In August I blogged that the Canadian military was going up upgrade the WWII-era weapons used by the Canadian Rangers, Canada’s Arctic militia force. These plans have been put on hold because gun companies around the world refused to hand over technical specifications to Colt Canada. The Defense Department selected Colt Canada as the manufacturer for the 10,000 rifles and 10,000 pistols they plan to buy and required any company who submitted a weapon for consideration to hand over all the technical specifications them. The Ottawa Citizen reports …

The government then hastily retreated, canceling its request to the companies for information about prices and availability.

In an email the Defence Department confirmed that it asked Public Works to cancel the request “as a result of questions, and requests for clarification, from industry.”

The department is now re-evaluating its procurement strategy.

According to the DND email, its small arms project office is now “focusing efforts on clarifying the procurement strategy with the intent to facilitate future communication with industry.”

Canadian Rangers practicing with their Enfields.

[ Many thanks to Mike for emailing me the link. ]