NDP will build jets in Canada, invest in Canada's North and Arctic sovereignty

IQALUIT — NDP leader Jagmeet Singh announced Sunday his plan to cancel Canada’s F-35 contract so the jets are built in Canada, not the United States. Singh also announced a plan for new investments in Arctic sovereignty and defence.

Singh said the NDP will increase defence spending to two per cent of Canada’s Gross Domestic Product by no later than 2032, with an emphasis on making investments that support Canadians, communities, those who are serving in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and Veterans. That includes a commitment to build 5,000 new affordable homes to end the military housing shortage.

“The world is less safe and predictable today than it has been for decades. Canadians expect our military to be capable of protecting Canadians at home and contributing to a safer and more peaceful world,” said Singh. “Too often we have left our Armed Forces without the equipment they need, without the supports they deserve. It’s time to change that – to recruit, protect and respect Canadian Armed Forces members.

“At a time when Donald Trump has threatened not just workers and jobs, but Canada’s very sovereignty, it’s a matter of national security that our defence technology not be controlled by the United States. That’s why we’ll cancel the F-35 contract, and build the fighter jets Canada needs in Canada, using Canadian workers.”

If Canada buys its F-35s from the United States, that government will retain complete control of the software and hardware upgrades required for continued operations of the planes – a strategic vulnerability that could even ground the jets.

Singh said new defence spending will also include protecting Canada’s Arctic sovereignty by building new marine search and rescue stations – including in central Nunavut – building new small craft harbours, and enhancing the capacity of the Canadian Rangers, ensuring Rangers are properly compensated and reimbursed in a timely manner for the use of their own equipment. Singh said an NDP government’s investments in defence spending will also include giving soldiers a raise, buying new equipment to keep them safe and providing health care and mental health care to CAF members and Veterans without waits.

Protecting Canada’s Arctic sovereignty, he added, must include investments in Northern communities and Northerners. That includes better schools, more reliable power, and improved health care throughout Canada’s Arctic, as well as investments in housing—starting with supporting the Nunavut Housing Corporation Nunavut 3000 plan.

“Protecting Canada’s Arctic means first and foremost making investments in Indigenous people and Arctic and territorial communities. Decisions about Canada’s Arctic need to be made through cooperation, consultation and consent,” said Singh. “Canada’s Arctic Sovereignty will require not only defence investments – but investments in the community and the people of the North. The True North strong and free is a North where families have decent homes and access to the things every Canadian deserves – including good schools for our kids, and health care closer to home, and faster and easier to get.”

BACKGROUND

PROTECTING OUR PROTECTORS, DEFENDING THE NORTH

CANADA’S NDP DEFENCE AND ARCTIC SOVEREIGNTY PLAN

Canada exists in a more dangerous and uncertain world today. The actions of President Donald Trump – cozying up to dictators like Vladimir Putin and threatening Canadian sovereignty daily – mean that we can no longer consider the United States a reliable ally. It’s time for our country to play a stronger role as an advocate for peace in the world, to cultivate relationships with democratic nations, and to strengthen our Arctic sovereignty.

This will not be achieved by military investment alone, but it will be necessary to increase our investments in defence. We don’t do this to placate Donald Trump. We do this to ensure that Canada continues to exist as a sovereign nation, capable of meeting its international obligations.

Ensuring Arctic sovereignty means investments in the people of the North in partnership with their governments. Our plan builds infrastructure that will allow for protection of the Arctic – as well as economic development and security. And it ensures true partnership with Indigenous people.

Our investments in our military will be guided by our values. Ensuring that the people who work in the Canadians Armed Forces have good jobs, with good wages and benefits. That they have the equipment they need to do their jobs safely in an environment free of harassment. And that they and their families have access to decent housing, health care and the services they need. That we honour our commitments to our veterans.

An NDP government will increase defence spending to 2 per cent of Canada’s GDP by 2032, with an emphasis on making investments that support Canadians, communities, CAF members and Veterans.

