FEATURE INTERVIEW – The MINISTER of NATIONAL DEFENCE
The Honourable BILL BLAIR
CDR recently sent Ottawa Bureau Chief, James Careless, to sit down with Canada’s Minister of National Defence, Bill Blair, for an exclusive interview.
Addressing the personnel and equipment shortages of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), updating the status of the CAF’s many procurements – including submarines – and assessing Donald Trump’s potential impact on the Ukrainian War and NORAD modernization: These were some of the many concerns raised by Minister Blair during CDR’s annual interview.
Listen to the full breadth and depth of Minister Blair’s comprehensive comments on the CDR Radio Podcast, www.CanadianDefenceReview.com/Podcast, with an abridged version of the interview available here. ➡️ Listen on:
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CDR: Hi Minister Blair, thank you for joining us today. There have been numerous reports of the Canadian Armed Forces having serious readiness issues, both in terms of personnel and equipment, what will be done to address these problems this year?
Minister Blair: Actually, I’m very encouraged by some of the outstanding work that has been done by the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces in responding to those concerns. You may recall about a year ago I very publicly expressed concern about the readiness of the Canadian Armed Forces, and particularly with the work that they had been doing in order to reconstitute their personnel shortages. There were about 14,500 people at the time, and the planning that we were doing indicated that they needed an additional 16,000 people beyond that, but we’ve gone through a period of almost three and a half years in which they lost more people than they were able to hire. That said, I’ve been very encouraged by the response to the challenge that the Canadian Armed Forces is meeting, and they’ve made some really appropriate and necessary adjustments to the recruitment and hiring strategies.
What we’re seeing is a significant improvement in their ability to bring people on board. From an average of about 4,400 per year, the expectation is they’ll be at 6,800 this year. And all of that work has put us on a much better path.
We’re also on a much better path to reconstituting their capabilities. There’s been acknowledgement that the state of repair for a lot of their equipment and platforms that they’ve been using — their vehicles, their ships, their planes, et cetera — really required significant new investment. That work is also well underway.
Finally, across our bases, the conditions in which our people work, the readiness of their housing, the availability of medical and childcare services, even the buildings in which they operate, they have suffered from a number of years of underinvestment. And we’re now making those investments and improving the availability of that housing; the existing stock as well as building new. So, I think we’re on the right path.
Let me not be too optimistic here. We’ve still got a ton of work to do. But I’m seeing a renewed confidence within the Canadian Armed Forces. They know the job that needs to be done and they’re getting it done.
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CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT FOR CSC IS IMMINENT
CDR: Where does your department stand in terms of major procurements such as the CF-35 and the Canadian Surface Combatant ships? And will we see a procurement process for submarines this year?
Minister Blair: Well, you mentioned submarines. You may recall that when we introduced our new Defence Policy Update [DPU] in April of last year, we talked about some of the things that we knew we were going to have to work on, but that we were only in a position to explore. That was in April. By July, the Prime Minister announced that we were going to acquire 12 submarines. We went from exploring them in April to July when we made a commitment that we were going to acquire them. In September, we went out into the marketplace with a request for information, and the Navy’s been doing some great work and seeing what capabilities are in production and available for us right now. I think that type of approach is both necessary and appropriate. And so that work is underway.
We have the National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS). We’ve started to see some real results being delivered from that. The Joint Support Ships (JSS) that are being built on the West Coast, the Arctic Offshore Patrol Vessels (APOV), and you mentioned the important Canadian Surface Combatant (CSC), which we now refer to as the River-class destroyers. We’ve been working really closely with the Irving yard in Halifax. We’re very close, and I’m hoping by the time you publish this, I’ll be able to provide you with some pretty good news with respect to the construction contract. So, Irving’s ready to go, and we’re hoping to get the first of those delivered by 2032. But that work has got to start very quickly and we’re ready to go forward with that contract in the very near future.
READ: Irving Shipbuilding Awarded $8 Billion Initial Contract To Build 3 River-Class Destroyers for RCN
With respect to the CF-35s, we also are working on making sure we get the first of those delivered in 2028. But it’s not just a matter of acquiring ships and planes and submarines. I also want to make the point that there’s significant investment that is going to have to be made in maintaining and sustaining those new capabilities. When we talk about the cost of these acquisitions, about 30% of those projects involve the acquisition of the new capital equipment. 70% of it is about maintaining it and sustaining it. So, we’re making sure that we have capacity in Canada to sustain those aircraft, and we’re working with Canadian industry to be able to do that right here in Canada. We’re working with our shipbuilding industry in order to sustain the new fleet and, frankly, to keep it afloat. The Halifax-class frigates, for example, we’re working hard to replace them with the new River-class destroyers. And so those investments are both necessary and clearly understood.
