YELLOWKNIFE — Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday the government is putting an additional $32 billion into military forward operating locations in Yellowknife, Inuvik and Iqaluit and Deployed Operating Base 5 Wing in Goose Bay, Nfld.
The prime minister made the announcement in Yellowknife on Thursday before taking off for a planned visit to Norway.
The $32 billion is part of Canada’s 2022 commitment to Norad’s modernization, which at the time included plans to spend $38.6 billion over 20 years. The Norad spending includes the purchase of two over-the-horizon radar modules.
A senior government official briefing reporters said the government envisions getting the work on the bases done over the next 10 years or so.
The new funding for base infrastructure includes plans to improve airfields and to build or repurpose hangars, ammunition compounds, fuel facilities and housing.
The official said that all of these bases will be able to accommodate fighter jets — including F-35s.
The announcement includes $2.67 billion for four new remote operating hubs across the North to assist with rapid deployment.
The two main Northern Operation Support Hubs will be built in Whitehorse and Resolute, Nunavut. The government says they will include airstrips, logistics facilities and critical supplies to enable faster military responses.
They will complement three previously announced hubs in Yellowknife, Iqaluit and Inuvik.
The two smaller facilities, referred to as Northern Operation Support Nodes, will be built in Cambridge Bay and Rankin Inlet, Nunavut. The government says they will be able to provide the same response services as the larger hubs, but at a smaller scale.
The government is also putting a combined $294 million into revitalization efforts at the Rankin Inlet and Inuvik airports.
Carney is also referring four northern “national interest” projects to the federal major projects office for accelerated approval.
They include the Mackenzie Valley Highway, which will connect Yellowknife and Inuvik. This road will be about 1,200 kilometres long and is expected to serve as an all-season economic corridor in the region.
Carney is expected to forward three other projects — the Grays Bay Road, the Arctic Economic and Security Corridor and the Taltson Hydro Expansion Project — to the major projects office.
The Grays Bay Road is expected to extend from the Nunavut border with the Northwest Territories to a deepwater port in Gray’s Bay on the Arctic Ocean.
The Arctic Economic and Security Corridor would be a 400-kilometre road through the Slave Geological Province to the Nunavut border, where it would link with the Grays Bay Road. A specific route for this road is still being determined.
The Northwest Territories government is proposing the Taltson Hydro Expansion Project, a 60-megawatt project that would double the territory’s hydroelectricity capacity.
The senior official said that building up power projects is key to supporting expanded CAF operations.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 12, 2026.
David Baxter, The Canadian Press
