Engineering the Workforce

09.09.2026

From shipbuilding to NORAD modernization, Morson is connecting Canada’s largest defence projects with the engineers they need to succeed.

By James Careless

Originally published in Canadian Defence Review (CDR).

Canada’s defence sector is entering one of the busiest periods in its modern history, as the federal government ramps up spending on the National Shipbuilding Strategy, next-generation aircraft, NORAD modernization, and future submarine procurement.

A shrinking pool of domestic talent

For decades, the Canadian defence sector has fought a never-ending battle against the US for top-tier talent. “The US has always had a big pull out of Canada,” Bennett told CDR. “Wages are higher and taxation is lower generally.”

This geographic brain drain is being compounded by a “retirement cliff.” The industry’s most experienced engineers are aging out of the workforce without enough junior talent being available to replace them.

“This big mass retirement is happening,” said Bennett, “and it’s affecting key sectors like defence specifically.”

Additionally, university enrollment in core engineering disciplines has been lagging for years. While recent government initiatives are motivating young people to choose skilled blue-collar trades, white-collar engineering pipelines have remained relatively stagnant.

“It wasn’t fashionable to go into engineering for many decades,” Bennett said. “Universities became more expensive, so people didn’t want to spend the money.”

This surge in defence activity brings a major workforce challenge: finding enough engineers to keep complex programs moving. That is where Morson can help. With offices across Canada, this focused staffing firm actively sources, clears, and deploys the gifted engineers needed to keep these defence megaprojects on schedule.

“We find people with specialist skills for hard-to-fill, safety-critical roles,” said Warren Bennett, Morson’s Vice President of Canada and USA. “We make sure that we give the client a solution.”

Turning to the world for help

When the domestic talent pool runs dry, prime contractors must look internationally for help. Morson is out in front of this effort, using its global recruitment network to bring critical skills like shipbuilding back into the Canadian market.

“Canada was a leading shipbuilder at one point,” said Bennett, citing historical hubs in Ontario and the Maritimes. Due to a lack of projects, “they suffered significant decline over many decades.”

Today, as the government rapidly scales up ship production at shipyards in Halifax, Vancouver, and Levis, these skills are hard to find at home. This is why Morson seeks, identifies, and recruits engineering talent in other nations to fill the gap.

“Sometimes we need to go outside of the country to pick those skills back up, and convince the people who have them to move to Canada,” Bennett told CDR.

A Canadian heritage with global reach

While Morson operates globally, its roots are distinctly Canadian. The firm’s founder, Gerry Mason, emigrated from Manchester to Canada in the 1960s to work as an engineer. Once here, Mason recognized the need for specialized engineering staff in this and other countries. He took that insight back to the United Kingdom and officially launched Morson in 1969.

In 2015, Morson formally opened offices in Canada. However, the company had been supporting major Canadian aerospace initiatives from the UK remotely for decades. “Back in the 1990s, we supported Bombardier with the Learjet 85 program,” Bennett noted. “We also did some work on the C-Series, which is now the Airbus A220.”

In fact, the firm’s domestic division, Morson Edge, has been matching technical talent with opportunity in Canada for over forty years. It focuses on the marine, the C-Series, which is now the Airbus A220, aerospace, defence, rail, and nuclear sectors.

In all cases, Morson operates under a strict philosophy of not just filling jobs, but actively solving operational problems. Given the company’s client base, this approach clearly works.

When they choose Morson, employers gain operational flexibility and access to a massive, pre-vetted talent pool. Meanwhile, candidates open up wider career paths across multiple defence sectors. While the company has scaled up to meet industrial demand, they refuse to lose their personal touch.

Tapping the talent of veterans

To bridge the talent gap, Morson actively recruits highly trained personnel transitioning out of the Canadian Armed Forces. It makes sense to do so: Military engineers and technicians possess the exact safety-critical mindset and technical discipline required by prime defence-contractors.

Tapping into this talent requires deliberate planning. If veterans are not actively engaged by Morson before their release date, the defence sector risks losing their expertise entirely to commercial industries. This is why the company engages with service members twelve to twenty-four months before they leave the CAF. This approach provides a clear career pathway for retiring veterans, preventing technical specialists from falling out of the engineering sector.

“We want to make sure that we get hold of them,” Bennett told CDR. “We want our clients to have access to their skills and experience. There is a definite skillset you get out of ex-Forces people that is hard to find anywhere else.”

Flexible outsourcing solutions

Morson does more than just place individual engineers into empty desks. The firm offers comprehensive offload packages to its clients, allowing prime contractors to outsource entire segments of an engineering build. “We can take a package of work out for the client and give it back to them completed,” said Bennett.

Morson used this model for Bombardier on the A220 program, taking complete responsibility for engineering the aircraft’s underbody fairing before delivering the finished package.

Crucially, this company understands the defence sector’s strict regulatory requirements. This is why their HR people know how to navigate federal screening processes, ensuring all Morson-recommended personnel meet compliance standards.

“We understand and comply with NATO Secret, reliability, and controlled goods,” Bennett told CDR.

Focused on the mission

Canada’s defence contractors win bids based on their ability to design, manufacture, and deliver military hardware. They are not chosen on the basis of their recruiting skills.

This is why these contractors choose Morson. This firm has the recruiting skills and talent pool they need to fulfill the procurements that they’ve won.

Warren Bennett sums up the situation in eight words. “You do your bit,” Bennett told CDR, “and we’ll do our bit.”

Source Note: This article, “Engineering the Workforce,” was originally written by James Careless for the Canadian Defence Review (CDR) Magazine. Volume 32 Issue 4 features Morson’s work supporting Canada’s defence and aerospace sectors.