Defence show comes to Calgary as Canada is bolstering military spending

A trade show showcased businesses hoping to secure military contracts as Canada looks to spend more on defence initiatives.

DEFSEC West kicked off in Calgary bringing together defence, aerospace and security companies.

The trade show helps match small and medium-sized businesses with companies who have contracts with major projects in Canada in the defence sector.

“They get together and meet and discuss supply changes -- how those small and medium enterprises, with their innovation can get into those supply chains, how they qualify, how they upscale themselves to be able to participate in the huge investment the government Canada is making in defense,” said DEFSEC executive director Colin Stephenson.

It is the first time DEFSEC has hosted an event out west. For 24 years the organization has held one in Hallifax.

More than 1,700 people are attending with over half from Alberta. There are over 90 exhibits with equipment ranging from military attire, communications towers, drones, rifles and other defence-related materials.

Calgary-based, Canadian UVAs is at the show which constructs and deploys aircrafts.

“Typically shows such as this. we’ve got to fly to Ottawa, even around the world to actually get access,” said John Molberg, vice-president of Canadian UAVS. “Particularly to the government, representatives and buyers. so it’s really nice that this is in our backyard for a change,”

Defense spending is increasing as the federal government is increasing defence spending to two per cent of GDP and by 2035 five per cent to match NATO’s Defense Investment Pledge.

Alberta-based Northern Towers Industries, which provides communications towers, is looking to score a contract.

“Canadian military has reached out about our ability to produce these units here in Alberta and we are a perfect fit for them,” said Derrick Hawboldt, president of Northern Towers Industries. “I don’t think we would have been able to do that without this (two per cent GDP) investment.”

Recruitment and training

Lieutenant-General Michael Wright, Commander of the Canadian Army, spoke at the event about the need to modernize the Canadian army by prioritizing recruitment and training.

“The challenge is less in terms of the people we have now. It’s more the growth we need to make in the future,” said Wright.

He also touched on evolving threats such as conflict in the Arctic along with emerging and disruptive technologies. He says Alberta plays a big role going forward in Canada’s military, pointing to more activity at CFB Suffield near Medicine Hat.

“The Canadian Army reduced some of the support to CFB Suffield, so this is something we’ve been working on hand in hand with the British army to make sure that we’re rebuilding the capability to do some training,” said Wright.

The event has already had enough popularity for organizers to confirm it will be back next March as well.