The Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI) is just one of 38 trade associations benefiting from a $3-million annual fund set up by the federal government to bolster Canadian exports and business outside the country.
The list includes trade groups representing Canada’s independent music industry, post-secondary institutions, and the aerospace sector.
But some are wondering why the defence industry in particular can’t afford to pay its own way, given it boasts $12 billion in revenues each year, includes a number of large multinational companies, and already receives significant support from the federal government.
“Why does this industry association need essentially a taxpayer subsidy to do something they would already do in the course of their business?” asked former Canadian ambassador for disarmament Peggy Mason, now president of the Ottawa-based Rideau Institute.
CADSI will receive only about $150,000 through the Global Opportunities for Associations fund this year, and has received less than $1 million since 2008, when the government changed it from an early program.
But Mason noted the money is being given at a time the Conservative government is cutting public service jobs, services and funding in a variety of other areas to produce a budgetary surplus before next year’s election.
Government documents obtained by the Citizen show the money was used last year to help Canadian defence companies participate in major trade shows in Paris, Washington, D.C., and Abu Dhabi.
The Conservative government has been promoting Canada’s defence industry as an economic priority, in large part because it hopes doing so will help offset the thousands of manufacturing jobs that have been lost in other sectors.
It has already posted a federal trade commissioner to CADSI’s office, and ordered Crown corporations and agencies such as the Canadian Commercial Corporation and the National Research Council to focus on developing and selling defence goods.
It has also moved to loosen restrictions on Canadian arms exports and ordered a “Buy in Canada” approach to military procurement.
A spokeswoman for International Trade Minister Ed Fast reiterated in an email Thursday the importance the government attaches to the defence sector, and said the money provided through the fund “helps those smaller companies make important contacts and meet new clients around the world.”
“Our government will continue to support our exporters and manufacturers to create jobs as part of the most ambitious pro-trade, pro-export plan in Canadian history,” spokeswoman Shannon Gutoskie added.
CADSI chairman Mike Greenley says the money the industry association will receive this year represents “less than five per cent” of the total amount the industry will spend to attend trade shows and engage potential clients.
Rather, he said its importance is in establishing a relationship between the industry association and the federal government, and creating a financial “foundation” for the industry association to be internationally active. Approximately half of CADSI’s $12 billion in revenues comes from foreign sales, Greenley said.
While CADSI’s membership includes some of the world’s largest multinational defence companies, Greenley said the vast majority of its 450 members are small companies that employ only a handful of people.
“It’s very important for us as an association to keep (membership) dues (for defence companies) low so that they’re paying just the minimal amount required to drive a great professional association,” he said.
Original Article
Source: canada.com/
Author: BY LEE BERTHIAUME
No comments:
Post a Comment