Canada donates four Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine

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  September 9, 2019 | Local, Aerospace

  Government of Canada invests in pilot training at the First Nations Technical Institute

  Marc Garneau, minister of Transport, on behalf of Navdeep Bains, minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and minister responsible for FedDev Ontario, announced a Government of Canada investment of up to $4.9 million over three years for the First Nations Technical Institute (FNTI). The FNTI is an Indigenous-owned post-secondary institute offering unique educational opportunities for Indigenous peoples. The First Peoples' Aviation Technology program at FNTI is the only Indigenous aviation post-secondary program of its kind in Canada. With this investment, the FNTI will strengthen its aviation training program. It will double the number of Indigenous students training to become commercial pilots, enabling more Indigenous peoples to take advantage of growing economic opportunities in the aviation sector. The Government of Canada investment will support Indigenous students through the purchase of five new training aircraft; hiring additional aircraft maintenance engineers, flight instructors, dispatch staff, academic faculty and student support facilitators; and acquiring innovative safety maintenance software. “The Government of Canada is pleased to support the First Nations Technical Institute in increasing its capacity while helping to break down some of the barriers currently facing Indigenous peoples in pursuing careers in aviation. This is an excellent time to help enable more candidates to enter this high demand field,” said Garneau. “FedDev Ontario's support for the expansion of this vital training program is so important. With new and more specialized capabilities, FNTI will be able to offer more Indigenous pilots the chance to join a dynamic and growing sector of the Canadian economy. This will not only bring benefits to communities right across the country, it will also help create good quality jobs for many years to come,” added Bains. “Today's investment in the First Peoples' Aviation Technology program is a game changer, and I share the excitement our friends and neighbours at FNTI as this program continues to grow. Programs like this are critical for the sustainability of Indigenous communities, particularly rural and northern ones, across Canada. The pilots and aviation experts trained by FNTI will have an incredible impact in helping deliver supplies to families, provide emergency support in times of need, and keep the communities reliant on aviation open and accessible when other forms of travel are unfeasible. With FNTI recently experiencing unprecedented student enrolment, particularly among women in the Aviation Technology Program, they are continuing to set themselves apart as leaders across Canada, and I am so proud that they are a fixture of our area,” said Mike Bossio, member of Parliament for Hastings-Lennox and Addington. “Through this support FNTI will be able to create more educational opportunities for Indigenous learners, reduce our waiting list, and ensure pathways for Indigenous graduates into the aviation industry. More students and more graduates will assist with creating sustainability in remote communities across Canada and help increase role models for the next generation of Indigenous pilots in the aviation industry,” explained Suzanne Brant, president, First Nations Technical Institute, Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory. ‎ “We greatly appreciate the financial support of the Government of Canada for this project. The Government of Canada's investment in the First Nations Technical Institute shows that our communities succeed when we work together. Our partnership with ministers Bains and Garneau is a strong one, and this initiative with FNTI will help increase labour force participation of the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte community on and off the territory, and help Indigenous students across Canada, find good, well-paying jobs,” concluded Chief R. Donald Maracle, Tyendinaga Mohawk Council. https://www.skiesmag.com/press-releases/government-of-canada-invests-in-pilot-training-at-the-first-nations-technical-institute

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  March 29, 2019 | Local, Naval

