Canadian Tooling and Machining Association members are hopeful that military contracts will bring opportunities for some manufacturing companies looking to diversify away from the auto sector amid the ongoing trade war with the United States, according to the association's head Louis Jahn.

In response to Prime Minister Mark Carney's pledge of an extra $8.7 billion earmarked for defence spending by the Department of National Defence (DND) or other government departments, Jahn expects there'll be "some opportunity" for manufacturing companies.

But, he said, the runway to get to that point where companies can actually get a contract is long.

"There's a lot of legislative hurdles put in place — controlled goods certification is probably the number one barrier to enter that space, and to

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