Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday that Ottawa will expand the Canadian Armed Forces’ presence in the Arctic and turn to Australia’s over-the-horizon radar tech to monitor threats from adversaries such as China and Russia.
Carney also pledged $253 million in new funding for Indigenous reconciliation initiatives in the North.
They include $94 million to upgrade power plants in Nunavut, $20 million for a hydroelectricity project to help move northerners off diesel, and $66 million to build and repair homes across Nunavut.
“The announcements today will strengthen Arctic security, they’ll bolster our partnerships with our closest allies, they’ll build the North’s economic potential and advance reconciliation,” Carney said during a short stopover in Iqaluit on the return leg of his first official trip abroad.
“Canada is, and forever will be, an Arctic nation.”
Carney is widely expected to trigger an early election in the coming weeks or days.
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The Liberal party has enjoyed a sharp rebound in the polls in recent months, driven by U.S. President Donald Trump’s frequent threats against Canada’s economy and sovereignty and Justin Trudeau’s dramatic exit from federal politics.
In a Sunday night post on X, Bob Rae, Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations, pointed out that annexation of Canada and Greenland — which also has faced sovereignty threats from Trump — would give the United States control over the Northwest Passage, a vital trade route.
While Canada lays claim to the passage as internal waters, other countries — including the United States — have long claimed that the body of water is an international strait.
“The Northwest Passage is Canadian sovereign waters, and we first and foremost need to take steps to assert that sovereignty,” Carney told reporters in Iqaluit.
“One of the ways is … how we develop communities and economic opportunities abutting the Northwest Passage.”
Carney is just days into the job after winning the Liberal leadership in a landslide a little more than a week ago and being sworn into office on Friday.
Carney spoke with Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday morning about a new partnership on a long-range over-the-horizon radar system.
Senior government officials who were not authorized to speak publicly said ahead of Tuesday’s event that Australia’s system is sophisticated, will be ready sooner than competing options — as early as 2029 — and is expected to win praise within Norad.
The senior officials said the footprint of the planned radar installation in southern Ontario will also be much smaller than competing options and will consist of a series of monitoring pillars stationed across 1.3 kilometres.
The Trudeau government announced the $6.9 billion over-the-horizon radar project about two years ago, as part of its $40 billion plan over 10 years to modernize Norad systems. The radar system is being built to monitor airspace from the Canada-U.S. border to the Arctic for incoming missiles.
The Canadian Armed Forces currently has a year-round presence in Alert, Nvt. The Liberal government has said it will spend $420 million on setting up another three to four similar operations in the region; the locations have not yet been determined.
The government has earmarked $94 million to upgrade power plants in Cambridge Bay, Gjoa Haven, Igloolik and Iqaluit.
The Nunavut Nukkiksautiit Corporation hydroelectric project will get $20 million in federal funding for the engineering and construction is set to start in 2029.
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