Canada is delaying investments in increasing ammunition production, citing a lack of economic benefit in the medium term.
According to CBC News, the Canadian government has not yet reached agreements with its weapon manufacturing companies to ramp up the production of 155mm artillery shells.
In the fall of 2022, two major Canadian ammunition producers proposed a significant increase in artillery shell production to the government. However, almost a year and a half later, when Canadian reserves dropped to dangerously low levels, a large deal to increase production in the country has yet to be made.
Sources cited by CBC News indicate that Canada's allies are pressuring the country, but the government doubts that investments will pay off due to insufficient long-term demand for artillery ammunition worldwide.
Part of the Canadian government's hesitation is related to the fact that expanding production of standard NATO 155mm ammunition, needed by both Ukraine and Canada, would require a federal investment of $400 million in factories.
According to estimates from Canada's Department of National Defence, expanding and modernizing ammunition production facilities would take three years. Previously, Canada invested approximately $5 million in upgrading production lines, but this step did not yield significant results.
