Carney announces $40 billion for Northern defence and infrastructure<\/p>\n
Published 8:07 pm Thursday, March 12, 2026<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Mark Carney flew to Yellowknife on March 12 to announce $40 billion of investments to \u201cdefend and transform\u201d Canada\u2019s North.<\/p>\n
Part of that transformation will be the construction of the Mackenzie Valley Highway, beginning this summer.<\/p>\n
Phase one will include a road of more than 800 km from Wrigley to Norman Wells. Phase two will continue the highway to Inuvik.<\/p>\n
The government also plans to construct a deep-water port in Grays Bay in Nunavut, and a 230-km, all-season road that will connect Grays Bay to the NWT\u2019s border. Moreover, it will refer to the federal Major Projects Office a 400-km all-season road through the Slave Geological Province, known as the Arctic Economic and Security Corridor, connecting Nunavut to Yellowknife and the wider North.<\/p>\n
To supply adequate energy in the North, Carney said, \u201cWe are going to unlock the North\u2019s enormous hydro-power.\u201d<\/p>\n
The prime minister said the Iqaluit Nukkiksautiit hydro project will save nearly $2 billion in diesel fuel costs over the next 50 years.<\/p>\n
Similarly, a new, Taltson hydro expansion project will add 60 megawatts, doubling NWT capacity, and it will link 11 communities, providing power to 70 per cent of the territory\u2019s population.<\/p>\n
He referred to this as \u201ca series of transformative initiatives that will help unlock the full potential of this vast region.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking during a press conference at the Department of National Defence building for 440 Transport Squadron, Carney stated that Ottawa\u2019s plans include the construction of Northern military operational support hubs in Whitehorse, Resolute Bay, Rankin Inlet and Cambridge Bay. He also emphasized that Canada will upgrade the national defence infrastructure of Yellowknife, Inuvik, Iqaluit and Goose Bay, N.L.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese locations are at the heart of our mission to defend our territory,\u201d he said, adding that these hubs will allow Canada to deploy personnel and aircraft across Canada\u2019s Arctic.<\/p>\n
NWT Premier R.J. Simpson said these major infrastructure projects \u201cwill reshape transportation, energy and economic opportunity in the North and help define Canada\u2019s Arctic for generations.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNow that the work is about to begin. I encourage residents, businesses, and communities across the Northwest Territories to roll up their sleeves and take part in building the next chapter of our territory\u2019s future,\u201d Simpson said. \u201cThese efforts will only succeed through strong partnership. Indigenous governments and organizations have been leaders and advocates for responsible development in the North, and their close collaboration will continue to be essential as these projects move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
The prime minister, who was born in Fort Smith, said the infrastructure projects, separate from the defence initiatives, represent $10 billion of investment and will create 10,000 new jobs during their construction.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen John Diefenbaker, all those years ago, set out to re-imagine the North, he rightly envisioned that it required more than a stronger economy; it required a more secure border, but ultimately it required a future where Canadians have control of their own destiny,\u201d said Carney. \u201cAnd today we are taking major steps to realize that vision, to take control, and to build the true North, strong and free, together.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Carney announces $40 billion for Northern defence and infrastructure Published 8:07 pm Thursday, March 12, 2026 By Kody…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":532960,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194299],"tags":[49,48,87674],"class_list":{"0":"post-532959","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-surrey","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-surrey"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=532959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/532960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}