PressProgress Canada reports that Ontario's Ministry of Government and Consumer Services paid Klondike Lubricants — a British Columbia oil company co-founded by PBCC members — $1.94 million for surgical masks in May 2020. One co-founder is a director of Ox Tools alongside Dean Hales. The PBCC's UBT buying service was listed as a major PPE importer to Canada. The pattern of PBCC contract awards is not confined to the UK.
The pattern of Plymouth Brethren Christian Church-connected companies winning government contracts during the Covid pandemic is not limited to the UK. An investigation by Emily Leedham for the Canadian non-profit news organisation PressProgress, published in May 2022, reveals that Ontario's PC government under Premier Doug Ford paid $1.94 million to a British Columbia oil and lubricants company run by PBCC members, for surgical face masks.
An Ontario government spokesperson confirmed to PressProgress that the agreement was a one-off, entered after Klondike submitted a proposal through the emergency procurement portal. Klondike's CEO Phil Jenner had publicly explained the pivot to PPE in April 2020 — acknowledging it may have appeared to go against the company's core competencies, but framing it as the right decision for communities and customers. One PPE product Klondike advertised was the Shield brand, part of the broader CoShield family of products.
CoShield is another PBCC-linked company — a bulk PPE supplier and exporter. According to its since-deleted website, it facilitated multi-million-dollar sourcing deals through collaborative procurement processes. Brad Mitchell, Klondike's co-founder, was listed as CoShield's Business Development Manager for North America.
The connection to the global PBCC network runs further: a CoShield Facebook video directed customers to email the Universal Business Team's group buying service in Australia — the UBT. According to the Canadian Importers Database, UBT was listed as a major PPE importer to Canada in 2020. The same UBT organisation whose Sydney offices were raided by the Australian Tax Office in March 2024.
The most direct link between the Canadian PBCC contract story and the UK network runs through Ox Tools. Brad Mitchell — Klondike's co-founder — is a director of Ox Tools alongside Dean Hales, son of PBCC leader Bruce Hales. Ox Tools was listed as a major PPE importer to Canada in 2020.
In 2005 PBCC members were reportedly involved in a secretive campaign against same-sex marriage in Canada through a group calling itself "Concerned Canadian Parents." The combination of political donations, government contracts and institutional connections to conservative parties across multiple provinces follows a pattern visible in the UK, where PBCC companies benefited from the Test and Trace VIP procurement channel and PBCC charities received sustained support from Conservative MPs during the 2013 Charity Commission appeal.
The PBCC told PressProgress: "The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church does not have commercial interests other than those which relate to the running of our Church... We cannot comment on the business interests of our members because, like most other religious groups, our members are free to explore their own commercial interests and the Church does not have any vested interest or involvement in them."
Former members interviewed by PressProgress offered a different perspective — describing a community where business success carried as much weight as spiritual observance, and where the global network of PBCC businesses gave members structural advantages in securing supply chains that outside companies could not replicate at speed.