Strategic Aerospace and Defence Initiative's (SADI) Transparency Standards

The new Strategic Aerospace and Defence Initiative (SADI) will maintain high standards of transparency as it delivers support to strategic industrial and pre-competitive development in the aerospace, defence, space and security industries. These strong transparency measures will ensure increased accountability and company compliance, helping to protect the interests of Canadian taxpayers.

Information on SADI's objectives and performance results, as well as information on contribution recipients, will be published on the website of the Industrial Technologies Office (ITO). The ITO will keep the public informed about the status and the impact of SADI's contributions by publishing an annual report that will include project results, as they relate to program objectives and accomplishments.

SADI will also increase transparency by publishing on ITO's website the project selection process and a set of clear assessment criteria that project proposals will be measured against. Each project proposal submitted will be assessed against the following criteria:

• technology benefits;
• social and economic benefits; and
• company capability to achieve the stated objectives.

In addition, the new standard SADI contribution agreement will include provisions to hold recipient companies accountable for their contractual obligations by giving the government sufficient leverage to act on behalf of the taxpayer should a breach of the contribution agreement occur. The Minister of Industry will be able to publicly identify a company that defaults on its obligations under the SADI contribution agreement, and make public any remedies exercised by him against the company.

To further increase transparency and accountability, the contribution agreement will also allow the Minister to publish the amount of repayments received from recipient companies twice annually on ITO's website.

The SADI contribution agreement will also require companies to comply with the Lobbyists' Registration Act, holding them accountable for any lobbying activities they may undertake. Lobbying activities will include external consultants lobbying on behalf of a company or company representatives who directly undertake lobbying activities.

Recipient companies will be required to recertify their compliance with the terms of their contribution agreement, including those relating to lobbyists, on a regular basis when submitting claims for payment.

The Strategic Aerospace and Defence Initiative is administered through Industry Canada's Industrial Technologies Office, which has a mandate to advance leading edge research and development by Canadian industries.