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<\/p>\nCanada’s new Defence Investment Agency will be made more muscular and have additional authority to negotiate procurement contracts, as well as make investments in key defence sectors when it’s turned into a Crown corporation, the federal government announced on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Bill C-40, which would make the agency \u2014 currently operating under the umbrella of Public Services and Procurement Canada \u2014 more independent was tabled in the House of Commons.<\/p>\n
It will have its own board and CEO, a clear mandate, a permanent structure and more specific powers to move military purchases along more swiftly, federal officials said at a background briefing early Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The agency, renamed the Canadian Corporation for Defence Investment, will report to a newly created associate minister of defence once Bill C-40 is approved by Parliament.<\/p>\n
“This bill builds on that work already underway and it gives the agency the authority and flexibility it needs to meet the challenge,” said Stephen Fuhr, the secretary of state for defence procurement.<\/p>\n
“Defence procurement involves complex contracts and negotiations with some of the world’s largest companies. The agency needs the talent, authorities and commercial expertise to negotiate confidently, make timely decisions and to manage those relationships over decades.”<\/p>\n
WATCH | Crown corporation needed for military procurements, minister says:<\/p>\n
Crown corp. needed to address ‘hyper complex’ military procurements, says McGuinty<\/p>\n
Defence Minister David McGuinty says changes in the government’s approach to Canada’s defence industrial strategy like ‘dropping the number of procurements from the U.S.’ contributed to the need for an independent Crown corporation to speed up military purchases.<\/p>\n
The legislation, once passed, would give the DIA’s board of directors “greater authority to negotiate and manage contracts,” according to background documents released as the bill was tabled.<\/p>\n
It also empowers the soon-to-be Crown corporation to engage in “defence production” and invest in strategic sectors as needed.<\/p>\n
In some respects \u2014 organizationally \u2014 it is a return to the way the federal government handled defence procurement during the Second World War and up to the 1960s.\u00a0<\/p>\n
During the Cold War, the Department of Defence Production (DDP) was formally created in 1951 and handled buying for the military until it was disbanded in 1969, according to a Library of Parliament research paper written in late 2020.<\/p>\n
The big difference between then and now is that the DPP was a federal department and the government of Prime Minister Mark Carney is proposing an arm’s-length corporation.<\/p>\n
Even still, Fuhr said, the new entity will be subject to ministerial direction and accountability.<\/p>\n
“There will be ministerial oversight. That’s written in,” Fuhr said. “It’s unambiguous so that means the government of Canada will be involved \u2014 ergo Parliament will have the ability to hold the government to account.”<\/p>\n
The auditor general will be tasked with doing yearly audits of the DIA, federal officials said.<\/p>\n
Fuhr said there’s an urgency to getting equipment into the hands of the military.<\/p>\n
“I think gone are the days where a government takes three bids and takes the lowest bidder and we move on with our lives,” Fuhr said. “We expect much, much more out of our procurement system and the incredible amount of money we’re going to spend on behalf of Canadians.”<\/p>\n
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