A lot of the conversation to this point has been about how much money needs to be spent on Defence, the 2% spending metric. But we’re looking at how to invest that money to create capability to benefit the Canadian Armed Forces primarily, but also to benefit the Canadian economy, Canadian workers, and Canadian industry. There’s been a very thoughtful approach to that, and it really needs us to redefine our relationship with industry in order to make that happen most effectively. I’ve been very pleased with, and reassured by, the work that has taken place to this point.
DND WORKING WITH INDUSTRY
CDR: Your Defence strategy ‘Our North, Strong and Free’ commits to a renewed relationship with Canada’s defence industry. Can you explain how your government will change its relationship with that industry?
Minister Blair: One of the first things I did when I got this job is I went to industry, because I recognized that defence policy – which we were in the process of renewing – is also industrial policy. Of course, it’s also foreign policy, so we worked very closely with Global Affairs on the foreign policy aspects of our work.
So, I went to industry and I asked them, ‘what do you need from me in order to better support what we need you to do? [And] I want to support those workers and companies and industries, but I also need something from them.’ So, we talked a lot initially about what they required from us. And one of the things said is they needed certainty and clarity about where we were going in the Canadian Armed Forces. That’s one of the important jobs we tried to accomplish through the Defence Policy Update.
I went back to industry after we published the document and I said, ‘do you see your advice and your advocacy reflected in this document?’ They very clearly acknowledged that they did.
We also talked about our procurement processes. For example, I’m a client of PSPC
[Public Services and Procurement Canada] in the Canadian government who negotiates and engages in all of our defence contracts. We talked about the defence procurement processes and how we can make that process more efficient.
My colleague, PSPC Minister Duclos, has undertaken a pretty significant review of our defence procurement processes. I’ve also been working very closely with my other colleague, Minister Champagne from Industry and Innovation, about how we can be more supportive of industry and develop contracts. Now some of our procurements are by necessity dealing with OEMs outside of Canada, but we want to make sure that there is real benefit to Canadian industry, Canadian workers, and the Canadian economy from those investments. And so that work has gone on.
I also found it very useful to set a table with some of our industry CEOs and sit down with them. This is a process that we’ve initiated that is ongoing where we actually work together and to have a better understanding about what I require from industry, and what industry requires from me.
For example, we’re trying to increase production of our ammunition in Canada. We’ve got a number of important companies that already produce ammunition for us, but I need to significantly increase their production capacity if I’m going to be able to meet the Canadian Armed Forces’ requirements for battle-decisive munitions from Canadian sources. What they’ve said to us is that they need two things. They need investment in creating new production lines, including secure supply chains for those productions. And they also need the certainty that comes with long-term contracts.
We built that into the DPU as well, so that there was money for investing in those industries, and also so that we could now sit down and work with them on creating longer term contracts. I think those things are foundational and fundamental. I don’t want to be forced to go to other countries and to other manufacturers outside of Canada in order to meet our requirements. But unless we have that relationship with Canadian industry, unless we make those investments and offer those long-term contracts, we would be compelled to go elsewhere.
Again, it comes back to defence spending as an investment in Canada and an investment in our defence capabilities, which for me is my primary responsibility. But I also want to be able to assure Canadians that when we invest their hard-earned taxpayer dollars in creating capability for the Canadian Armed Forces, there’s a return on that investment that also benefits Canada — that benefits not just our defence capability, but it benefits our industries, our workers, and our economy. And so we’re really trying to focus on that type of investment, which produces real value, not just in our ability to defend our country and defend our national interests, but also to extend and secure our sovereignty in many parts of the country; for example, in the high North and in the Arctic, and also to support Canadian industry and Canadian workers with the investments that we know we have to make.
THE HIGH-NORTH & THE ARCTIC
CDR: So why does Our North, Strong, and Free place such an emphasis on the Arctic? What are the new threats that we are seeing in that region?
