Ottawa, 25 October 2016 – In an appearance before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance’s pre-budget consultations today, the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI) urged the Government of Canada to make a commitment in Budget 2017 to work with industry to develop a Made in Canada Defence Industrial Policy as a new tool to drive innovation-led growth.

“A Made in Canada Defence Industrial Policy would be tailored to Canada’s unique security challenges and industrial base capabilities and could be achieved by working with existing funds and programming,” said CADSI President Christyn Cianfarani. “Most of our allies have already implemented similar policies in their countries.”

A Canadian defence industrial policy requires the federal government to set goals and priorities for defence-sector growth in areas of key industrial capabilities and to better coordinate and connect the existing policies, programs and instruments scattered across the federal government to achieve those goals. This would require stronger alignment and coherence along the R&D, technological development, commercialization, and procurement phases.

“The potential to leverage defence procurement to realize innovation and growth in every region of Canada is real and achievable,” said Ms. Cianfarani. “This is an important and rare opportunity given the planned defence acquisitions, from warships to fighter jets to drones, the value of which is large by historical standards.”

The Canadian Armed Forces are in the midst of an ongoing recapitalization—the largest re-equipping of the Forces in decades. This presents a rare window of opportunity to leverage these multi-billion dollar investments to bolster innovation and growth in Canada.

CADSI has presented this idea to the government over the past year, including as part of the Defence Policy Review and the Inclusive Innovation Agenda consultations.

About CADSI

The Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI) is the national industry voice of more than 800 Canadian defence and security companies that produce world-class goods, services and technologies made across Canada and sought the world over. The industries contributes to the employment of more than 63,000 Canadians and generate $10 billion in annual revenues, roughly 60 per cent of which come from exports. To learn more, visit www.defenceandsecurity.ca and follow us on Twitter at @CadsiCanada.

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