Top defence procurement official’s retirement prompts management change

Senior defence procurement official Simon Page will be retiring later this month. WWW.TPSGC-PWGSC.GC.CAArticle content

Simon Page, a top official at Public Services and Procurement Canada will be retiring later this month.

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Page is Assistant Deputy Minister, Defence and Marine Procurement and has overseen some of the major equipment programs for the department.

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Siobhan Harty will assume the role of Senior Assistant Deputy Minister of Defence and Marine Procurement, according to the announcement from Arianne Reza, the PSPC deputy minister.

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Harty will “commence a transition period with Simon Page” on May 8, according to the announcement. No specific retirement date for Page was made public, other than it would happen later in May.

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Prime Minister Mark Carney has promised to overhaul how military equipment is purchased. The acquisition of defence equipment has been plagued with cost-overruns and excessive delays. Critics have also pointed out the system is highly secretive, with limited details on how tax dollars are being spent.

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Carney has promised to create a new Defence Procurement Agency, modernizing rules to streamline the way equipment is bought. Carney has also emphasized buying Canadian products or European equipment in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s economic and annexation threats against the country.

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Defence industry officials, however, said Carney’s plan will face an uphill battle as the Canadian Forces leadership is closely aligned with their U.S. counterparts and favours the purchase of American-made equipment and systems.

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The Ottawa Citizen reported April 30 about last-minute changes on a $100-million purchase of night-vision equipment for the Canadian Army which excluded European firms and now favours U.S. manufacturers.

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Companies asked if the requirements could be set back to what was originally outlined for the procurement, but the Department of National Defence and PSPC denied that request.

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Bids are expected on May 2.

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PSPC spokesman Jeremy Link noted in an email that the “competitive procurement process is being conducted in an open, fair and transparent manner. An independent, third-party Fairness Monitor has been engaged to monitor this procurement.”

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The Liberals promised in 2015 and 2019 to streamline and improve the defence procurement system but that never happened in any significant manner.

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Page, a former rear admiral, left the Royal Canadian Navy in 2019 to take up a senior procurement position at the Department of National Defence. In February 2021, Page took over as Assistant Deputy Minister, Defence and Marine Procurement, at PSPC.