Minister Blair: For many, many years — I’ve said this often, and I apologize if I’m repeating myself — Canada was able to rely on some of the finest and most beneficial geography of any country in the world. We were surrounded by three oceans, one of which was frozen for much of the year. We [also] lived next door to a very friendly and supportive superpower. And so, over the course of our entire history, most of the work of the Canadian Armed Forces has been expeditionary. We’ve sent our soldiers and our sailors and our airmen all around the world, and we have been there for our allies in Europe, in the Middle East and in Asia, in the global south. We’ve been there wherever we were required and wherever we could help.
READ: Our North, Strong and Free: A Renewed Vision for Canada’s Defence
But the world has changed. What we’re finding is, for example, through climate change, our country, our Arctic is becoming far more accessible than was the case in the past. We’re also seeing, with new technologies, that the defence capability that we once required in order to defend our country is rapidly changing with the advent of new technologies, cruise missiles, hypersonic missiles, [plus] the threat from cyber and space. And then thirdly, we also are seeing some very concerning actions from our potential adversaries. China and Russia, in particular, are attempting to extend their influence in our Arctic and to exploit the natural resources that exist there.
When I started talking about sovereignty and security in Canada, I went north. One of the things that northern communities, indigenous communities, and northern governments told me is that security and sovereignty in Canada isn’t about a plane flying over once in a while, or a ship going by when the ice is out: It’s about infrastructure. It’s about creating a sustainable, secure environment for Canada and Canadians right across the north. We also know, from changing circumstances, that we are going to have to operate in our High North.
Now I’m Canada’s Minister of National Defence. My first responsibility is the defence of our country. We need to do that in partnership with the people of Canada, and we need to invest in the infrastructure that is going to make that secure environment sustainable over time. And so, investing in Canada’s Arctic and in our military capabilities are fundamental to our future security. But it also creates a huge opportunity, because in investing in infrastructure that could be multi-use, investing in airport runways and fiber optic communications, in housing, in medical facilities, in highways, in power generation systems — those investments, which are going to be necessary for the Canadian Armed Forces, can benefit the people of the north as well.
As a result, I think there’s a real opportunity not just in national defence but in nation- building through the investments that we are prepared to make. We are a northern nation, and I think for many Canadians that is an intrinsic part of our identity. Canadians understand the importance of investing in our country, in our defence, in engaging with Canadians in our national interest, and also investing in our country, which would help us build a stronger country, a more resilient country, a more defensible country.
It is also an investment that makes sense to our allies. We’re part of NATO, and with the addition of Sweden and Finland into NATO, we now have all of the northern Arctic nations, with the exception of Russia, as part of the NATO alliance. [Meanwhile] our responsibilities to NORAD and North American security and our relationship with the United States — [all] those investments in protecting our continent as well as our country benefits our neighbors and our allies right across the world; particularly in our relationship with the United States. And so this, for many reasons, is the investment that we need to make in our defence capabilities. There are many opportunities for Canada and for Canadians in those investments, and they will also help us live up to our obligations, to our allies and our neighbours in North America, and around the globe.
DEALING WITH THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
CDR: With Donald Trump back in power, what are Ukraine’s chances for surviving the Russian invasion? And if the Americans reduce their support of Ukraine, is there anything that Canada and its NATO allies can do to fill the gap?
Minister Blair: First of all, I want to acknowledge that the United States has been an incredible leader in helping support Ukraine and continues to do so. Again, I think there are opportunities when changes in government happen, not just in the United States, but around the world, [offering] different perspectives and different approaches. Ultimately, the responsibility for determining the future of Ukrainians is with the Ukrainian people. Canada has from the outset stood by the Ukrainian people and their valiant and courageous efforts to repel the illegal invasion that Russia perpetrated upon their country coming up almost three years ago now. And I want to acknowledge that the United States has provided incredibly important support for Ukraine, and they have demonstrated remarkable leadership in all of the countries that we refer to as the Ukraine Defence Contract Group, which includes all of NATO, but a number of other countries as well. And the United States has demonstrated great leadership and brought us all together.
What we’ve seen over the last three years is a real commitment from all of the countries of the free world to support Ukraine’s aspirations for their security and for peace in the region, and in helping them support and stand up to the illegal Russian invasion.
