Canada is announcing approximately $8 billion in military infrastructure investments across Alberta, including around $550 million to establish Alberta as the western main operating base for the Royal Canadian Air Force’s CC-330 Husky fleet. Defence Minister David McGuinty and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith highlighted the investment at Canadian Forces Base Edmonton, saying the projects will modernize military infrastructure, strengthen Canada’s defence capabilities and create economic opportunities in Alberta.
Watch the latest details on Canada’s military expansion, RCAF infrastructure investment and the strategic importance of Alberta to Canada’s defence plans.
#Canada #CanadianForces #CanadianMilitary #RCAF #RoyalCanadianAirForce #Alberta #DavidMcGuinty #DanielleSmith #CanadaDefence #MilitaryInvestment #CC330Husky #CanadianDefence #DefenceSpending #CFBEdmonton #CanadaNews #USCanada #MilitaryNews #BreakingNews #OneIndia
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Watch the latest details on Canada’s military expansion, RCAF infrastructure investment and the strategic importance of Alberta to Canada’s defence plans.
#Canada #CanadianForces #CanadianMilitary #RCAF #RoyalCanadianAirForce #Alberta #DavidMcGuinty #DanielleSmith #CanadaDefence #MilitaryInvestment #CC330Husky #CanadianDefence #DefenceSpending #CFBEdmonton #CanadaNews #USCanada #MilitaryNews #BreakingNews #OneIndia
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NewsTranscript
00:00What are we, morning? Good morning, everyone. I'm MP Matt Jenner,
00:04representative riding in South Edmonton, but it's a pleasure to be here with you
00:07today for this very important event. I want to first acknowledge the land in
00:12which we're gathered on, it's Treaty 6 territory. I also want to acknowledge our
00:15guests here today, including Premier Smith, Ministers McGinty, Scow, and the
00:21command team for CFB Edmonton 1st Canadian Division. Welcome. CFB Edmonton
00:27has deep roots in our city's military history, dating back to the opening of
00:31RCAF station Edmonton in Blatchford Field in 1940. Today it remains one of Canada's
00:38Army's most important homes in Western Canada, supporting soldiers, units,
00:43families, and operations across the region. It is also part of the fabric of the
00:47Edmonton community, with generations of military members and their families
00:51living, serving, volunteering, and building lives here. And as Canada's
00:57military modernizes, CFB Edmonton's role continues to grow as a place where
01:01readiness, service, and community come together. Today's announcement comes at a
01:07time when the Government of Canada is making generational investments in the
01:11Canadian Armed Forces. We're investing in Canada's security in our sovereignty and
01:17in people who defend our country and our values every single day. The world is
01:22changing, and Canada is moving fast to do our part and to be ready. And that's what
01:27today's announcement is all about. Edmonton is proud to support the Canadian
01:32Armed Forces. Edmonton's contribution to Canada's defense extends well beyond the
01:37gates of this base. Across the region, military families, local businesses, skilled
01:41trades, researchers, post-secondary institutions, and industry partners all help
01:47the Canadian Armed Forces. And with Alberta set to become the western main operating
01:53base for the CC-330 Husky Fleet, this region's role in Canada's defense future is
01:59only growing. It's a strong example of how communities, industry, and military can
02:04work together to build infrastructure, workforce, and partnerships that Canada
02:08needs. For these, and for many reasons, it's an honor to take place in today's
02:14event. And it's my pleasure to introduce the Minister of National Defense, the
02:17Honorable David McGinty.
02:30Premier Smith, Minister Skow, MP Matt Jenneru, Major General Wade Rutland, Lieutenant
02:39Colonel Selden, municipal partners who are joining us here this morning, members of
02:45the Canadian Armed Forces, and the defense team civilians who are here, distinguished
02:50guests. It's great to be back, back in Alberta. It's especially good to be here at CFP Edmonton.