We will ensure defence spending helps local communities and creates jobs in Canada, starting by repatriating the F-35 contract and launching a new bidding competition which prioritizes Canadian jobs and independence from the United States – as was proposed by Swedish company Saab with their Gripen bid. And we will do the same with the P-8 Poseidon contract to prioritize a made-in-Canada bid from companies like Bombardier.

Canadians believe in protecting our military service members, caring for our Veterans and creating more good Canadian jobs while we do it. They believe in building up complete communities, not only bases. But Prime Minister Mark Carney is straying from those values by putting budget cuts first. His plan to balance the budget within three years will strain CAF operations and CAF members.

The Conservatives aren’t the answer. Conservatives cut. Pierre Poilievre, as part of Stephen harper’s government cut defence spending by billions of dollars, reaching a record low of less than one per cent of GDP. They cut services to veterans, fired workers and closed Veterans Affairs offices.

It’s time to invest in the people who serve in the CAF, Veterans, communities and in the North and Northerners.

SUPPORTING THOSE WHO SERVE

• The NDP will increase wages for servicepeople and fix barriers to pay and health care identified by the CAF Ombudsman. No serving military member should ever miss a paycheque or worry about being turned away from their health provider. And we will invest in more uniformed mental health workers to support troops who have been deployed.
• We will build 5,000 new units of affordable housing to end the CAF’s housing shortage. Military members and their family deserve better than a waitlist, they deserve a home.
• We will commit new long-term funding to ensure that vital equipment is available. After decades of Liberal broken promises and cuts from the Conservatives, it is unacceptable that half of the CAF’s equipment remains unserviceable.
• We will address the health risks military personnel face as a consequence of contaminated Department of National Defence (DND) sites.
• We will fix Canada's broken recruitment system, which has turned away thousands of qualified citizens and aspiring Canadians from serving their country. As part of this process, we will be streamlining the application process and reduce application wait times.
• We will build on the findings of the Arbour and Deschamps reports and pass legislation to make the Office of the Ombudsman independent and to remove the military's jurisdiction to investigate sexual misconduct cases.

PROTECTING CANADA’S ARCTIC

• New Democrats recognize that protecting Canada’s Arctic means first and foremost making investments in Indigenous people and arctic communities. Decisions on resource management, environmental protection and infrastructure in Canada’s Arctic need to be taken in cooperation and consultation with Northerners.
• Investing in arctic sovereignty starts with investing in Northerners. Better schools, more reliable power, and improved health care are needed throughout Canada’s Arctic. And we will make significant investments in housing, starting with and building from supporting the Nunavut Housing Corporation Nunavut 3000 plan.
• We will establish new marine search and rescue stations – including in central Nunavut – and build new small craft harbours, working with all levels of government and Indigenous peoples and Arctic communities to maximize local benefits. And we will enhance the capacity of the Canadian Rangers, ensuring Rangers are properly compensated and reimbursed in a timely manner for the use of their own equipment.
• We will consult with territorial premiers with a view to re-establishing a full-time military base in Inuvik, NWT, establishing a base in Iqaluit, and establishing a new CAF Reserve Unit in Whitehorse. Working in consultation with Arctic and Indigenous communities on these projects will be vital to ensuring their needs and perspectives are respected. These facilities will be built to ensure civilian benefit and use, helping connect people to regional services and improving community access to goods from elsewhere. These measures will strengthen Canada’s Arctic security and sovereignty while creating local economic opportunities.
• We will work with Inuit nations and peoples to complete construction of the deep-water port in Nanisivik, Nunavut, putting an end to Liberal delays and broken promises. We will also work with Indigenous communities and the territorial government to establish more deep-water ports, including in Qikiqtarjuaq and Grays Bay. These ports will foster economic growth in the region and enhance Canada’s capacity to conduct search and rescue and naval patrols in the Arctic. We will also make new investments in airport infrastructure – including paving the Cambridge Bay runway - to help make air travel more affordable and reliable.
• We will work with local partners and the territorial government of Nunavut on the Kivalliq Hydro-Fibre Link, a terrestrial and telecommunications link that would improve energy security and northern sovereignty.

