Annual Public Meeting 2024/25

Thank you for joining us, merci de nous rejoindre aujourd’hui. 

My name is Bobby Kwon and I’m pleased to serve as CCC’s President and Chief Executive Officer.  

[Results] 

CCC delivered another record year for Canadians in 2024–25 — testament to a clear strategic corporate vision and strong relationships with Canadian exporters.  

We continued to take decisive steps throughout the year to fulfill the objectives set out in our long-term Corporate Plan.  

The Corporation facilitates exports from diverse sectors to deliver economic benefits to Canadian businesses and their employees through both international sales and by creating and maintaining Canadian jobs.  

In 2024–25, CCC signed $6.1 billion in new government to government export contracts — almost double the value of contracts signed the year prior and 60% over our Corporate Plan target.  

These results were years in the making and demonstrate our ability to sustain momentum in the long term to deliver results for Canadians.  

CCC was active in 74 countries worldwide and we supported exports of goods and services valued at $2.8 billion.  

Our efforts supported more than 1,200 Canadian businesses and helped create or sustain more than 12,000 jobs in Canada.  

[Results of three business lines] 

These contracts were signed across our three business lines: the Canada-U.S. Defence Production Sharing Agreement, Sourcing, and International Prime Contracting. 

The administration of the Defence Production Sharing Agreement, known as the DPSA, remains CCC’s core business and raison d’être. As Canada’s steward of the DPSA, we remain committed to our core mandate: enabling Canadian businesses to access opportunities with the United States Department of Defense, now known as the Department of War, the world’s largest defense market.  

The DPSA has been a cornerstone of Canada-U.S. defence trade and cooperation since 1956. The Agreement enshrines Canadian industry as part of the U.S. domestic military supply base so that Canadian exporters may compete on equal footing with U.S.-based suppliers to sell goods and services to the U.S. DoD.   

In 2024–25 alone, we signed $2.1 billion in new DPSA export contracts for Canadian exporters — a 93% increase over the previous year.  

For every dollar of our $13.8 million parliamentary appropriation, we delivered $150 in signed contracts.   

This exceptional growth and return on investment reflect CCC’s proactive outreach and engagement to strengthen collaboration with Canadian exporters, raise awareness of the DPSA across the U.S. DoD, and open new and diverse areas of Canadian supply to meet evolving defence needs.  

*** 

CCC’s Sourcing business line has become a critical capability in Canada’s procurement toolkit.  

Through Sourcing, CCC delivers procurement expertise and responds to urgent requirements across the federal government, supporting international aid and assistance programs with speed and precision to help Canada act decisively when the world needs us most.  

Sourcing operates under a full-cost recovery model under memoranda of understanding with federal departments. 

CCC has been supporting Canada’s aid to Ukraine since the onset of Russia’s illegal invasion in 2022. With demand growing, we signed $1.3 billion in Sourcing contracts this year — five times more than the previous year. As Canada looks towards supporting Ukraine in long-term reconstruction efforts, we expect this growth to continue.  

*** 

Our International Prime Contractor business line, or IPC, continues to be a strategic driver of Canadian export diversification and growth. Where appropriate, IPC enables government-to-government contracting in sectors of national importance where trust, reliability, and assurance of contract performance matter most.  

Backed by the Government of Canada, we provide foreign governments with Canadian goods and expertise to meet their priority needs, with a focus on establishing G2G contracts in aerospace; defence and security; nuclear energy; clean energy solutions; infrastructure and agriculture — sectors where Canada has competitive strengths and that are critical to our country’s economic future.  

In 2024–25, CCC signed $2.7 billion in new IPC export contracts, supporting Canadian companies in markets around the world. CCC advocates on behalf of Canadian businesses to secure the right terms and conditions for success, to help them manage risk, and to navigate complex foreign procurement systems.  

Every IPC contract is underpinned by rigorous risk management and due diligence, ensuring compliance with Canada’s high standards for human rights and responsible business practices. This is how we deliver value — not just for Canadian exporters, but for Canada’s reputation as a trusted global partner. 

[Collaborating with Team Canada] 

CCC also continued its close collaboration with partners across the trade portfolio. We participated in several Team Canada trade missions to the Indo-Pacific and, as part of Team Canada’s Business, Economic and Trade Recovery team, we took a leadership role in the creation of an Early Project Support Program. For example, this program supports cleantech feasibility and bankability studies in Indonesia — a critical step in supporting Canada’s goals to pursue meaningful opportunities in the infrastructure and clean energy sectors in Indonesia and elsewhere.  

