Sandra Pupatello delivers the keynote address at the Canadian Manufacturing and Technology Show (CMTS) 2013, in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo: Nick Healey/Canadian metalworking)

TORonTO – After months of pent-up anticipation Canada’s largest manufacturing event is finally upon us.

The biennial Canadian Manufacturing Technology Show, or CMTS, kicked off Monday morning at the International Centre near Toronto’s Pearson Airport.

Getting the show started was Ontario’s former Minister for Economic Development and Trade, Sandra Pupatello, who delivered the keynote address to an audience of manufacturing professionals and key industry figures.

Pupatello, formerly a cabinet minister with the ontario Liberal party, now serves as both the CEO of the WindsorEssex Economic Development Corporation, and Director of Business Development and Global Markets at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

“It’s striking to see how strong we are, and how this really is our bread and butter,” Pupatello said of the country’s manufacturing sector.

As a native of the Windsor area, which has long been an auto parts powerhouse, Pupatello is no stranger to the importance of manufacturing. The crux of her keynote was that the industry in this country is stronger than we all think – but still in need of attention. And in particular, she highlighted the dire need for R&D spending.

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“Relative to the Americans we still have lot more to do in terms of investment, but we’re getting better.

“R&D spending is an area that’s bedevilled us for some time… greater spending will have a direct impact on our productivity levels.”

Also, on the eve of the NHL season, Pupatello made the most Canadian of references to describe how we need to view our industrial sector.

“The biggest multiplier effect of them all – essentially the Wayne Gretzky of the economy – that’s manufacturing… (it has) the biggest supply chain and it has the biggest impact on the economy.

“The more stuff it takes to make it, the bigger the impact it has on the economy.”

She took the analogy even further by explaining that the same way star hockey players are protected by enforcers, our manufacturing sector needs protecting through solid public policy.

Pupatello also explained how manufacturing policy can’t be “one off” solutions to the problems of the day – like a skilled worker shortage, for example. Instead, a collective, balanced set of policies will be more effective at encouraging manufacturing for the long term.

She also derided what she believes is a Canadian bashfulness about our capabilities in the sector.

An example she used was when the former French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, met with China’s Hu Jintao to put the spotlight on a major deal the Chinese made with France’s Airbus.

“I would do cartwheels if I saw our prime minister with one of those world leaders, selling Bombardier. And for whatever reason we’ve got this shyness and I think we need to get over it.”

CMTS will run September 30 to October 3, 2013. For more information visit: cmts.ca