Defence Minister David McGuinty announced more than $8 billion in ongoing federal military investment in Alberta on Wednesday, just 12 days before the province votes in an Oct. 19 referendum on its place in Canada.
McGuinty made the announcement at Canadian Forces Base Edmonton alongside Premier Danielle Smith, according to reports from the Edmonton Journal, CTV News and the Red Deer Advocate. It was his fifth visit to Alberta in 14 months, the Journal reported.
The biggest piece is $4 billion at CFB Cold Lake, Canada’s largest fighter base, for a new fighter squadron facility. A further $750 million will go to a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear laboratory and assessment centre at CFB Suffield, and $550 million to a western operating base for the CC-330 Husky air-to-air refuelling fleet.
Smith said the spending is expected to create about 38,000 jobs. Bases at Edmonton, Cold Lake, Suffield and Wainwright are being modernized or expanded, the Journal reported.
“Our geography no longer protects us,” McGuinty said, according to the Red Deer Advocate. “Alberta has always been there.” He also said that “maintenance may not make headlines, but readiness does.”
Asked whether the money was about defence or about the relationship between Alberta and Ottawa, Smith answered: “I think it’s both.” She said she hoped the announcements would give Albertans confidence to vote to remain in Canada. She called the funding “the first of what I hope will be many exciting announcements.”
McGuinty said the referendum did not change the federal plan. “We’re not being distracted. We’re moving forward,” he said.
Smith tied the announcement to last week’s decision to deem a West Coast pipeline a project of national interest, along with recent housing and infrastructure announcements.
The timing is notable. The Oct. 19 ballot is one of 10 referendum questions, and the separation question is worded in two parts. Voters choose between remaining a province of Canada and asking the Alberta government to begin the legal process toward a binding provincial referendum on separation. A vote for the second option would not itself separate Alberta. The Constitution has no provision for unilateral secession, so leaving would require a constitutional amendment through the Clarity Act process.
Polling has leaned heavily toward remaining. An Aug. 24 to 26 Research Co. survey put support for remaining at 74 per cent, against 22 per cent for the separate option and four per cent undecided, according to the referendum’s public summary on Wikipedia. Other polls have put remain support between 60 and 74 per cent.
The spending also fits a national commitment. Smith said she met McGuinty a year ago to discuss using Alberta bases to help Canada reach the NATO-style target of five per cent of GDP on military spending by 2035. McGuinty said he recently met Nordic and Baltic counterparts in Iceland, who he said were “extremely worried” about Ukraine.
The announcement is described in the reports as a federal investment, but several details remain unclear. Neither the Journal nor the Advocate said how the $8 billion is spread over time, how much is new money rather than previously budgeted funds, or how the 38,000-job estimate was calculated. Smith’s figure is an estimate, and the Red Deer Advocate rounded it to nearly 40,000.
This story is developing. The figures above come from the Edmonton Journal and the Red Deer Advocate, with CTV News confirming the event, the speakers and the date. Canada News Media has not reviewed the federal news release.
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Sources: via Edmonton Journal (Yahoo News Canada), Red Deer Advocate and CTV News.
