Onex Corp.

USA - Canada. Canadian firm under fire for supplying equipment for Smith's execution

January 24, 2024:

January 24, 2024 - Canadian firm under fire for supplying equipment for Alabama execution----Private equity firm Onex Corp partly owns company that makes mask for use in untested nitrogen hypoxia execution method
A Canadian company is facing criticism for allegedly supplying the equipment for a state execution in the United States, in a case that has drawn outrage for the reliance on a seemingly untested method of execution.
On Thursday, Alabama plans to kill inmate Kenneth Smith by suffocating him with nitrogen gas, a method never before used in the country.
The US-based advocacy group Worth Rises and the Responsible Business Initiative for Justice says that in the execution, Alabama will use workplace safety equipment made by the subsidiary of a Canadian company.
The state’s department of corrections would fix Smith to a gurney, apply a respirator mask to his face, forcing him to breathe pure nitrogen and causing death from oxygen deprivation. The mask and hose used for the execution are allegedly manufactured by Allegro Industries.
The group says Allegro is a subsidiary of Quebec-based Walter Surface Technologies, which in turn is partly owned by the Toronto private equity firm Onex Corp – a company that also owns one of Canada’s largest airlines.
Allegro Industries, Walter Surface Technologies and Onex Corp did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/24/onex-corp-canada-equipment-alabama-execution