The association representing Canada’s defence contractors says it’s going to take a lot more than talk to put the industry on a so-called “war footing.”
In a bluntly-worded opinion piece published online Wednesday, Christyn Cianfarani, executive director of the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries, said that Canada — unlike its allies — has not put in place a framework to ramp up production to meet the demand triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Instead, Cianfarani wrote, the industry has heard “vague pleas” from the Liberal government “for companies to get with the program,” without any clear sense of which items of equipment are needed and what the long-term expectations might be.
“Canadian defence companies can and would step up if they knew exactly what, and how much, to step up with,” she wrote.
In an interview with CBC News last summer, Defence Minister Anita Anand described the enlistment of weapons manufacturers in the struggle to save Ukraine as a “moral imperative.” Gen. Wayne Eyre, the country’s top military commander, also publicly urged the defence industry to get on a “war footing” in response to the crisis.
“No one in industry has a clue what government will require from companies to achieve that end, or even what ‘wartime footing’ means to government in the modern context,” wrote Cianfarani, adding that the last time the country’s defence industry was on a war footing was during the Second World War.
“No firm will take vague exhortations to ‘increase their production lines’ seriously without meaningful and systematic commitment from the government. No respectable CEO is going to take the risk of ordering tens of millions of dollars worth of parts to then see them sitting on a shelf awaiting integration, while simultaneously telling investors to trust them that a buyer will materialize in this highly managed protectionist market.”
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Anand, whose previous cabinet assignment put her in charge of government procurement, has been at the forefront of discussions among allies about closer cooperation between countries and their respective defence industries to produce the weapons requested by Ukraine, and to refill equipment stocks depleted by donations to the embattled nation.
“We need to continue to communicate with industry to stress the moral imperative of ramping up and to make sure that they are partnering with us where necessary,” Anand said on CBC Radio’s The House last August.
In a year-end interview last month with CBC News, Anand emphasized the need for close consultation between government and industry as Canada looks to refill its inventory of anti-tank weapons, artillery and other equipment given to the Ukrainian military.
“We are also in close touch with our allies in terms of their relationship with industry and their plans for procurement, so that we have full information as we move forward to ramp up our own inventory,” she said.
“And as we continue to supply military aid and equipment to Ukraine, I will say that the industry, folks that I have met with, are very committed to ramping up their ambitions for Canada as well as for supplying military aid for Ukraine.”
Separately, Eyre told CBC News last May that events abroad demand a boost in defence production at home.
“Given the deteriorating world situation, we need the defence industry to go on to a wartime footing and increase their production lines to be able to support the requirements that are out there, whether it’s ammunition, artillery, rockets, you name it,” he said.
In a year-end interview with CBC News, Eyre said he was “losing sleep” over the possibility that the military might be called upon to expand quickly. He said he’s concerned about the industry’s ability to produce weapons “at scale and speed” should major hostilities erupt.
Cianfarani wrote that the industry is troubled by the fact that “that neither the prime minister nor any government ministers have echoed Eyre’s comments, [something that] causes further confusion.”
Canada out of step with allies, industry says
Canada’s approach to date — scrambling to buy equipment for Ukraine — is uncoordinated, lacks a strategy and leaves the country an outlier among its closest partners, she added.
“Allied governments are already at the table with their respective industry partners,” Cianfarani wrote. “The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence, for example, has been speaking to and buying from British defence companies daily since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Likewise in Washington.”
Other nations, she wrote, maintain institutionalized government-defence industry relationships and forums that share information on government objectives and military equipment.
“Canada doesn’t think this way. It has been decades since we have fostered serious, institutionalized government-defence industry collaboration that would allow the two sides to work together toward common objectives like getting on a wartime footing,” wrote Cianfarani.
A spokesperson for Anand said the minister has met and will continue to meet regularly with defence suppliers, both at home and abroad.
Daniel Minden added that the minister will meet Thursday with the industry association in Toronto and that she has been in direct contact with Canadian companies such as “General Dynamics Land Systems Canada and L3Harris, to identify made-in-Canada equipment that can meet Ukraine’s defence requirements.”
He added the Liberal government’s 2017 defence policy was developed in close collaboration with industry.
“We listened carefully and continue our engagement to improve defence procurement requirements, enabling them to plan, innovate and offer creative and timely solutions,” Minden said.