An opportunity for the tool, die, and mold industry in Windsor-Essex to secure work and make inroads into Canada’s defence sector.
The Defense Shift is a one-day session being held Monday in Windsor that will feature Canada’s Defense Minister David McGuinty along with leaders from major companies within the defence sector including Boeing, CAE, General Dynamics Land Systems Canada (GDLS), GM Defense, and Bombardier.
Senator Sandra Pupatello, in partnership with the Canadian Tooling & Machining Association (CTMA) and the Windsor Essex Chamber of Commerce, is hosting a sold-out event.
The event will highlight Canada’s evolving defence industrial strategy, procurement modernization efforts, Industrial and Technological Benefits (ITB) opportunities, and pathways for Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to participate in national defence supply chains.
Senator Sandra Pupatello says the government is making historic investments in defence and moving toward a 5 per cent GDP commitment to NATO, so this is a huge opportunity.
“It’s everything from uniforms, satellites, and drones to all kinds of small things, big things, and things that are going overseas. Things in our role as NATO allies that we have been doing all along; this is the opportunity,” she says.
Prime Minister Mark Carney announced in February a Buy Canadian plan for supplying the military and growing Canada’s domestic defence industry.
The $6.6 billion strategy aims to help small and medium-sized Canadian businesses break into the defence industry and shift spending decisions to prioritize made-in-Canada equipment, instead of relying on foreign military contractors such as American firms.
Pupatello says the Buy Canada strategy means all of these companies bidding for these contracts have a better chance of winning if they have more Canadian content.
“Our companies down here already know that once they get onto a platform with a particular type of car - Ford, GM, Chrysler, Toyota - they know that they are there for 20 years, 10, years, that platform is going to last a long time. It’s even longer for the defence sector,” she says.
Canada achieved the NATO defence spending target of 2 per cent of GDP, recording $63.4 billion in defence investments for the 2025-2026 fiscal year. Canada and its allies have committed to a new defence investment pledge to reach 5 per cent of annual GDP by 2035.