National Defence and top firms that produce arms, such as Lockheed Martin, are financing a conference in Ottawa on Oct. 25 titled “Putting Canadian Defence Procurement on a War Footing.”Sign up to receive daily headline news from Ottawa Citizen, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. You may unsubscribe any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails.
NATO nations, including Canada, have donated billions of dollars in weapons and equipment to Ukraine. That view was echoed by defence firm representatives at a major conference and trade show last week in Washington. “I think the first thing we need is orders,” Thomas Laliberty, a senior official with Raytheon Missiles and Defence, told the conference.
Williams pointed out there was already an existing process to purchase equipment on an urgent basis. That process was used during the Afghan war to acquire howitzers and drones as well as armoured vehicles. But using that process is a decision that has to be made by elected officials, not generals or bureaucrats, he noted. “Before one acts, one has to get the marching orders from government,” Williams said.
National Defence has provided $50,000 to finance the Oct. 25 conference hosted by Canadian Global Affairs Institute, a think-tank closely aligned with the Canadian Forces and the defence industry. Other sponsors include Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Irving Shipbuilding, Davie Shipyard; ATCO Frontec, BAE Systems Canada and General Atomics.
For instance, in May, Canada announced it was buying 20,000 artillery rounds to donate to Ukraine, but those had to come from the U.S..