TWO YEARS AFTER SNC Tec announced its intention to build a military ballistics testing range near the Cree community of Waswanipi in northern Quebec, the provincial government officially rejected the proposal on July 27.

  SNC-Lavalin is one of Canada's premier engineering firms, posting profits of $104 million in 2004. SNC has substantial interests in hydroelectricity, nuclear power, mining, oil, aerospace projects, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and defense. SNC's nuclear subsidiary, Canatom NPM, is the largest nuclear company in Canada, with projects in the South Korea, China, Romania, Argentina, and Canada. SNC has undertaken hydro projects in over 90 countries, and engaged in mining and smelting operations in Africa, the Middle East, Australia, South America, and Inuit territory in Labrador. SNC is thoroughly involved in resource extraction and economic exploitation the world over, from the Third World to remote First Nations territories in Canada.

  But SNC is also a direct supplier and beneficiary of the military apparatuses that maintain the current economic world order. SNC Tec, a subsidiary of SNC-Lavalin, is a conventional weapons manufacturer. SNC Tec provides arms to the Canadian Department of Defense and the US military. In May 2004, SNC Tec joined a consortium led by General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems, and signed a contract to supply 200 million bullets for the US Department of Defense in order to meet the rising demands of US occupation forces in Iraq.

  SNC already operates a range in Nicolet, Quebec for short-range testing. However, to test larger caliber, long range ballistics such as 105 mm Howitzer shells, SNC sought access to more distant Canadian military facilities such as the proposed 400-square-km northern Quebec range. If approved, the site would have been used ten days per month within a restricted nine-square-km core area....... You can read more.