At the onset of the pandemic in 2020, many within the nation's life sciences community were called upon for help as the virus caused unprecedented problems for our country's health and economy. The extent to which this community was able to rise to this challenge is extraordinary. Despite facilities closures, sick or frightened staff, and unstable funding supports, Canada's scientist-entrepreneurs did crucial work in validating and rolling out new tests, therapies, and vaccines, creating new goods and services capabilities, and much more.Now, as we look beyond the first years of the pandemic, it is time for the government's at every level to prioritize the optimization of scale-up, commercialization, and procurement. Specifically, our governments spend bales of tax money on discovery-oriented research, but that investment won't create health or prosperity here at home unless we adopt the resulting innovations. Put simply, head offices, labs, and factories don't stay with cities, provinces, or nations that aren't customers for their products and services. Essentially, we need to ask if our tax dollars should subsidize a relative few research jobs only for our innovations to rush to Bangalore, San Francisco, Beijing, or Boston to become commercial and thereby create thousands of jobs far from our communities.It must be made clear to policymakers that our only leverage to keep those companies headquartered in our communities is to be at the leading edge of procurement whenever innovations provide value to our health system. It is only when our procurement authorities are early adopters that we can keep companies and jobs here at home. In contrast, if all we do is delay, discount, and ration, most to all of our innovator firms will move abroad.Moreover, if the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that we need domestic production of critical health care products. If you doubt me, speak to any head of procurement, and confirm how many MONTHS it will take to get a shipping container from Shanghai. Or anywhere else, for that matter. I'm told 16 weeks is now optimistic. And the outside timeline? Never. At this point, reliance on just-in-time global supply chains is no longer prudent or even possible.If we're to ensure our communities are prepared for future health care challenges, it is crucial that commercial-scale production exists nearby and that procurement policies recognize the real value of high-quality, reliable supply and fast delivery. Again, our leading-edge firms won't remain Canadian-based without procurement policies that promote our own innovations.We implore all levels of government to create policies that apply a Canadian-production lens to procurement to develop, foster, and strengthen domestic capabilities and thereby ensure a supply chain that is resistant to disruptions, be that from new pandemics or other geo-political events.Cameron Groome is the CEO and president of Microbix Biosystems Inc., based in Mississauga, Ont. Microbix develops and commercializes proprietary biological and technological solutions for human health and wellbeing.