Official Hansard
Mr. Speaker, because this is the first time I have had an opportunity to address the House with respect to the incidents that occurred this past weekend, I want to say a few things about the tragedy that occurred in Wainwright. On Saturday afternoon, at CFB Wainwright, a violent, fast-moving fire broke out while soldiers were training on the range. Thirty-nine members of the Canadian Armed Forces were injured, including 19 critically, and four lost their lives: Private Aidan Goulding of the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, from North Vancouver, British Columbia; Private Shaun Farrell of the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan; Private Hayden Lykkemark of the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, from Langley, British Columbia; and Sergeant Morgan Wong of the Loyal Edmonton Regiment, from Edmonton, Alberta. Canada will remember them. This is one of the most difficult moments the Canadian Armed Forces has faced at home in peacetime. Yesterday, I met with Canadian Armed Forces members and first responders and received an update from CAF leadership on the ongoing response. Our priority remains the well-being of the families of the fallen and those who remain hospitalized. As of this moment, 27 members of the Canadian Armed Forces are still in hospital receiving treatment. I want to take a moment to thank all of the health care workers in our hospitals, our surgeons, our nurses and our critical care experts for the support they are providing to these incredibly brave members of the Canadian Armed Forces. In particular, I would like to single out those whom I met yesterday at the hospital in Wainwright, the men and the women who performed heroically throughout the crisis. It was indeed a crisis. In the face of profound loss, they have shown extraordinary strength, compassion and care for one another. We will continue to stand with them and their families and ensure that they have the support they need. Let me now turn to the legislation before us and explain why our government is taking action to strengthen Canada’s defence sector. I do rise today in support of Bill C-40, the strengthening Canada’s defence sector act. This is a defining moment for Canada’s security and sovereignty. Threats are evolving rapidly. Technology is changing the nature of conflict, so we and our allies must adapt to a new reality. Canada must be ready. We need to strengthen our military capabilities, modernize our institutions and ensure that our investments produce concrete results. That is exactly what the bill seeks to do. At the heart of every decision we make in national defence are the women and men who serve the country. I have had the privilege of meeting them on bases and wings across Canada, aboard our ships and alongside our allies overseas. Wherever I go, I am reminded of the extraordinary professionalism, determination and sense of duty that define our Canadian Armed Forces. We ask a great deal of these Canadians, as we have all been witness to this past weekend. We ask them to defend our sovereignty in the Arctic, to stand alongside our NATO allies in Europe, to respond when Canadians face wildfires, floods and natural disasters, and when necessary, to put themselves in harm’s way. They answer that call without hesitation. Behind every member in uniform is a family that serves alongside them, families that endure long separations, repeated moves and sacrifices of their own. When we ask that much of our people, we have a responsibility to give them the tools they need to succeed, because readiness is not an abstract concept; it is whether a sailor can depend on the ship beneath their feet, whether an aviator has the capabilities needed to complete the mission, whether a soldier has the equipment and protection necessary to return home safely. We owe these Canadians more than our gratitude. We owe them those results, and delivering those results begins with ensuring that our defence procurement system works for the people who actually depend on it. Canada is making generational investments in national defence. This is irrefutable. We reached NATO’s 2% defence spending target in fiscal year 2025-26, five years ahead of our previous scheduled commitment. Budget 2025 committed approximately $81.8 billion in additional defence funding over five years. We are rebuilding, rearming and reinvesting in our national defence. As I have said before and will repeat again here, investing more is only part of the job. We must also change how we deliver, because money committed is not capability delivered. A contract signed does not put equipment in the hands of a service member. An announcement cannot defend our airspace, patrol our oceans or protect our sovereignty. Only real military capability can do that. For too long, Canada’s defence procurement system has been too fragmented, too complex and too slow, with too many steps, too many hand-offs and too much time between identifying what our armed forces need and getting that capability into their hands. That is not a reflection of the talented military personnel, public servants and procurement professionals who work within the system, but a reflection of a system that must simply evolve. The world is not going to wait for us to do just that, pursue that evolution. That brings us to the legislation before the House. The Defence Investment Agency was established in October 2025 to transform how Canada acquires and delivers defence capabilities. Bill C-40 would take that transformation even further. It would establish the agency as a Crown corporation within the national defence portfolio, giving it a permanent structure, greater commercial flexibility and the specialized expertise needed to manage complex defence investments. This is not simply about creating another institution, as some would have us believe, but about fundamentally improving how we deliver for our armed forces, bringing procurement, production and investment together, connecting military requirements with the industrial capacity needed to meet them and ensuring that decisions can be made with the speed and discipline that national security demands. Acquiring equipment is only one part of the challenge. We must also be able to maintain it, repair it, replenish it and sustain it throughout its operational life. Bill C-40 would provide broader procurement and investment tools, including mechanisms to help strengthen production capacity in strategically important areas. It would also amend the Defence Production Act to better reflect Canada’s evolving national security requirements, including economic security. It would support a more coordinated approach to major defence acquisitions. The Canadian Armed Forces, National Defence and the Canadian Coast Guard would continue to determine what capabilities they need. The Defence Investment Agency would focus on getting those capabilities delivered. The proposed agency would remain subject to appropriate government and parliamentary oversight, with clear governance and accountability arrangements. Canadians expect their government to move with urgency. They also expect responsible spending and value for money. We can do both, we must do both, and in Bill C-40 we will do both. Canada has never been a country that turned away from difficult challenges. Generations of Canadians have stepped forward to build, serve and defend this country. They built the institutions that protect us. They served in conflicts far from home. They understood that sovereignty, security and freedom could never be taken for granted. Today, that responsibility belongs to us. We have inherited it. As a result, we are making the investments. We are strengthening our armed forces. We are rebuilding our defence industrial capacity. We launched Canada’s first ever defence industrial strategy a short 10 months ago. Now we must ensure that our institutions can deliver at the pace this moment demands because it is accelerating. The measure of our commitment to national defence is not simply what we promise, but what we build, deliver and sustain, and whether the women and men who serve Canada can count on us when it matters most. They are ready to serve. We must be ready to deliver. Bill C-40 takes the process of procurement to its next logical step, building on our experience to be able to provide the equipment, the materiel that is required by the women and men on the front lines of the Canadian Armed Forces, because ultimately we are here for them as they acquit themselves courageously of their responsibilities as members of the Canadian Armed Forces.