  SNC-Lavalin's legal woes are putting a $500M federal defence contract at risk

  Murray Brewster · CBC News A SNC-Lavalin contract with the Department of National Defence (DND) worth half a billion dollars comes up for renewal next year — when the Montreal-based engineering giant is expected to be on trial over corruption charges. The pending expiry of the $507 million contract to support the servicing of minor warships and auxiliary vessels, signed in 2011, sharpens the debate over what a guilty verdict would mean for the Quebec-based engineering giant and whether a conviction actually would mean subjecting the company to a 10-year ban on bidding for federal contracts. The stakes are high for DND. In addition to holding an important defence contract, SNC-Lavalin has access to a range of secret military drawings, equipment and intellectual property. Although its agreements are periodically reopened to new bids, the embattled corporation has been a reliable contractor for National Defence. A survey of active federal government contracts shows DND and Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) were the two biggest users of SNC-Lavalin services and construction during the current fiscal year. Across the whole of the federal government, SNC-Lavalin holds 53 'active' federal government contracts — 25 of them with DND — with a combined value of $670 million. A company with a big federal footprint The firm signed roughly $68 million in new or renewed agreements with the federal government ($23.7 million with DND and PSPC alone) in the current budget year up to the end of December. That figure excludes what could be a large number of smaller contracts worth less than $25,000 — contracts the federal government can award without competition. An inventory of those agreements is extremely difficult to track down, but PSPC acknowledged it awarded $146,522 in minor work to SNC-Lavalin in the current fiscal year. The RCMP laid corruption charges against SNC-Lavalin and some of its units in February 2015. All the charges relate to the company's operations in Libya. The charges allege that the company offered officials in that country $47 million in bribes and accuse SNC-Lavalin and two of its subsidiaries of defrauding various Libyan public agencies of approximately $129.8 million over 10 years, starting in 2001. The company has been at the centre of a political firestorm since early February, when The Globe and Mail reported that former justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould felt pressured by the Prime Minister's Office to grant the company a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) — a legal tool which would have allowed the company to avoid a criminal trial by acknowledging fault and paying a fine, among other conditions. In defending their interest in a DPA for SNC-Lavalin, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and others in his government have pointed to the scale of the engineering firm's business, the possibility it could be banned from federal government work and the number of people it employs. Scott Newark, a former Crown prosecutor who teaches at Simon Fraser University, said it's been clear from the outset that avoiding the federal contract ban has been SNC-Lavalin's main objective. The question of what would happen to those federal contracts should the company be convicted is a subject of debate, however. There are policy provisions that allow federal officials to cancel existing contracts and ban future bids from a company convicted of serious crimes, such as bribery. PSPC would only say the federal government would "assess the situation" if "a supplier becomes ineligible during the life of a contract" due to a conviction. The power to terminate or suspend a contract rests with federal bureaucrats, according to PSPC's Ineligibility and Suspension Policy. A company convicted of serious crimes can avoid being fired by the feds by signing an undertaking stating "that it will conduct business with Canada in an ethical and responsible manner." But there's never a guarantee that such an undertaking will be offered to a convicted company. Just three companies are currently banned from carrying on business with the federal government — all relatively small firms in Ontario, Quebec and Newfoundland. No ban on bidding during trial A spokesman for DND said there's nothing stopping SNC-Lavalin from continuing to bid on federal contracts as they appear, even during its trial. "These contracts were issued pursuant to Government of Canada contracting regulations, particularly as it concerns open, fair and transparent competitions," said Dan Le Bouthillier in an email. "Those regulations also stipulate that any company eligible to bid on Government of Canada contracts may continue to do so, so long as they meet the necessary requirements for the work." In an analysis piece for the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, Newark said PSPC is working on a revision of its 'integrity regime' policy to give federal officials more discretion to waive bans of individual companies contracting with the federal government. Public Services Minister Carla Qualtrough has said her department is looking at eliminating fixed bidding disqualification periods and replacing them with a wholly discretionary determination — which would include the option of imposing no contracting ban at all. Even under the current system, Newark said, an order cancelling a company's federal contracts and banning it from future contracts following a conviction is far from a slam-dunk. "I checked on the Criminal Code and the Corruption of Public Foreign Officials Act and, of course, it's not in those statutes. It's not a mandatory consequence." he said. The integrity regime review has been underway in Qualtrough's department since 2017. Newark said he's amazed that nobody with the company or the federal government seems to have realized that a conviction for SNC-Lavalin could lead to something other than a 10-year contracting ban. "Why didn't anybody say, 'Hey wait a minute. We know what about this. We're changing our policy,'" he said. The head of procurement at DND attempted to reassure members of the all-party House of Commons defence committee during a hearing last month that SNC-Lavalin's "secret" work for the federal government does not pose an unacceptable risk. "We hold the intellectual property, the drawings and everything," Pat Finn testified on Feb. 28. "Irrespective of the circumstances in which the contract is terminated, we hold the material." https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/snc-lavalin-s-legal-woes-are-putting-a-500m-federal-defence-contract-at-risk-1.5073996

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  October 4, 2018 | Local, Aerospace, Naval, C4ISR, Security