02:59This is my fifth visit to Alberta as Minister of Defense. I'm trying to catch up with the
03:05Prime Minister who's been here 13 times. When we were together in Calgary this summer, we spoke about
03:12the role Alberta will play in the future of Canada's defense. Today we're taking that conversation even
03:18further. As we just heard, the world around us has changed. War has returned to Europe. Our Arctic is
03:27becoming more accessible and more contested. Technologies that barely existed a generation ago,
03:35autonomous systems, artificial intelligence, cyber capabilities, electronic warfare,
03:42long-range weapons, they're changing the character of conflict at extraordinary speed.
03:47For decades, Canadians could look at a card and find comfort in our geography. Three oceans,
03:58a Pacific continent, strong alliances, its advantages remain extraordinary. But geography can't stop a cyber attack.
04:12Distance can't stop a long-range missile. And oceans don't insulate us from instability that disrupts
04:20our economy, our trade, our supply chains, or the security of our allies. Canada is not immune from
04:29what is happening in the world, and that's why we've decided to reinvest in the Canadian Armed Forces,
04:34in our people, in infrastructure, in the equipment our members need, and in the Canadian industrial
04:40capacity behind them. Alberta is central to all three parts of that work. Rebuilding the Canadian Armed
04:49Forces, building a stronger Canadian defense industrial base, and strengthening the partnerships
04:55that allow Canada to train, to operate, and to fight alongside our closest allies.
05:02This work is about Alberta's future, and it is grounded in Alberta's past.
05:10In 1905, Alberta entered Confederation. Workers built railways, roads, pipelines,
05:18and industries. And when Canada called, Albertans put on the uniform. Alberta has always been where
05:26Canada comes to renew its ambition. Where big projects meet bold ideas, we are heirs to that ambition.
05:34This is the province that reminds Canada how to think big, how to build big,
05:40how to turn natural advantages into national strength. Confederation was not an accident.
05:46It was a choice. And each generation renews that choice through what we do for one another. It's a bargain
05:56of reciprocity. And that bargain is tested most profoundly when the country is called to defend itself.
06:07You know, Alberta was only nine years old when the First World War began.
06:12More than 45,000 Albertans served in Canada's First World War effort, one of the highest enlistment rates
06:21in the country. They served at Ypres, at Vimy, and in the generations that followed, Albertans served at
06:29Ortona, in Korea, in the Balkans, in Afghanistan, and on missions around the world. Here in Edmonton,
06:38that history is especially close. Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry was raised in 1914.
06:46Today, one PPCLI calls CFB Edmonton home. Its history spans more than a century of Canadian service,
06:54but it represents only one chapter of Alberta's extraordinary military tradition.
07:01Generations of Albertans have served in the Army, the Royal Canadian Air Force,
07:05and the Royal Canadian Navy.
07:22And families across Alberta have carried the responsibilities that come with military service.
07:31And families across Alberta have carried the responsibilities that come with military service.
07:37You have built, you have supported the families behind the force, and you have helped keep Canada safe.
07:43Now Canada is asking Alberta to help build again.
07:49Look at what already exists across this province.
07:52Here in Edmonton, Canada generates land combat power.
07:58CFB Edmonton is home to one Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group
08:01and the headquarters of the newly reconstituted 1st Canadian Division.
08:07The Army's Maneuver Division built for high-readiness, large-scale operations.
08:13Let me put it simply.
08:15Forces generated and commanded here must be ready for some of the most demanding missions Canada can ask of its
08:22military.
08:23At Wainwright, the Canadian Maneuver Training Centre gives soldiers the opportunity to do something
08:29that cannot be replicated in a classroom.
08:33Units train together at scale.
08:35They bring people, vehicles, weapons, communications, and command systems together under demanding conditions.
08:42For Canadian soldiers, Wainwright serves as the final training ground before deployment.
08:49Through Exercise Maple Resolve, they demonstrate that they are ready before Canada asks them to deploy.
08:55At Cold Lake, we have Canada's largest fighter base, and we are preparing for the next generation of Canadian air
09:04power.
09:05And at Suffield, Canada has something few countries can easily reproduce.
09:12Space, scale, and the ability to train under realistic conditions.
09:18It's roughly 2,700 square kilometers give Canadian and Allied forces room for large-scale and live-fire training.
