By Lisa Gordon | May 27, 2016 Estimated reading time 1 minute, 29 seconds.
CANSEC, Canada’s largest defence and security industry trade show, opened in Ottawa May 25.
Organized by the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI), the show attracts more than 11,000 attendees.
On the first day of the show, CADSI president Christyn Cianfarani announced the release of a new defence industry report that reveals the sector contributed $6.7 billion in GDP, $10 billion in revenues, and 63,000 jobs in 2014.
The report, called “State of Canada’s Defence Industry 2014,” is billed as the most detailed and comprehensive study of the industry ever conducted. It was compiled by Science, Innovation and Economic Development Canada and Statistics Canada in association with CADSI.
Results indicate that exports in the defence industry account for 60 per cent of sales (up from 50 per cent in 2011), and that 30 per cent of jobs are held by engineers, scientists and other high-tech professionals.
Cianfarani said the massive recapitalization currently underway in the Canadian Armed Forces represents “the opportunity of a generation to make the Canadian defence industry a source of innovation-led growth.”
See the full report at www.madeacrosscanada.ca.