  Government challenges small businesses to innovate

  Invites Canadian small businesses to develop innovative solutions to nine new challenges October 3, 2018 – Ottawa, Ontario Small businesses and their ability to innovate make Canada's economy run. At the same time, the federal government is Canada's largest purchaser of goods. How can the government use these purchases to help small businesses innovate and grow? The answer is Innovative Solutions Canada. Through this program, government departments are inviting small businesses to come up with a new innovative product, service or solution in answer to specific challenges they face. Winning small businesses may receive up to $150,000 to refine their research and development and, if accepted into Phase 2, receive up to $1 million to develop a working prototype. The Government will then act as a first customer, helping small businesses to commercialize their innovations, scale up their business and create good jobs. The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, and the Honourable Mary Ng, Minister of Small Business and Export Promotion, today announced nine challenges on behalf of the Honourable Carla Qualtrough, Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Accessibility, the Honourable Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, the Honourable Ralph Goodale, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, and the Honourable Marc Garneau, Minister of Transport. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is challenging small businesses to: 1. Improve soil sample collection to make it easier, and make testing more accurate 2. Make “smart farming” technology cheaper so that smaller farms can use it Canadian Coast Guard is challenging small businesses to: 3. Harness the movement of ships in ocean waves to reduce fuel consumption and the need for external power sources Correctional Service Canada is challenging small businesses to: 4. Find new technology to stop inmates from performing illegal activities using wireless devices 5. Monitor the life signs of inmates and identify critical conditions so that staff can respond more quickly in emergencies 6. Create an innovative and cost-effective way to stop contraband items from getting into prisons via drone or being thrown over the fence Public Services and Procurement Canada is challenging small businesses to: 7. Improve the sound quality for remote interpretation services so that service isn't interrupted because the interpreters can't hear Shared Services Canada is challenging small businesses to: 8. Deliver high-speed broadband Internet access to citizens and Government of Canada employees who work or live in remote areas of the country Transport Canada is challenging small businesses to: 9. Accelerate the adoption of low-cost yet effective technologies that improve pedestrian and bicyclist safety around commercial vehicles, preventing injuries and saving lives Innovative Solutions Canada is a key component of the government's Innovation and Skills Plan, a multi-year plan to make Canada a global innovation leader and prepare Canadians to succeed in tomorrow's economy. Quotes “In the Economic Strategy Tables reports, we heard it clearly from Canada's industry and innovation leaders: the Government must use its purchasing power to help small businesses innovate and be more competitive. That's exactly what we're doing through Innovative Solutions Canada. Government gets access to quality products, while businesses grow and create good middle-class jobs for Canadians.” – The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development “Small businesses are the backbone of our economy and employ over 8 million hard-working Canadians. That's why our government is committed to helping small businesses start up, scale up and access new markets. Innovative Solutions Canada is a fantastic program that uses government procurement to help small and medium-sized businesses innovate and then commercialize their innovations. These are worthy new challenges, and I can't wait to see what our innovative Canadian small businesses come up with.” – The Honourable Mary Ng, Minister of Small Business and Export Promotion “Through the Innovative Solutions Canada program, we are challenging small businesses to help us provide Canadians and federal employees with access to the services they need, whether it is accurate translation of proceedings or improved efficiency of high-speed Internet access in remote locations.” – The Honourable Carla Qualtrough, Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Accessibility and Minister responsible for Shared Services Canada Innovation is a driving force of Canada's agricultural sector. Through these challenges, small business innovators can help agriculture researchers, smaller-scale farms and processing plants access the tools and technologies they need to be environmentally sustainable and economically prosperous. We look forward to seeing their creative solutions to help drive the sector forward and create good middle-class jobs for Canadians.” – The Honourable Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food “The Canadian Coast Guard is a leader in environmental stewardship and marine safety. By partnering with innovative small businesses to find ways to reduce fuel consumption, we are supporting our government's commitment to reduce emissions and protect our marine environment.” – The Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard “Partnering with Innovative Solutions Canada is a great opportunity to share new ideas that contribute to public safety for all Canadians. I welcome innovative ideas that support Correctional Service Canada's mandate of actively encouraging and assisting federal offenders in becoming law-abiding citizens.” – The Honourable Ralph Goodale, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness “I'm pleased to see this initiative being used to explore new ways to protect vulnerable road users. This program is an excellent opportunity to encourage small businesses to be new partners in road safety by advancing technologies that improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists.” – The Honourable Marc Garneau, Minister of Transport Quick facts Program funding will come from the 20 departments and agencies participating in Innovative Solutions Canada. Each department will set aside funding for this initiative that amounts to one percent of its 2015–16 combined procurement and internal research and development expenditures. Together, the funding from the departments and agencies represents a more than $100-million investment over the course of five years. Small businesses make up 98 percent of Canadian businesses and employ over 8 million hard-working Canadians. Innovative Solutions Canada is encouraging submissions from businesses owned and led by women, Indigenous peoples, youth and members of visible minorities by ensuring those groups are included in the program's outreach plans and activities. There are hundreds of programs and services that offer everything from funding to expert advice to help businesses innovate, create jobs and grow Canada's economy. With a simple, story-based user interface, the new Innovation Canada platform can match businesses with the most fitting programs and services in about two minutes. Associated links Innovative Solutions Canada challenges News release: Government helping small businesses innovate News release: Government helping small businesses develop sustainable solutions Contacts Follow Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada on Twitter: @ISED_CA Nilani Logeswaran Press Secretary Office of the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development 343-291-2849 613-668-1794 Sandra Aubé Director of Communications Office of the Minister of Small Business and Export Promotion 343-998-5328 Media Relations Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada 343-291-1777 ic.mediarelations-mediasrelations.ic@canada.ca https://www.canada.ca/en/innovation-science-economic-development/news/2018/10/government-challenges-small-businesses-to-innovate.html