[Operationalizing excellence] 

Operational excellence remains central to CCC’s mandate. Over the past five years, our ongoing cost-reduction efforts lowered administrative overhead by almost 50% — clearly demonstrating our commitment to efficiency and value for Canada.  

This year, we re-engineered key business processes, streamlined technology platforms, and strengthened our cybersecurity posture. We also launched CCC’s data strategy — a foundational element of our business strategy that will enable better data architecture and insights to drive analytics and decision-making.   

We moved into new offices in 2024 that were designed to consolidate space and reduce our environmental footprint. Every detail was considered to create a fully accessible and inclusive environment. To recognize the office’s location on unceded territory, each of our conference rooms and meeting spaces carries names in [Ah-nish-nah-bay-moh-win] Anishnaabemowin, alongside English and French.  

People are our greatest asset at CCC and we are focused on building a results-oriented, diverse, and engaged workforce to support Canada’s exporters. We advanced our HR strategy this year with a new onboarding program, expanded skills development opportunities, and signed a new four-year collective bargaining agreement that reflects the value we place on our employees.  

[Closing remarks] 

In closing, I’d like to thank the Board of Directors for their continued support and guidance.  

I’m also grateful to my management team colleagues and all our team members for their support of our clients.  

As we look forward, I’m optimistic about CCC’s future and its ability to drive Canada’s trade diversification, strengthen Canada’s defence industrial base, and deepen partnerships with Europe and the Indo-Pacific to deliver even more of Canada to the world.  

Hello, bonjour, and welcome to the Canadian Commercial Corporation’s Annual Public Meeting. Thank you for joining us. 

I’m Douglas Harrison, Chair of CCC’s Board of Directors, and I am pleased to be here today to review the organization’s results for the 2024–2025 fiscal year. 

We are presenting our meeting online so that we can reach the greatest number of Canadians. Should you have any questions pertaining to the information shared in this video, please direct them to [email protected] and it will be our pleasure to provide you with an answer via email. 

I’d like to acknowledge that we are in Ottawa today, on the traditional unceded territories of the Algonquin Anishnaabeg nation, the original stewards of this land.   

We pay our respect to the Indigenous Peoples, their ancestors, and their contributions to this great country. Our hope at CCC is that by recognizing the land on which we live and work, it is a step toward bringing about a meaningful path to reconciliation.  

[CCC’s purpose, mission] 

For almost 80 years, the Canadian Commercial Corporation has been supporting the Government of Canada’s international trade and foreign policy agendas while helping Canadian companies sell goods and services to governments around the world. 

CCC plays a vital role in helping Canadian businesses access and succeed in global markets through our specialized government-to-government contracting expertise.  

Government acquisitions are highly complex, politically sensitive, and require a significant budget. We are the only Government of Canada agency that offers commercial advocacy, collaborative project development, and international contracting expertise to help Canadian businesses secure G2G contracts. 

[Strategy clarity and business lines] 

CCC delivered record results for another year for Canada and Canadian exporters in 2024–25.  

The Corporation signed contracts valued at $6.1 Billion, surpassing our fiscal year targets by 60%.   

CCC delivers its services through three business lines: 

• The Defence Production Sharing Agreement, CCC’s mandated business line, which enables Canadian businesses to access procurement opportunities with the U.S. Department of Defense, now known as the Department of War;   
• Sourcing, which assists Government of Canada departments and agencies in fulfilling urgent and complex procurements for emergency response; and 
• International Prime Contracting, which serves government-to-government opportunities in sectors of national importance.  

These lines of business will be discussed in greater detail by CCC’s president later in the meeting. 

CCC’s strategy, now in its fifth year, takes a three-pillared approach to guide the Corporation in delivering on its mandate and the three business lines.   

• The Growth pillar seeks to grow Canadian exports through inclusive trade;  
• The Operational Excellence pillar invests for growth in people, systems, and technology; and  
• The Environmental, Social and Governance pillar enhances CCC’s impact through environmental, social, and corporate governance.  

[CCC’s value] 

CCC delivers unique value to Canadian exporters by simplifying and expediting acquisitions by foreign governments from Canadian companies across a range of sectors, including aerospace, defence and security, nuclear energy, cleantech solutions, and public infrastructure.  

The Corporation acts as a business development partner, leveraging Canadian embassies and government-to-government relationships to identify opportunities and advance negotiations.  

Our government-to-government proposal approach shifts the process from a traditional vendor selection to a collaboration between governments and exporters to design customized solutions.  

