MDC News
The MD Charlton Company Ltd. was founded in 1980 and purchased in 2002 by Alec Rossa. Rob Cook is the company’s Vice President and National Sales Manager. MD Charlton is a leading supplier of firearms, accoutrements, and other types of equipment and clothing to Canadian police forces, the Canadian military, other law enforcement agencies, and security professionals with quality products and superlative customer service. “MD Charlton became an innovator and disrupter in the industry very early on,” according to Rossa. “In 1991-92, it introduced pepper spray and expandable batons into the Canadian marketplace. In 1999, it introduced the Taser, and finally moved into its first facility.”
Alec Ross, President
Rossa, himself, came to MD Charlton by a rather circuitous route. He began in the photocopying business in Vancouver Island, where MDC, as he calls it, is home-based. “We were the distributor for Ricoh, Toshiba, and Friden-Neopost postage and mailing equipment,” he says. “I sold that business in 1995, and then at the age of 34, I was able to semi-retire. About that time, I was doing a lot of trading in the stock market and I had a couple of other companies, and I started to become a dealer and salesman for a company that did currency exchange. My brother was a staff sergeant for the RCMP, and he suggested I reach out to MDC. So, I started doing a lot of money exchange for the company. At that time, MDC had about 15 employees, three brick-and-mortar buildings, and was doing about $4 million a year in revenue.”