09:30Suffield is also home to world-class defense research in autonomous systems, counter-drone technologies,
09:37and chemical, biological, and radiological defense.
09:40And for more than 50 years, Suffield has also anchored our defense partnership with the United Kingdom through BATIS.
09:49That speaks directly to our three priorities.
09:53Alberta helps us rebuild the Canadian Armed Forces by providing the infrastructure and the training space our growing military needs.
10:02Alberta helps us rebuild our defense industrial capacity by connecting extraordinary research, energy expertise, skilled workers, universities, and Canadian businesses
10:17to the requirements of the CAF.
10:20And Alberta helps us strengthen international partnerships by giving Canadian and Allied forces the space to train together.
10:30Alberta is not created when a crisis begins.
10:34It's built well in advance.
10:37It's practiced.
10:38It's perfected.
10:40As new armored vehicles, artillery, aircraft, drones, sensors, and other capabilities enter service, and they are on their way, Canada
10:50must answer some very, very practical questions.
10:53Where will we test them?
10:56Where will we train with them?
10:58Where will we maintain and sustain them?
11:02And where can Canadian soldiers train alongside our allies at the scale that modern warfare demands?
11:09Alberta is a major part of those answers.
11:12We're not simply rebuilding bases.
11:15We're rebuilding Canadian military power.
11:18Hard power.
11:21That military power must connect to Canadian innovation.
11:24Canada has no shortage of brilliant researchers, entrepreneurs, and engineers.
11:30Our challenge is moving their ideas into the hands of the people who need them faster.
11:36When Canada chose to invest $20 million to build a new powerful quantum defense innovation secure hub, it chose the
11:46University of Calgary, in partnership with the University of Lethbridge and the University of Alberta.
11:52Canada.
11:53Une idée naît dans un laboratoire de Calgary.
11:57Des chercheurs et des entreprises canadiennes la développent.
12:02Notre système d'innovation en défense la teste et la valide.
12:08Elle est évaluée en conditions opérationnelles à des endroits comme Suffield.
12:13Elle se retrouve entre les mains d'un membre des forces armées canadiennes.
12:19C'est le process.
12:22Innovation to testing.
12:24Testing to training.
12:26Training to capability.
12:28That's exactly what our defense industrial strategy is designed to achieve.
12:32Build more here in Canada.
12:35Partner strategically with trusted allies.
12:38Use defense investment to create lasting Canadian capacity.
12:43None of this works without people.
12:46We can talk about aircraft, bases, ranges, and billions of dollars.
12:53But militaries are built from people.
12:56And behind every person in uniform is a family serving alongside them.
13:02We ask CAF members to move across the country.
13:05Their spouses and partners rebuild careers.
13:09Their children change schools.
13:11Families search for new doctors and new childcare.
13:14And they spend months apart when someone they love deploys in Canada's name.
13:20CAF members serve under obligations unlike almost any other profession in this country.
13:29There are no unions.
13:31There is no collective bargaining.
13:33There is no going on strike.
13:36When Canada calls on them to serve at home or abroad, they answer.
13:40And their families carry part of that burden with them.
13:43Those sacrifices are real.
13:45Rebuilding the Canadian Armed Forces means making military life work for military families.
13:51Because if we ask people to serve Canada wherever and whenever they are needed,
13:56Canada has a responsibility to support the families who make that service possible.
14:00That's why we're working closely with Premier Smith and Alberta through Seamless Canada.
14:06The principle is simple.
14:08A military family serving Canada should not be penalized because Canada asked them to move.
14:14We're working together to reduce barriers around health care, child care, education,
14:20education, professional accreditation, spousal employment.
14:24It's why housing matters.
14:26We've completed 36 new net zero ready housing units here at CFP Edmonton.
14:321,000 more being built.
14:36Across Canada, we're building 7,500 new military homes, including over 1,500 right here in Alberta.
14:46Supporting military families is not separate from military readiness.
14:51It is military readiness.
14:55Today, we're highlighting approximately $8 billion in defense infrastructure investments
15:01across Alberta.
15:03That's a big number.
15:05But spending is an input.
15:07Capability is the outcome.
