5 east coast companies to share $16M as part of $40M Regional Defence Investment Initiative

They are PAL Aerospace Ltd., Virtual Marine Technology Inc., Solace Power Inc., CoLab AI Inc., and Rutter Inc.

Five companies in St. John’s and area will share $16M as part of Canada’s $81B Defence Industrial Strategy announced several weeks ago. Sean Fraser, Federal Justice Minister and Attorney General, has been in St. John’s for a couple of days touring facilities. At a news conference today, he spoke about how the World has become a dangerous place with technology changes, fallen trade relations, and Russia, a member of the UN Security Council, sitting in open defiance of the values of the UN Charter.  Fraser is also the ACOA Minister and explains how today’s announcement is possible through their nearly $40M Regional Defence Investment Initiative to support companies in Atlantic Canada. 

Federal Fisheries Minister and St. John’s East MP Joanne Thompson gave a breakdown on the companies getting the funding. They are PAL Aerospace Ltd., Virtual Marine Technology Inc., Solace Power Inc., CoLab AI Inc., and Rutter Inc. The investment will help develop and manufacture critical equipment and technologies here in the province, as well as support more than 115 highly skilled jobs and strengthen the following local companies within Canada’s defence and security supply chains.

PAL Aerospace CEO Calvin Ash says this project will allow them to build on decades of experience in aircraft modification and global special missions operations. He says it will support the commercialization of Dash 8 400 airframes into P4 multi-missioned aircraft as a platform designed to address Canada’s identified capability gaps in the North and Arctic. 

Atlantic Canada is home to nearly 10,000 direct aerospace and defence jobs, representing 20% of national defence industry employment.