Canadian Commercial Corporation

The Canadian Commercial Corporation, which was once called War Supplies Limited, is this country’s arms middleman. Traditionally, the Crown Corporation sold Canadian weaponry to the US Department of Defense under the 1956 Defence Production Sharing Agreement. During the Stephan Harper government the CCC began emulating the US defence department’s Foreign Military Sales program, which facilitates that country’s global arms sales. According to a June 2011 Embassy article, “the Canadian Commercial Corporation has been transformed from a low-profile Canadian intermediary agency to a major player in promoting Canadian global arms sales.” 

The CCC, whose board is appointed by the government, became a go-between on military sales with foreign governments. In June 2012 Embassy noted: “In the last few years, the Canadian Commercial Corporation, a Crown corporation, has helped Canadian firms sell everything from military hardware and weapons to wiretapping technology, forensics for ballistics, surveillance, document detection, sensor systems, bulletproof vests and helmets, training, and other services.” According to CCC president Marc Whittingham, who wrote in a May 2010 issue of Hill Times that “there is no better trade show for defence equipment than a military mission,” the agency is “partnering with government ministers to get the job done.”

In December 2011 senior representatives from CCC, DND, the Canadian Forces and Foreign Affairs participated in a Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries trade mission to Kuwait. At CANSEC 2014, the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries’ annual arms fair in Ottawa, the CCC toured delegates from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait (and a number of Latin American countries) across the “exhibition floor,” reported a press release. Officials from the crown corporation also “introduced representatives to new Canadian technologies, facilitating meetings between foreign delegations and Canadian companies.”

The CCC signed a $15 billion Light Armoured Vehicle contract with the reactionary regime in Saudi Arabia while General Dynamics has a separate agreement to fulfill the CCC’s terms.