Overview
- Prime Minister Mark Carney announced roughly C$32 billion to upgrade Forward Operating Locations in Yellowknife, Inuvik and Iqaluit, plus the Deployed Operating Base at 5 Wing Goose Bay, including airfields, hangars, fuel and ammunition storage, housing and IT systems.
- An additional C$2.67 billion will establish four Northern Operational Support Hubs and two smaller nodes, with major hubs in Whitehorse and Resolute and nodes in Cambridge Bay and Rankin Inlet, complementing existing hubs in Yellowknife, Iqaluit and Inuvik.
- Ottawa referred four northern infrastructure projects to the federal Major Projects Office for accelerated review: the Mackenzie Valley Highway, the Grays Bay Road and Port, the Arctic Economic and Security Corridor and the Taltson Hydro Expansion Project.
- The plan also sets aside C$294 million to upgrade Inuvik Airport and modernize Rankin Inlet Airport to handle larger aircraft for civilian and military use.
- Carney is in Norway observing NATO’s Cold Response exercises with allied leaders, underscoring Arctic interoperability as he declares Canada will no longer depend on any one nation to defend its northern sovereignty.