Preserving capacity, General Tom Lawson, Chief of the Defence Staff, Keys to Canadian SAR
Issue link: http://vanguardcanada.uberflip.com/i/122908
E ExECUTIVE INTERVIEW CROSSROADS: AEROSPACE AND SPACE INDUSTRIES FACE NEW CHALLENGES TO COMPETE In the past five months, the federal government has accepted two reports that could significantly change the Canadian aerospace industry. In November 2012, David Emerson, a former Cabinet member and CEO of Canfor Corporation, delivered a two-part report on Canadian interests in aerospace and space. In February, Tom Jenkins, the executive chairman and chief strategy officer of Open Text, produced a report on defence procurement through better use of key industrial capabilities. Jim Quick, president and CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada and a former assistant deputy minister in the government of New Brunswick, spoke with editor Chris Thatcher about the reports and their long-term impact. Q How would you assess the health of the military aerospace industry today? Canada has a strong relationship with the U.S. defence industry and what affects them does affect us. So no doubt some of the difficulties we see south of the border with defence budgeting and sequestration will trickle into our own industry. The key in Canada is to have clarity as to how we should be setting and funding our defence priorities. The Canada First Defence Strategy provided a lot of positivity in the industry, and we look forward to seeing how the implementation of both the Emerson report recommendations and the recent federal budget measures surrounding key industrial capabilities will help us increase our global competitiveness. Q Given the percentage of Canada's aerospace industry that is focus on helping small business on supply chain development and on market development programs that allow us to compete globally. We have a huge market access/market development program to help bring our members into other jurisdictions like Brazil, Russia and China. We fully understand that emerging markets are going to be building their own aerospace and defence industries, but there is a significant amount of work to be done in those jurisdictions and that allows for countries like Canada to play a role inside those emerging economies. Canadian small business has been focused and strategic in niche areas, on developing products that can go on global platforms. But as we heard at our Canadian Aerospace Summit, we have to adapt more quickly. And that's why you have David Emerson's report and Tom Jenkins' report. Q During his presentation to the Summit, Emerson painted a small- and medium-sized (SME) companies, do changes in the U.S. supply chain represent a major concern or an opportunity? pretty challenging picture for Canadian SMEs as OEMs adjust their supply chains and emerging markets build their own sectors. What's the takeaway from his report for AIAC? I would say both. We have around 700 companies and the lion's share are SMEs, so AIAC has reprogrammed a lot of our services to If you want to compete globally, you have to be on the technology and innovation edge. And that's where he based a lot of 12 APRIL/MAY 2013 www.vanguardcanada.com