Ottawa defence firms are scaling up—and the sky's the limit
At CANSEC's record 21,000-person trade show, Ottawa-based manufacturers reported defence contracts surging as federal spending shifts into high gear. For small shops, it's a gold-rush moment.
Michael Lambersky stood at his booth on "first-timers' row" at last week's CANSEC trade show, grinning as crowds of delegates stopped by. For the owner and president of Ottawa-based Elrex Manufacturers, the moment felt surreal—like being called up from the minor leagues to the majors.
"It's been fantastic," he told Ottawa Business Journal between pitches. "I'm definitely excited to do it again next year."
Lambersky was one of 50 new exhibitors at CANSEC, which drew a record total of more than 21,000 registered attendees to Ottawa's Cohere Centre, up from approximately 14,000 in 2025. He was joined by founders and executives from about 325 other companies at the two-day event, hosted by the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries.
That energy—the packed booths, the handshakes, the deal talk—reflects a seismic shift in Canada's defence sector. Since Prime Minister Mark Carney pledged to boost defence spending from less than two per cent of GDP to five per cent by 2035, enterprises catering to the Canadian Armed Forces and defence primes have been on a tear. The feds announced tens of billions in new investments for programs like Arctic infrastructure protection.
For companies like Elrex, the spending bonanza has prompted a strategic pivot. Founded in 1963, Elrex specializes in custom design and manufacturing for clients across multiple industries. Defence was once a rounding error in the revenue line.
That's changed fast. Over the past 12 months, defence-related contracts have surged from about three per cent of revenues to roughly 10 per cent. Components for data centres remain the company's bread and butter, but Lambersky is now fielding requests to manufacture products for military equipment: heavy-duty rubber and silicone seal gaskets, shatterproof polycarbonate windows coated with special foam and metallized fabrics designed to prevent electromagnetic signals from disrupting sensitive electronics.
Lambersky bought the Montreal-based company and moved it to Ottawa in 2023, setting up shop in a 10,000-square-foot facility on Stevenage Drive with about a dozen employees.
Today, Elrex has a headcount of more than 65, with most of those hires made this year. The firm has taken over several adjoining units in the building and now occupies 35,000 square feet of office and manufacturing space.
When a potential customer walks through the door asking "Can you do that?" Lambersky's answer is reflexive: "Not yet. I will find a way to get it done."
He's not alone in that hunger. Across Ottawa's defence ecosystem—a network of mid-sized manufacturers, systems integrators, and engineering firms that has long punched above its weight—there's a palpable sense that the moment is now.
"The sky's the limit," Lambersky said, eyeing a future where defence-related revenues climb to 20 to 30 per cent. "I would love to get there."
The broader context matters. Ottawa has always been a defence town—the city's engineering talent, proximity to government, and established relationships with the Canadian Armed Forces have long made it attractive to defence contractors. But the scale of federal commitment under Carney is different. The money is real, the timeline is compressed, and competition for skilled workers is fierce.
For small shops that can move fast and iterate—the ones willing to say yes and figure it out—the next few years could reshape their entire business. Lambersky's vision of 20 to 30 per cent defence revenue isn't a fantasy. It's a realistic path in an economy suddenly flush with sovereign capability spending.
That's what the crowd at CANSEC was betting on.