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Scott Taylor: CANSEC fuels optimism for the future of the CAF 

This was the first time in 29 years that an actual major purchase was announced during a CANSEC show

Last week, I attended the CANSEC defence trade show in Ottawa, organized by the Canadian Defence and Security Industries (CADSI) association.

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This annual event is by far the largest arms expo in Canada.

In the interest of full disclosure, this was my 29th CANSEC show since the original trade show in 1998.

Over the course of those three decades, I have seen the CANSEC enterprise grow from a tiny regional event with an almost comically small, single exhibition room inside a downtown Ottawa convention centre to the current iteration, which overflowed the sprawling Cohere (formerly EY) Centre near the Ottawa airport.

To get an idea of the scale and scope of this year’s event, there were over 212,000 square feet of display space, including indoor and outdoor exhibits. A total of 320 defence firms were exhibiting their products with an additional 250 companies on a waitlist for space in 2027. To accommodate so many exhibitors, the CADSI organizers simply utilized the front parking lot of the Cohere centre creating a slightly longer hike for attendees who had to........

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