Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that Ottawa will invest tens of billions of dollars in military infrastructure across the Arctic, part of a broader push to expand defense spending and tighten Canada's grip on the increasingly strategic region.
The government reportedly plans to direct most of the $25.7 billion toward "forward operating bases" in the Arctic communities of Yellowknife, Inuvik, and Iqaluit, along with other sites meant to "enable the Canadian Armed Forces to defend the Arctic without the help of allies."
The move underscores Canada's growing focus on the Arctic as tensions with Russia rise and the region becomes more accessible because of climate change. The announcement also comes as Carney seeks to project greater military independence amid President Donald Trump's expressed interest in Greenland.
"Canada is taking full responsibility for defending our Arctic sovereignty," Carney said Thursday in Yellowknife, according to the Financial Times.
The three main sites targeted for investment are already part of Canada's contribution to the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, a joint U.S.-Canada air defense system that has operated since the 1950s.
The funding reportedly comes from a 2022 NORAD modernization plan, but Canadian officials had not previously specified where or how the money would be spent.
Carney said the funding will be used to upgrade airfields, add new or repurposed hangars, expand ammunition and fuel storage, and improve military housing, warehouses, and information technology.
"After decades of limited and piecemeal investments in the North, Canada's new government is acting with a scale of ambition worthy of this vast region and its peoples," he said.
Carney's government has pledged to raise defense spending to 5% of gross domestic product by 2035.
In February, Canada also launched a defense industry strategy aimed at awarding local companies 70% of military spending, up from about 50%, a shift officials say could boost revenues for domestic businesses by more than $3.7 billion a year.
James Yurichuk, chief executive of Toronto-based Wuxly, which makes cold-weather military uniforms, told the Times the renewed focus on Arctic defense infrastructure was necessary to close the "capability gap" in the North.
Canada's Arctic accounts for about 40% of the nation's landmass but is home to only about 150,000 people, the majority of them Inuit. Still, the region is increasingly emerging as a geopolitical front line as Western nations monitor the ambitions of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Carney also said the government wants to fast-track approval of the Mackenzie Valley highway, an 800-kilometer route designed to better connect remote communities, as part of a $100 million investment.
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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