Proposed defence hub could connect Southeast Alberta businesses with military

“I saw the problems, it was taking me years to get things when it shouldn’t take, with the priorities that we have, it should have taken months instead of years,” Gartry said.

He recalled one example involving a laboratory at the base.

“I was talking to a lady, and she said it took her four years and she still hadn’t got a freezer for out in the labs, out at the base,” Gartry said.

Gartry said the proposed hub could help make the process of connecting businesses and the military more efficient.

“That was one of the reasons why I wanted to make this more fluid and easier for companies to get in touch with the military and the military to get in touch with companies so that something that should take two weeks takes two weeks, not two years,” Gartry said.

He said the process would still involve federal procurement requirements, meaning the hub would not eliminate the bureaucracy involved.

“Not that I think that it will go that fast; it’s going to be a slow burn because of the Treasury Board and all their different kinds of hoops you have to jump through, and every different area has a different procurement process, but at the end of the day it still goes back to the Treasury,” Gartry said.

Gartry said the hub could help address some of the practical barriers companies face when working with the military.

“Some of the major main points they have is getting security clearances to get on the base, getting on the base, doing other things like that, and getting the right people talking to the right people,” Gartry said.

He described the proposed hub as a link between those groups.

“So the hub would be the go-between,” Gartry said.

“There will be hubs all across Canada, and they’ll all talk to each other.”

Gartry said that could allow southeastern Alberta to connect with expertise elsewhere when a capability isn’t available locally.

“If you need something like robotics and we don’t have robotics down here, we would get a hold of whoever that is,” Gartry said.

Gartry also pointed to existing expertise in the region’s drone industry.

“Medicine Hat is known for drones. Southern Alberta is known for drones. We have four major companies in town right now,” Gartry said.

He said longer-term agreements could also help businesses avoid repeatedly going through procurement processes.

“But they only have contracts for a year or two, and more than likely we’d want to go out and make more standing offers that were longer,” Gartry said.

“An MOU, a memorandum of understanding that could last five or six years because really if you’re only going out there and every year you have to do an MOU, it kind of slows you down.”

Gartry said the size of the Suffield area could provide opportunities for testing and defence-related development.

“The sky’s the limit in Southfield,” Gartry said.

“It’s 2,700 sq. km of barren land, which is being used for the military, but not as much as it used to be.”

Gartry said access remains one of the challenges.

“You have to be able to get out there, and that takes a lot of hoops to jump through with security clearances and all that other stuff,” Gartry said.

Will Fraser, commercial and operations manager at Landing Zones Canada, said the defence industry is facing a period of increased attention from governments and investors.

“Defence now is a focus, at least at a federal level. I’m starting to see some level of shakedown from the province and in the city,” Fraser said.

Fraser said companies working in defence face significant regulatory and financial barriers.

“Some of the challenges you face in the defence world is it’s quite regulatory restrictive,” Fraser said.

“If you’re doing R&D, it’s quite cost-prohibitive to do in Canada, so access to risk capital is quite challenging.”

He said Medicine Hat’s proximity to military facilities and restricted airspace is an advantage.

“But at a municipal level, I mean, what value we have in Medicine Hat is access to DMD and restricted airspace,” Fraser said.

Fraser said better communication between the military and industry could help businesses develop technologies that meet actual military needs.

“But seeing a true interface between defence and industry to actually take demand signals from DMD as to what kind of products they’re looking for and using and kind of capturing the ability of industry to move quickly enough to build these capabilities in time,” Fraser said.

“So that they’re relevant to either our armed forces in either a training or just in a general capability perspective.”

Landing Zones is also facing a shortage of suitable industrial space, Fraser said.

“We’re running into a space issue locally, so finding a light industrial facility that can house 30 to 40 people brand new or at least just available and then also have a manufacturing component,” Fraser said.

He said testing is another challenge.

“Finding airspace where we can test that capability is quite challenging,” Fraser said.

Fraser said workforce recruitment is also difficult for a company operating in a smaller centre.

“Getting people to move to a remote location three hours away that no longer has an air service is a bit of a tough sell,” Fraser said.

He said the company has nevertheless been able to attract workers to Medicine Hat.

“We’ve been very fortunate with the talent. We’ve been able to bring to town. They’ve been phenomenal.”

Fraser said the increased federal focus on defence is encouraging, but he wants to see concrete action follow the discussion.

“Having defence be a federal priority now is definitely a nice change of pace,” Fraser said.

Fraser said workshops can help establish direction, but the industry needs to move beyond discussion.

“Actions are always louder than words,” Fraser said.

“We’ve had a lot of roundtables, but they’re maybe not always as productive. It’s time to get on the horse,” he added.

“It’s time to get moving.”

David Sabados, head of business operations with Kinetic, said established companies can also benefit from the growth of a regional defence ecosystem.

“Our position with Kinetic is a little different. We’re firmly established. We’ve been operating in the region for over 40 years,” Sabados said.

“Our interest is generally in seeing the region succeed. We feel it’s a net benefit to us.”

Sabados said companies face a long list of requirements when entering the defence sector.

“But as someone who’s operated in defence for the last 40 years, there are significant barriers to entry around understanding the contracting process, the length of time it takes to go from bid to award, security, control goods program, new cybersecurity elements,” Sabados said.

He said the delays can be particularly difficult for smaller businesses.

“These are all things that small and medium enterprises need to be able to handle to do this work,” Sabados said.

“It’s hard to deal with all of those things while waiting 18 months, two years, three years for procurement to come home.”

Sabados said a regional hub could benefit established companies by helping attract other businesses and specialized workers.

“The more companies that do it, the better the region gets. The better it is for Kinetic,” Sabados said.

“Instead of operating solo in the region, we get partner companies, peer companies. It attracts talent; it attracts resources. The concept of this hub is good for our business as well.”

He said the government could potentially help businesses navigate some of the administrative requirements.

“But helping organizations facilitate that, whether it’s through the government or by funding third parties to go out and do that for them,” Sabados said.

Sabados said the ultimate goal should be reducing barriers that prevent businesses from developing ideas.

“My hope out of all this is to remove barriers to make it easier for these companies to succeed,” Sabados said.

He said that could help create a larger ecosystem of businesses, workers and educational institutions in Medicine Hat.

“It’s really trying to help take our next stage from a small business to a large company. Building an ecosystem of people, of businesses, of education,” Sabados said.

“And just capitalizing on that momentum.”

by Jett Schwaier

Proposed defence hub could connect Southeast Alberta businesses with military

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