QUESTION PERIOD — National Defence
Military Procurement
October 22, 2026
Senator Moreau, I have a complete change of direction here. My question relates to government investment and procurement for the military and defence sectors.
Canada is at an inflection point. Security and military technological environments are evolving much faster than our traditional defence procurement cycle can keep up, and this is in order to procure what is needed to defend Canadians and protect sovereignty. Therefore, I applaud the standing up of the Defence Investment Agency.
But Canada must rapidly modernize to remain capable of defending our territory, contribute meaningfully to NORAD and NATO and protect our sovereignty; this is a generations-long investment. The question we must ask ourselves is what integrated military combat ecosystem Canada needs to build today to remain operationally relevant for tomorrow.
My question is this: How do Canadians and members of the Canadian Armed Forces be assured that any new organization will balance the need to invest in modern military combat ecosystems that endure in the long term alongside the need to build in Canada and diversify markets?
Thank you for the question. Yesterday, I was with the Royal Military College of Canada, and we were discussing those issues with the colonel in charge of the college. They were quite pleased with the fact that unprecedented investment will be made in the military by this government over the next year.
Now, I totally understand that investments that are made today will make improvements in the next few years. They know that, but they are building on it, and they are committed to ensuring that those investments will be completely integrated into the military.
Now, because of those important investments, the government is committed to working closely with the military to ensure that the equipment purchased will answer the needs of our Canadian Armed Forces to be better equipped in the future to ensure that our sovereignty is very well protected.
Thank you. That is a great segue into my next point. Given the massive shift in geopolitical alliances and increasing threats to Canada’s sovereignty, the government should be asking themselves what future required capabilities we would need to delay or forgo by making the decisions today on the investment side. What types of accountability frameworks will the government be putting in place so that we do ensure these are true long-term safety investments?
In the coming weeks, we will be studying Bill C-40. I think your question could be raised during the study of that important piece of legislation.
I thank our colleague for accepting the sponsorship of this important bill. This is another step to underline the commitment of the government towards investment in our military.
