Canada's sluggishness on ammunition production would be less damaging if there were progress elsewhere, but a lack of preparedness pervades across the board

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IMT Group was founded as Ingersoll Machine and Tool in Ingersoll, Ont. in 1914 in a factory designed for soap production.

The engineering firm remains headquartered in south-western Ontario but now has six integrated businesses supplying the automotive, rail and defence industries.

One of its specialties is the production of metal casings used for 155-millimetre artillery shells. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it has found its services in high demand — so much so, that it will cut the ribbon on a new multi-million-dollar facility next month.

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But that increased demand has not come from Canada’s Department of Defence, to which it is a supplier under this country’s Munitions Supply Program. Bill Blair, the defence minister, has told industry that the government plans to “substantially increase” the production of ammunition in Canada but so far that commitment has been limited to a $4.4-million investment in IMT and Quebec-based General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems Canada to develop a plan to ramp up production.

Rather, IMT’s new facility has been financed by hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts from the U.S. Defence Department to manufacture shell casings.

“It is the Americans who have made the hard cash investment in Canadian production,” said Christyn Cianfarani, president of the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries.

Budget 2024 did allocate $1.8 billion over five years to build up a reserve of ammunition, but that money does not start to flow in earnest until 2027–28.

“There has been a massive failure to launch on the part of Canada. I question whether they actually want to create a strategic reserve,” said Cianfarani. “There is no sense of urgency and there is even a poison pill, where ‘private sector beneficiaries’ are asked to contribute to re-tooling their facilities.”

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