As prime contractor, CCC mitigates political, corruption, human rights, and payment risks while navigating complex procurement decision processes.  

Finally, with the Government of Canada’s guarantee of contract performance, CCC builds confidence with buying governments, providing a competitive edge for Canadian exporters in international markets. 

This collaboration on important acquisitions deepens bilateral relationships, reduces procurement risks for the supplier and the foreign buyer, and can strengthen the bankability of certain projects.  

CCC continues to invest in its business to streamline operations and generate efficiencies that ensure value for money for Canadians. Ongoing efforts to decrease costs has reduced CCC’s administration overhead from almost 2% of contracts signed to an average of 1% of contracts signed over the past five years.  

[Risk] 

CCC’s enterprise risk management framework was enhanced in 2024–25 to provide a strategic and corporation-wide approach to risk management and to respond to the complexities of our projects to mitigate risks for the Government of Canada and by extension, all Canadians.  

The revised framework provides guidance on risk governance, setting strategic objectives, performance, communications and reporting, and it monitors the appetite and tolerance for risks. The risk management framework is reviewed annually by the Board of Directors.  

[ESG] 

Environmental, social, and responsible governance principles, known as ESG, are also central to CCC’s value proposition.  

CCC is committed to promoting excellence in responsible business conduct and supporting Canadian exporters in meeting global expectations for sustainability and ethical leadership, especially as Canada embraces a new era of global opportunity.  

Our risk management approach complements our ESG strategy, which sets the foundation for increased oversight and transparency to deliver stronger environmental stewardship, to broaden engagement with all sectors of Canadian industry in international trade, and to strengthen influence across the exporter community to conduct international business responsibly and sustainably.  

CCC’s ESG strategy aligns with Canada’s net-zero 2050 objectives and the Government’s support for the Glasgow Statement, which includes reducing emissions from business activities by at least 2%. As of next year, CCC will begin reporting on emissions-reduction activities as per  the recommendations of the Government’s Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures.  

Last year, CCC continued to enhance its due diligence framework. Our risk-based approach improves efficiency and puts a greater focus on supply chain risks, the governance of exporters, and heightened risks due to armed conflict. We also extended compliance training to exporters through our membership with TRACE International to foster a greater understanding of risks and regulatory requirements. 

In addition to promoting responsible business conduct and reporting on the Corporation’s transactional disclosures, the ESG strategy supports inclusive economic participation and implements measures to collect and report data on the diversity of CCC’s exporter base. The Corporation broadened its canvassing of underrepresented groups in international trade last year to ensure that services remain accessible to all members of Canada’s exporting community.  

[Role of Board] 

As a Crown corporation, CCC is governed by a Board of Directors and is accountable to Parliament through the Minister of International Trade.  

The Board ensures delivery of the Corporation’s statutory mandate and public policy objectives on behalf of the Government of Canada. It provides leadership and guidance to the Corporation’s management team and ensures that the Corporation’s long-term strategic direction aligns with the Minister’s annual Statement of Priorities and Accountabilities.  

[Closing remarks] 

CCC had an outstanding year in 2024–2025, with the Corporation’s employees delivering value for Canadians by generating the equivalent of $46 million of exports for every CCC employee, thereby helping to create and sustain more than 12,000 jobs in Canada.  

CCC will continue to prioritize operational excellence to add even more value to our support for Canadian exporters, just as we continue to strengthen our commitment to positive environmental, social, and governance practices. 

I would like to personally thank Minister Maninder Sidhu for his support of our work, for his trust in our vision, and for his commitment to unlocking new markets and creating real opportunities for Canadian businesses globally. 

I would also like to thank my Board colleagues for their dedication and stewardship, as well as CCC’s management team and all our team members for their contributions throughout this record year. 

We are confident in CCC’s position to build upon this year’s successes and to continue to identify opportunities to deliver more of Canada to the world as we help execute on the Government of Canada’s trade agenda. 

Hello and a warm welcome to everyone watching.  

My name is Diane Montambault, and it is my honour to serve as Vice-President of Contract Management and Operations at the Canadian Commercial Corporation.  

CCC has been supporting Canadian exporters and strengthening bilateral trade relationships for almost 80 years.  

We support Canadian exporters from the very beginning of their contract journey to the end by helping them navigate complex markets, by streamlining contract administration, and by working closely with both the Canadian exporter and foreign government buyer to address and mitigate risks and issues. 

Our services also carry the assurance of the Government of Canada that the contract will be delivered in compliance with the terms and conditions agreed to by the parties.  

