By Cheryl Long
..................................................................
O
n Feb. 23, 1909, the Silver Dart
lifted off the ice covering Bad-
deck Bay in Nova Scotia, travel-
ling approximately 800 metres at an eleva-
tion of three to nine metres and moving at
a speed of about 65 kilometres per hour.
The event marked Canada’s first controlled
powered flight and would pave the way for
decades of innovation and development in
Canada’s growing aerospace sector.
Today, Canada’s aerospace industry is
made up of more than 700 companies that
contribute about $28 billion to the coun-
try’s national GDP each year. Among those
companies is Bombardier, the third larg-
est commercial aircraft manufacturer in
the world. The industry supports 172,000
highly skilled, high-paying jobs located in
every region of Canada, and is the sec-
ond most research-intensive sector in the
country. Standing solidly behind those ef-
forts is the Aerospace Industries Associa-
tion of Canada (AIAC), which acts as the
national voice for the industry and works
to provide leadership on policy issues, in-
crease Canada’s profile internationally and
promote Canadian aerospace companies
in the foreign market.
Jim Quick is AIAC’s President and CEO,
joining the organization four years ago af-
ter a diverse career working for associa-
tions in the chemical sector and holding
a number of senior advisory roles at the
MAR/APR 2015
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