15:10What matters is what these investments allow our people to do.
15:13At Cold Lake, approximately $4 billion will support Canada's future fighter capability,
15:20including a new fighter squadron facility of more than 40,000 square meters.
15:26At Suffield, approximately $750 million will support a brand new state-of-the-art chemical,
15:34biological, radiological, and nuclear laboratory and assessment center,
15:39strengthening Canada's ability to understand emerging threats, because there are many,
15:46and protect our personnel against them.
15:49In the Edmonton region, we're investing nearly $600 million in new defense infrastructure and capabilities.
15:56That includes approximately $550 million to support the western main operating base for Canada's new CC-330 Husky fleet,
16:05our new air-to-air refuelers, a versatile, multi-role aircraft that will significantly
16:12extend the reach and flexibility of the Royal Canadian Air Force and our new fighter fleet.
16:19That Husky will give Canada greater strategic reach and strengthen our ability to operate at home,
16:25across the Arctic, and alongside our allies.
16:46And right here, at CFP Edmonton, we're investing $33.7 million in a new CAF Transition Center.
16:55Our responsibility to the people who serve does not end when they take off the uniform.
17:00Across Alberta's four main defense sites, $582 million over the next three years will support maintenance and upkeep,
17:08including approximately $148 million right here at CFP Edmonton.
17:14You know, maintenance may not make headlines, but readiness does.
17:19A hangar that cannot maintain an aircraft, that's not capability.
17:25A range that cannot support training does not prepare a soldier for operations.
17:31Infrastructure matters because it enables people to do the mission.
17:36I'm pleased to announce as well today that through Prairie's Economic Development Canada,
17:41we're providing an additional $8.4 million in support to seven Alberta businesses and organizations.
17:47Through the Regional Defense Investment Initiative, we're helping Alberta companies like Jones Microwave
17:53and Pegasus Imagery grow, scale, and contribute to Canada's defense industrial base.
18:01Different investments, different communities, different capabilities, one purpose.
18:06A stronger, more capable Canadian Armed Forces.
18:10These investments will reach beyond the gates of our bases.
18:13We expect the infrastructure investments highlighted today to support approximately 29,000 direct and supply chain jobs in Alberta
18:24over the next decade and approximately 38,000 jobs when wider economic impacts are included.
18:32For all of us, those aren't abstract numbers, they're construction workers.
18:38Engineers, electricians, researchers, skilled tradespeople, Canadian suppliers, small businesses,
18:45people raising families and building careers here in Alberta.
18:48But the order matters. First, security, then capability, then stronger Canadian industry, jobs and growth.
18:59We're investing because we need a stronger military.
19:04Done right, rebuilding that military also builds stronger Canadian companies, more resilient supply chains,
19:09greater expertise at home, and a stronger Canadian economy.
19:13That's how the defense investment becomes national capacity.
19:17Let me conclude with this.
19:21121 years after Alberta entered Confederation,
19:24this province is once again being asked to help Canada build for a new era.
19:30The technology has changed, the threats have changed, the scale of the challenge has changed,
19:36but the responsibility is familiar. Build what Canada needs, be ready before the moment arrives.
19:44Right? Stand with our allies, give the women and men who serve this country everything they need to succeed.
19:52To the CAF members here today, thank you.
19:57To the defense team civilians here today, thank you.
20:02And every spouse, partner, child and family member standing behind someone who serves, thank you.
20:10You are not on the margins of Canada's defense.
20:13You are part of it.
20:15Canada is rebuilding, we are rearming, we are reinvesting, and Alberta brings extraordinary strengths to that work.
20:23The people, the infrastructure, the research, the industry, and generations of service.
20:32Albertans have always responded to Canada's call.
20:35Now in a more dangerous and divided world, our generation has its own responsibility.
20:40To take what we inherited, to build on it, and to leave Canada stronger, safer, and more sovereign than we
20:48found it.
20:50That's the bargain between generations. It's the bargain of confederation.
20:56It's work Alberta has always understood. Alberta can meet this moment. Canada can meet this moment.
21:05Because Alberta will help lead the way. Thank you very much.
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