www.vanguardcanada.com AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2015 11
I
INSIDE INDUSTRY
B
luedrop Performance Learning
is getting a big boost thanks to
Boeing. The aerospace giant
recently announced significant
financial and technical support for the
Maritime-based SME in order to develop
a next-generation rear crew trainer for the
Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopter pro-
gram.
Boeing's investment is, in part, due to
its Industrial and Technology Benefits
(ITB) obligations, resulting from the
Government's December 2014 purchase
of a C-17 Globemaster III aircraft. Ac-
cording to the Government, the ITB Pol-
icy's Investment Framework tool "direct-
ly benefits SME's by encouraging prime
contractors on Government of Canada
defence procurements to invest in the re-
search, development and commercializa-
tion activities of Canadian-based SMEs."
During the July 8 announcement in
Halifax, much ado was made about the
ITB policy. Minister of State (Science and
Technology), the Honourable Ed Hold-
er, told the modest crowd that it would
continue to generate good jobs and lead
to small business growth in the defence
sector.
The Government has deeply invested
in the defence and shipbuilding sector in
Halifax, most notably through their Na-
tional Ship Procurement Strategy, when
Irving Shipbuilding won the combat por-
tion of the program on October 19, 2011
and earned the lion's share of the $37 bil-
lion dollar initiative.
While the creation of ten jobs and the
sustainment of 200 more may pale in
comparison to the thousands that will be
created during the construction of the
future fleet of Royal Canadian Navy, the
Boeing-Bluedrop partnership signals a
new wave of investment in small-to-medi-
um enterprises from larger, predominant-
ly American defence companies under the
ITB program.
It is important to note that while the
quality of partnerships between large de-
fence firms and Canadian SMEs have var-
ied, Boeing has been exemplary in this
The Boeing-Bluedrop partnership signals a
new wave of investment in small-to-medium
enterprises from larger, predominantly
American defence companies under the
ITB program.