I believe that we’ve heard discussions from America about moving towards resolution of that conflict. As long as it engages with Ukrainian people, then certainly we support an effort to get to the end of the hostilities. Canada will continue to support, and I believe all of our partners, including the United States, will continue to support peace and security in the region. There may be some evolution in the approach, but ultimately, I think we are all resolved to protect and support the people of Ukraine and to provide them with the support that they require to work towards the end of hostilities and the security of the country.
NORAD MODERNIZATION
CDR: What impact will Trump’s return have on NORAD modernization?
Minister Blair: Actually, I’m pretty confident it’s going to accelerate it. We’ve heard very clearly from the new President of the United States about his concerns with respect to the security of America, which of course includes all of North America and Canada. We’re an important partner and have been for 74 years in protecting the North American continent.
I think NORAD is one of the most enduring and effective relationships. The Commander of NORAD, General Gregory M. Guillot, is an American General. His second in command is a Canadian General. We work side-by-side and have done so for 74 years.
READ: NORAD MODERNIZATION – Closing the ‘kill chain’
We’ve embarked on a pretty ambitious program in partnership with the United States for what we call NORAD modernization. We’ve committed $38.6 billion to that initiative. There’s some really important work that Canada is going to take the lead on in creating greater domain awareness [such as] over-the-horizon radar systems in the Eastern Arctic, including much of northern Canada, but also including Greenland and the North Atlantic.
As for President Trump’s focus on security and defence, and his expectation that partners will step up and do their part? Canada’s ready to step up and do its part, and we’ve got a very significant role to play. I’m very confident in the path we are on with regards to NORAD modernization, and it’s not just simply over-the-horizon radar and polar radar systems. It’s also investing in satellite technologies and forward operating bases.
We’re making huge new investments through NORAD modernization, for example, in new airfields and Inuvik that’s going to help us be able to extend our new fighter jets into those northern reaches. So, these are important investments that Canada is making.
With the changing threat environment that we’re facing — for example, cruise and hypersonic missiles, ballistic and intercontinental missiles we’re seeing — we know that integrated air and missile defence systems [are needed] for North America. Canada and the United States have a shared responsibility to build a strong system of protection from such threats for all of North America. And through our investments [outlined in] Our North, Strong and Free, our previous investments through Strong, Secure, Engaged, and the NORAD modernization investments, Canada’s quite prepared to step up and do its part in defending the continent.
I think the United States is concerned about their security. They don’t want to have that line of defence at the 49th parallel. And so I think Canada represents a significant opportunity for the United States and an opportunity for Canada as well, because when we go to do that important work in defending North America and Canada from any potential adversarial threat, it also gives us an opportunity to invest in our North and invest in our northern communities and indigenous communities, and to really help build a stronger nation for ourselves.
LOOKING AHEAD
CDR: Finally, what are your goals for the Department of National Defence in 2025?
Minister Blair As I’ve indicated to you, I’m very encouraged by the renewed sense of optimism and confidence and resolve that I’m seeing from the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces. They know they’ve got a big job to do.
They have also been greatly encouraged. There’s been a conversation in Canada about the need to invest in defence, and I think Canadians have really come to the realization that these are necessary expenditures, but they want to make sure that we do it right. And so, the Canadian Armed Forces and the Department of National Defence and I all take our responsibility to Canadians very seriously that we’ve got to answer the call. We’ve got to make sure that we build a strong and resilient Canada, a defendable Canada. We’ve got to live up to our international obligations. And to do that, we’ve got to make investments in our military capability.
Canadians expect us to make those investments in a very responsible way. They want results, but they also want to make sure that their money is spent well. And so, the Canadian Armed Forces and the Department of National Defence, and I recognize our responsibility to Canadians to make those investments and to deliver on our obligations; first of all, to our own country, but also to our international partners that Canada will do its part in maintaining global peace and security for all of our partners. But we’re also very mindful of our responsibility. We work first and foremost for Canadians, and that’s the work that we are undertaking to do.
I think we’re off to a good start, but we also acknowledge we’ve got a ton of work to do, and we’re going to do that work. We’re not going to be able to get that job done without the right people with the right skill sets, the right leadership, [and] the right resources in order to deliver for Canadians.
So, there’s a lot of work ahead of us, but I see the quality of leadership that exists within the Canadian Armed Forces and the Department of National Defence, and I see the support that Canadians are demonstrating for that work. It gives me great confidence that we’re on the right track. We’ve got lots of work to do, and we’re going to get the job done.
James Careless is CDR’s Ottawa Bureau Chief
