Alberta’s Opening in Canada’s New Defence Economy

Canada’s defence debate is no longer only about what we need to buy; it is about what we can still build, and where that capacity will take root.

For years, federal defence debates were too often about delay, process and managing scarcity. That is changing. The question is no longer whether Ottawa will spend more. The question is where that investment will land, who will be ready to capture it, and which provinces will turn national security spending into jobs, technology and long term economic strength.

At CANSEC this past week, the federal government sent a clear signal. Defence is no longer only about buying equipment. It is about domestic production, allied supply chains, sovereign industrial capacity and whether Canada can build enough of what it needs to defend itself.

The most visible example is Ottawa’s decision to enter discussions with Saab as the preferred supplier for Canada’s future Airborne Early Warning and Control capability. Saab’s GlobalEye platform, built around Bombardier’s Canadian made Global 6500, is intended to strengthen long range surveillance, support NORAD and improve operations across remote regions, including the Arctic.

But the larger story is the machinery being built around procurement: a Defence Investment Agency, a Defence Industrial Strategy, faster Industrial and Technological Benefits approvals, strategic partnerships and more direct support for Canadian firms.

That is where this province needs to be sharp about its own story.

Too often, the national defence economy is imagined as shipyards, fighter jets and Ottawa contracting rooms. But modern defence is energy, sensors, drones, artificial intelligence, manufacturing, communications, maintenance, logistics and the ability to operate across difficult geography. Much of that is already familiar terrain to Albertans.

De Havilland Field in Wheatland County is moving from ambition to construction, with a 1,500 acre aerospace campus that will include aircraft assembly, parts manufacturing, distribution, maintenance and repair. The project is expected to create 3,000 permanent operational jobs. The University of Alberta’s DEFENDS initiative has secured $21 million in provincial support to connect researchers, companies and defence users. The province is backing LIFT to help local firms compete for national and international defence contracts. Ottawa has invested more than $9.3 million in local defence innovation and manufacturing, including companies working in drones, Arctic monitoring, defence electronics and deployable command environments. Foremost already offers one of Canada’s most important drone testing environments.

These should not be treated as isolated announcements. They are the early pieces of a serious defence economy.

Alberta’s case to Ottawa should be practical: this is a place where Canada can build, test, power, maintain and scale capability. It has industrial land, reliable energy, aviation assets, skilled trades, research capacity, transportation corridors, Indigenous and regional partnerships, and a private sector that deeply understands execution.

The Arctic is part of this opportunity, but not as a slogan. Northern security depends on infrastructure, communications, surveillance, energy security and the ability to move people and equipment across vast distances. This province is not the Arctic, but it can be one of the most practical platforms for supporting and defending it.

Canada is rearming. Allies are rebuilding. Investment will flow to places that offer certainty and deliver results. Alberta has the ingredients. Now it needs the ambition to become central to Canada’s defence future.