Honourable colleagues, I’d like to take a moment to recognize IMP Aerospace & Defence, a Halifax-based aircraft engineering and service company.

IMP’s Halifax Stanfield International Airport facilities serve a steady stream of commercial and military customers from Canada, the United States, South America, Europe and Asia. For over 50 years, they’ve delivered cutting-edge, highly technical aerospace expertise, servicing everything from military aircraft — like the Super Hercules — to search and rescue aircraft — like the Cormorant helicopters. They are leading innovators, using 3-D printing to make discontinued replacement parts for aging fleets — of which we have some in Canada — and manufacturing critical, zero-fault-tolerance components like wire harnesses that operate the Fine Guidance Sensor on board the $13-billion James Webb Space Telescope.

To keep pace with their growing need for highly skilled workers in this era of chronic labour shortages, IMP just launched IMP Academy at two of their facilities — one in Enfield, Nova Scotia, and the other in Abbotsford, British Columbia. IMP created and funded this tuition-free, four-year, earn-as-you-learn apprenticeship program. This mix of classroom learning and hands-on training enables apprentices to complete Transport Canada’s basic training as well as paid, on-the-job training, which is necessary to become a licensed aircraft maintenance engineer.

IMP Aerospace & Defence is an excellent example of how government procurement can become a reliable tool for enabling Canadian companies to become and remain global leaders. This isn’t just about buying Canadian. Success requires a whole‑of‑government approach to ensure that Canadian businesses become or remain global leaders in highly technical, valuable and strategically important sectors.

Unfortunately, this whole-of-government approach to procurement is not yet a priority. For example, Canada too often relinquishes its right to either select a preferred provider or secure access to the intellectual property necessary to deliver the most strategically valuable types of services. This failure profoundly limits the opportunities for Canadian companies to compete both domestically and globally.

In the case of aircraft, the initial purchase represents only a fraction of the lifetime cost. Consequently, lost or limited maintenance and service opportunities cost, rather than benefit, the Canadian economy over the long term. Canada urgently needs to prioritize the importance of intellectual property, or IP, rights, as identified in the Senate Banking Committee’s June 2023 report called Needed: An Innovation Strategy for the Data-Driven Economy.

IMP Aerospace & Defence is an exceptional example of how federal procurement can become even more than a stamp of approval — yes, validating the quality of performance but also creating opportunities to acquire the technical experience and expertise that will unlock recurring global sales. Let’s do a lot more of that.

Thank you, colleagues.