PROVIDING A VOICE FOR PEACE AND INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

• We will restore Canada’s proud legacy of peacekeeping on the global stage, including by establishing a 500-member Quick Reaction Force, ready to deploy in United Nations peacekeeping missions.
• We will lead international efforts aimed at nuclear disarmament, including by finally ratifying the Nuclear Ban Treaty and ending arms sales to human rights abusers including Saudi Arabia, India and Israel.
• We will ensure the CAF is properly equipped and ready to respond to climate disasters whenever needed, and we will provide additional supports to the Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) to help Canadian Armed Forces respond to international emergencies.
• We will foster Canada’s global leadership on peace and security by creating a Canadian Peace Institute to harness the expertise of Canadians in peacebuilding and conflict prevention.
• We will set a goal of contributing 0.7 per cent of our Gross National Income to international aid, to finally meet a decades-old commitment. And we will invest in our foreign service, reversing the trend of consecutive Liberal and Conservative governments consistently making cuts and undermining Canada’s ability to effectively promote our interests abroad.

MODERNIZING MILITARY EQUIPMENT

• We will expand the powers of the Procurement Ombudsman to tackle defence procurement, to promote accountability and to monitor the effectiveness of Canada’s investments in national defence.
• We will end the privatization of military services and ensure that all new defence funding directly supports the creation of good-paying union jobs in Canada. This will strengthen our workforce and create sustainable employment opportunities for communities nationwide.
• We will ensure that our Build Canadian, Buy Canadian plan helps address the overdependence of defence spending on American companies, starting by repatriating the F-35 contract and the P-8 contract.

HONOURING CANADA’S VETERANS

• We will reverse pension cuts by the Conservatives and Liberals by establishing a "One-Veteran, One Standard" approach to pensions, ensuring all Veterans receive fair and equitable benefits regardless of when or where they served. We will also eliminate the discriminatory so-called golddigger-clause which has denied survivor pension benefits for spouses of Veterans who marry after the age of 60.
• We will rebuild Veterans Affairs Canada as a trauma-informed care and support centre. This will reduce administrative burdens on Veterans and their families, increase transparency, eliminate discriminatory policies, and uphold the Veterans Bill of Rights.
• We will make dedicated investments for long-term and supportive housing aimed at getting our Veterans off the streets and into decent homes, including women-only housing for Veterans who suffer from military sexual trauma. And we will ensure that every Veteran can receive the health care they need, when they need it, with further investments in veterans’ hospitals.
• Due to Conservative cuts and Liberal mismanagement, Veterans face significant barriers to accessing trained service animals. We will ensure that all Veterans who need a service animal receive one by legislating national standards for animal-assisted human services.

ENSURING MILITARY PROCUREMENT BENEFITS CANADIANS

In 2010, the Canadian government announced its intention to purchase 65 F-35s to replace Canada’s CF-18 Hornets. Canada’s Auditor-General was very critical of the Stephen Harper government’s F-35 sole-sourced procurement program and its ballooning costs.

In 2015, the Liberals promised to scrap the government’s plans to purchase the F-35 and to hold an open and transparent competition to choose a more affordable aircraft. But in 2019, following a threat by Donald Trump to pull the American-made F-35 from the Canadian competition, the Canadian government altered its usual procurement approach to reduce the normal requirement for domestic industrial and technological benefits.

In 2023, the Liberals announced that they would purchase 88 F-35s at a cost of $19 billion. Department of National Defence officials also confirmed a full life-cycle cost of $70 billion. The first of Canada’s F-35s will be delivered to a US military base in 2026 and then into Canada in 2028. Full operational capability is set for roughly 2032. Canada plans to operate the aircraft until 2060. The United States will retain full control of the software and hardware upgrades that will be needed for continued operations of the jets. Some defence analysts say this could represent a strategic vulnerability – and that Trump could forseeably “unplug” Canada from upgrades, rendering the planes inoperable.

The NDP will ensure defence spending helps local communities and creates jobs in Canada, starting by repatriating the F-35 contract and launching a new bidding competition which prioritizes Canadian jobs and independence from the United States – as was proposed by Swedish company Saab with their Gripen bid. We will cancel the P-8 Poseidon contract to prioritize a made-in-Canada bid from companies like Bombardier.