As I mentioned, if you leave the stockpiling of medical material at the whims of local politicians (be they state, provincial, county, city, whatever) they will inevitably be shortchanged. There are just too many local needs that need to be met, and politicians get re-elected by meeting those needs, not by building up larger stockpiles of ventilators.

I think this situation probably explains a lot of why both the US, Canada, and Europe are getting so overwhelmed by this (Canada less than most, to your credit).