QUESTION PERIOD — National Defence
Military Spending
November 25, 2025
Government leader, in September, Senator Housakos asked about your government quietly scaling back Transport Canada-operated aerial surveillance flights over the Arctic this past summer, citing insufficient capacity to maintain its three turboprop planes.
Now, following Budget 2025, we have learned that most, if not all, of Transport Canada’s aviation assets will be transferred to the Department of National Defence under the guise of the department’s Comprehensive Expenditure Review, or CER. Experts, however, are questioning this decision, suggesting it may be aimed at artificially inflating defence spending to meet Canada’s NATO commitments.
Senator Moreau, is the government repurposing a civilian, aging and partially inoperable fleet to artificially boost defence spending to comply with NATO obligations despite adding $81.8 billion in defence spending by 2035?
Senator Martin, I would like to remind you that the government is investing over $72 billion through the new defence policy, Our North, Strong and Free, and nearly $40 billion to the NORAD modernization plan, which supports an increased Canadian Armed Forces presence in the North and the Arctic. The government knows that defending the northern Arctic requires a consistent, long-term, well-equipped Canadian Armed Forces presence, and the government is committed to fulfilling that requirement.
This is exactly why the government is procuring new equipment: to ensure it can have a year-round presence in the region — the Arctic and the North.
Yes, we all agree on how important the North is to Canada, but Senator Moreau, specific to the Transport Canada civilian operations that were already severely limited by this government’s neglect of its fleet, including Arctic environmental surveillance, how will transferring these assets to the Department of National Defence further undermine these essential civilian functions?
The government commitment towards the Arctic is quite clear. Those investments are unprecedented. I don’t think that we can question the commitment of the government in making sure that our sovereignty is assured in the Arctic, the northern regions or elsewhere in Canada.