Today, I’d like to highlight a few of the contracts that CCC delivered during the 2024–25 fiscal year, through our three lines of business. 

[Contract highlights: DPSA] 

Administering the Defence Production Sharing Agreement on behalf of the Government of Canada is CCC’s key public policy mandate.  

This defence trade agreement enshrines Canada as part of the U.S. domestic military supply base, which enables Canadian exporters to sell goods and services to the U.S. Department of War on equal footing with their U.S.-based competitors.   

Canadian defence exporters rely on this privileged access to the U.S. defence market — the world’s largest — to build capacity and expand to additional global markets. 

In 2024–25, CCC signed contracts worth $2.1 billion through the DPSA. 

One of these contracts was an agreement between CCC and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to deliver sustainable and efficient energy solutions from Reivax North America in Montreal.  

The agreement will remove and replace 16 excitation systems, which ensure reliable power output across hydroelectric grids. The contract will also provide training to operate and maintain the new exciter components.  

Another DPSA contract was awarded to Airboss Defense Group, based in Acton Vale, Quebec, to supply the U.S. Department of War with protective gear to safeguard first responders and military forces.  

The specialized footwear protects against contaminants and reduces the risk of exposure to chemical and biological agents and a wide range of toxic industrial chemicals.  

As a leading supplier of the integrated Canada-U.S. defence industrial base, ADG has collaborated with CCC on DPSA contracts worth more than $400 million.   

[Contract highlights: Sourcing] 

CCC’s Sourcing business line has emerged as a critical capability in Canada’s foreign aid and procurement toolkit. It delivers agile, responsible, and reliable solutions for federal partners during times of global crises and to meet complex operational needs.  

Since Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine in 2022, demand for Sourcing contracts have surged. The Sourcing line delivered exceptional results on behalf of the Government of Canada in 2024–25, signing contracts valued at $1.3 billion.   

These included a five-year contract for fighter pilot training services with London, Ontario’s International Test Pilot School, and women’s uniforms from Wuxly Movement.  

This small, woman-owned entreprise in Mississauga traditionally manufactures outerwear, but CCC’s Sourcing support to Ukraine helped them expand to the defence sector. They were selected for a contract that will provide 38,000 combat uniforms designed specifically for women in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which has also created new positions at Wuxly.   

[Contract highlights: IPC] 

CCC also offers an International Prime Contracting service that responds to foreign government demand for government-to-government acquisitions.  

We delivered a historic contract through this line of business this year that strengthens ties with the European Union and relaunches an iconic Canadian aerial firefighter.  

After more than five years of consultations and negotiations, CCC signed purchase agreements with Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain for 22 firefighting aircraft from De Havilland Canada, known as DHC.  

This purchase launched DHC’s production of a new aerial firefighting aircraft that is being reintroduced to the market when wildfires have become increasingly frequent due to climate change. 

DHC anticipates that the purchase will positively impact more than 3,000 direct and indirect jobs for Canadians working in aerospace, with an economic impact that will extend through Canada’s supply chain, generating an anticipated $2 billion in secondary markets. 

*** 

Another major win this year is helping to cement Canada’s leadership in the nuclear energy sector. CCC and AtkinsRéalis, with partners from Italy and South Korea, signed on to complete an additional phase of work to refurbish the CANDU C1 reactor in Romania.   

This builds upon another CCC contract to provide engineering support and reactor components to extend the life of the Unit 1 CANDU reactor at the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant. Together the contracts are valued at more than $1.4 billion. 

These projects will extend Unit 1’s operational life by 30 years and support Romania’s decarbonization goals as the country transitions to dependable and low-carbon energy.  

The refurbished CANDU reactor will provide an emissions-free, low-cost, and uninterrupted flow of power that is expected to phase out coal from Romania’s energy grid and position the country as a hub for clean and secure energy in eastern Europe.  

Canada has more than $40-billion- worth of international nuclear energy opportunities in its line of sight over the next 15 years, and CCC is working with Global Affairs Canada, Export Development Canada, and other Team Canada partners to position Canada as a leader in a global nuclear energy renaissance.  

[Closing remarks] 

CCC is committed to promoting excellence in responsible business conduct and supporting Canadian exporters in meeting global expectations for sustainability and ethical leadership, especially as Canada embraces a new era of global opportunity.  

Together with our Government of Canada partners, we look forward to delivering even greater results that reflect Canada’s ambition to build resilience, diversify trade, and contribute to a more secure, sustainable, and prosperous Canada tomorrow.  

Thank you for joining us.