Earlier this month (June 2020) Manitoba Aerospace Inc (MAI) joined with the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada (AIAC) to work towards remediating the damage that COVID-19 has caused to the Aerospace Sector. To this end, a letter from MAI was published calling for support for the aerospace industry.
The aerospace sector in Manitoba is a high-value sector, it generates $2.5 billion in revenues, employs over 5,800 highly skilled people, and contributes over $900 million towards the province’s Gross Domestic Product.
Coupled with the MAI letter was a set of recommendations from AIAC itself calling on the federal government to implement a long-term aerospace sectoral strategy, particularly in view of the damaging effects that COVID-19 is having on the sector.
The six key recommendations which AIAC has made all point to making aerospace a key part of Canada’s economic recovery plans. AIAC’s recommendations are as follows:
- Develop a pragmatic and proportional plan to allow people to begin flying again.
- Adapt Canada’s job retention program and liquidity measures to support employees in industries that will take longer to recover.
- Rapidly expand government support for green technologies to enable the decarbonization of key sectors, particularly transportation and aviation.
- Establish a new long-term investment bank to support and foster essential manufacturing supply chains through the market transformation ahead.
- Advance public procurement projects, particularly in defence and space projects, to help stimulate and sustain high-tech supply chains through the difficult months ahead.
- Establish a Canadian sector strategy for aerospace that includes civil, defence and space.
Canada’s aerospace industry is a significant piece of our economic infrastructure. The aerospace sector produces $31 billion in revenues, supports nearly 215,000 jobs and contributes over $25 billion to Canada’s Gross Domestic Product. The vast majority (80%) of this sector’s manufacturing output is exported. This value has trended upwards for the better part of the last decade.
The global effects of COVID-19 are concerning; both the IMF and World Bank have reported that 3% to 5% contraction in the world’s GDP will take place in 2020. Recovery projections and synopsis from many informed sources indicate this will be a long-term process (see graph below).
Figure 1:
The preceding graph shows the effect of COVID-19 on the both the advanced and emerging/developing economies. A divergence is indicated at the arrival of the pandemic (in Q1 2020) with regular growth projections begin waylaid by events related to COVID-19.
To see the full letter from MAI, follow this link: Online Letter from MAI
To see AIAC’s Aerospace Sectoral Strategy, follow this link: AIAC Recommendations for a Long-Term Sectoral Strategy.
To see AIAC’s recommendations regarding Canada’s economic recovery plans, follow this link: https://aiac.ca/aiac-releases-aerospace-recommendations/