Calgary ammo manufacturer sees opportunity in NATO defence spending pledge

Rukhsar Ali · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 26, 2025 2:08 PM EDT | Last Updated: 6 hours ago

Calgary-based commercialized pistol and firearm ammunition shaper FH Munition Inc. wants Ottawa to cognize it's acceptable to bash business.

With Prime Minister Mark Carney committing to summation defence spending, the company's vice president of concern development, Taran Grey, said it's an accidental to standard up and merchantability its ammunition to the government.

"Having a 'made successful Canada' solution that really [meets] the precedence of Canadian customers is highly important," helium said.

Wednesday, Canada and different NATO leaders signed connected to summation defence spending crossed the alliance to 5 per cent (up from 2 per cent) of gross home merchandise implicit the adjacent decade.

Earlier successful the week, Prime Minister Mark Carney had said that the 5 per cent benchmark would outgo the national treasury up to $150 cardinal per year. 

With 3.5 per cent of GDP going toward direct subject spending, the Liberal authorities would beryllium looking to walk an further $45 cardinal to $50 cardinal connected defence.

The institution said it has country to summation its capableness by 800 per cent, adding 4 much accumulation lines to the existing 2 —one for pistols and the different for rifles.

"It would beryllium reasonably effortless to bash truthful due to the fact that a batch of our processes are automated," said Grey.

He said FH Munitions Inc. would bring connected astir a twelve much employees to conscionable the accrued request if they were to successfully onshore a authorities contract.

"We're presently underutilized successful presumption of capacity. We could beryllium producing a batch more," helium said. "The entity is the limit." 

A 'made successful Canada' solution

FH Munitions Inc. was founded successful 2019. Since then, the company's grown, present making millions of rounds for athletics shooters and instrumentality enforcement agencies crossed the country. 

Grey said the institution hopes to capable orders for the Canadian subject but truthful acold hasn't been capable to marque headwinds, adjacent approaching Canada's existent ammunition provider, General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems – Canada based successful Quebec, to nary avail.

Canada's ain stockpile of subject ammunition has been depleted done weapons donations to Ukraine since 2022. Last spring, Ottawa pledged $9.5 cardinal implicit 20 years to accelerate ammunition accumulation successful the country.

Eyeing a imaginable accidental to capitalize connected Canada's caller accrued spending, the institution reached retired to their section Member of Parliament for help.

On a circuit of the facility, Tomasz Kmiec, the Conservative MP for Calgary Shepard, said helium was "wowed" by FH Munition's capableness to expand.

Though he's a subordinate of the Opposition, Kmiec said he'll bash what helium tin to assistance the Calgary firm become an ammunition supplier for Canada.

"When it comes to 'made successful Canada' solutions for equipped forces oregon for instrumentality enforcement, there's lone 1 squad and it's Team Canada," Kmiec said.

"If we're looking for solutions, Alberta and Calgary is the spot to be."

"It would beryllium an summation successful employment for 1 thing, and besides found our centre of excellence present arsenic a basal for an anchor institution of sorts to really summation the wide capableness for defence successful the region," Grey said.

"We're present and we're unfastened for business."

It's excessively aboriginal to presume a committedness to higher defence spending volition trickle down to section manufacturers, oregon that Canada volition really conscionable the target, according to Rob Huebert, manager for the Centre for Military Security and Strategic Studies astatine the University of Calgary.

Huebert pointed retired that erstwhile national governments got "nowhere near" defence spending commitments. 

Under erstwhile premier curate Justin Trudeau, Canada faced regular disapproval from allies for not gathering NATO's people of 2 per cent of GDP. 

"Given the progressively unsafe geopolitical situation that we are in … I deliberation that there's an accrued urgency, but that doesn't needfully mean that this authorities volition beryllium antithetic from everybody that went earlier them."

One origin moving successful the favour of FH Munitions Inc., according to Huebert, is simply a prevailing sensitivity toward being implicit reliant connected the U.S. for defence manufacturing.

"If you tin successful information bash it astatine home, that is the way to go. That is simply a rational and logical effect to what we spot with the American directions that they person taken," helium said. 

"One hopes that section manufacturers volition successful information beryllium fixed … a greater portion of the pie, but the grounds is not wholly encouraging."

Carney has said the determination to 5 per cent of GDP — 3.5 per cent for halfway subject spending and 1.5 per cent for defence-related infrastructure — volition instrumentality spot implicit the adjacent 10 years.