks and other equipment amid global shortages.

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The federal government launched a review of the stockpile system as a result of the public outcry. That resulted in a comprehensive management plan released in July 2024.

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The review found the stockpile warehouses had aging physical infrastructure and outdated information management systems. The government leased and retrofitted a modern warehouse facility in response, which had specialized infrastructure to manage biomedical equipment.

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The comprehensive management plan said as of 2023, the stockpile included ventilators, life support machines, masks and other personal protective equipment, and diagnostic equipment. It also had mini emergency triage clinics, supplies like generators and blankets, and vaccines and drugs.

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The stockpile grew to fill 20 warehouses with some 1.7 million square feet of space in 2023, up from eight warehouses in 2019. During the pandemic, the stockpile grew to over three million square feet of warehouse space.

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The comprehensive management plan also noted that the stockpile had started to donate medical materials before they were set to expire.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2025.

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