Canada faces a future in which national prosperity and sovereignty depend on how effectively we harness the regions best positioned to deliver results. The federal commitment to increase defence spending to $62.7 billion next year, and $150 billion by 2035, signals a shift in how the country prepares for a more contested world.<\/p>\n
Meeting this commitment will require leveraging regional strength.<\/p>\n
In Western Canada, that strength exists. The Edmonton region \u2014 with its research-intensive post-secondary sector, international airport, proximity to major military bases, and Canada\u2019s largest energy and manufacturing cluster \u2014 is capable of advancing Canada\u2019s security, economic resilience, and sovereignty. It stands as Western Canada\u2019s hub for defence.<\/p>\n
In support of Prime Minister Mark Carney\u2019s vision to strengthen domestic production, secure supply chains and equip the Canadian Armed Forces with greater independence, the Edmonton Region Defence Alliance (ERDA)<\/a> is a co-ordinated partnership aligning industry, academia, and government to unify Western Canada\u2019s defence manufacturing capacity, accelerate innovation, and integrate regional firms into national and allied supply chains.<\/p>\n No region is better positioned than Edmonton. It is the closest major city to the North and the gateway to Canada\u2019s Arctic \u2014\u00a0 an area of increasing importance as competition expands. CFB Edmonton, CFB Wainwright and 4 Wing Cold Lake place nearly 12,000 personnel on the doorstep of Alberta\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n The Edmonton International Airport is the planned location of the Western Main Operating Base (MOB-West) for the Royal Canadian Air Force\u2019s CC-330 Husky fleet, extending defence operations for CFB Edmonton, CFB Wainwright and 4 Wing Cold Lake, and strengthening our position as the gateway to the North. YEG, the largest Canadian airport by land area, is also a leader in remotely piloted aerial systems and advanced air mobility.<\/p>\n Alberta\u2019s Industrial Heartland has decades of strength \u2014 from engineering and fabrication to construction and precision manufacturing \u2014 that align directly with Canada\u2019s defence needs. The region provides the materials, expertise, and capacity required to produce and maintain advanced systems. Many of the country\u2019s energy and manufacturing firms have already rooted themselves here, creating a strong foundation for defence-sector growth.<\/p>\n The University of Alberta and the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) continue to educate and equip the nation\u2019s youngest, fastest-growing talent pool. Already one of Canada\u2019s largest skilled trades training providers and a top three applied research college nationally, NAIT is positioned as the regional anchor for scaling domestic defence workforce capability.<\/p>\n The institute will equip the workforce needed to build, maintain, and modernize defence infrastructure, strengthen supply chains, and support sovereign defence through workforce initiatives and innovation aligned to economic growth and defence sector investment opportunities.<\/p>\n As the province\u2019s bedrock of innovation, the U of A brings an international reputation as an artificial intelligence powerhouse. It is designated as a NATO Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) test centre, and is home to Canada\u2019s only university research centre dedicated to defence and dual-use technologies: the Centre for Applied Research in Dual-use Defence Technologies (CARDD-Tech).<\/p>\n By collaborating with industry and Canadian Armed Forces end users, CARDD-Tech drives the development of components, systems and solutions that strengthen national security.<\/p>\n Underpinning these strengths is Edmonton Global, the region\u2019s business development agency, which will leverage the region\u2019s assets, bringing together talent, technology, and manufacturing strength. Edmonton Global bolsters the region\u2019s value proposition in advanced manufacturing, AI, autonomous systems, robotics, and energy infrastructure. The alliance ensures the region shows up as investment-ready and globally competitive \u2014 a win for the entire country.<\/p>\n The Edmonton region demonstrates what is possible when economic development, industry and post-secondary operate as an ecosystem. And it\u2019s already happening: the Edmonton region is leading in the upkeep and upgrading of the equipment our country relies on.<\/p>\n For example, KNDS Deutschland has established its regional maintenance centre in Nisku to provide long-term sustainment for the Leopard 2 family of vehicles, centring the maintenance of Canada\u2019s main battle tanks in the region. This strategic hub ensures the fleet\u2019s operational readiness, creates nearly 300 jobs and injects tens of millions into the local economy annually.<\/p>\n With companies able to prototype quickly, universities developing new materials and smart diagnostics, and local firms supporting major defence contractors, the region has the expertise to keep Canada\u2019s assets reliable, modern and in Canadian hands.<\/p>\n The question is not whether the Edmonton region can contribute, but whether the country will leverage what we already deliver. The region has the geography, the expertise and the partners required to anchor a sovereign defence ecosystem.<\/p>\n Now we must build on this strength, deepen collaboration and align national investment with those places demonstrating results.<\/p>\n Mark Plamondon is executive director, Alberta\u2019s Industrial Heartland. Letters welcome<\/p>\n We invite you to write letters to the editor. A maximum of 150 words is preferred. Letters must carry a first and last name, or two initials and a last name, and include an address and daytime telephone number. All letters are subject to editing. We don\u2019t publish letters addressed to others or sent to other publications. Email:\u00a0letters@edmontonjournal.com<\/a><\/p>\n Bookmark our website and support our journalism:\u00a0Don\u2019t miss the news you need to know \u2014 add\u00a0EdmontonJournal.com<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0EdmontonSun.com<\/a>\u00a0to your bookmarks and\u00a0sign up for our newsletters here<\/a>.<\/p>\n You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribers gain unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today:\u00a0The Edmonton Journal<\/a>\u00a0|The Edmonton Sun<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canada faces a future in which national prosperity and sovereignty depend on how effectively we harness the regions…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":562961,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[49,48,38881,217327,217329,217328,217330,23752,209907,13845],"class_list":["post-562960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-armed-forces","tag-cfb-edmonton","tag-cfb-wainwright","tag-defence-manufacturing","tag-defence-operations","tag-edmonton","tag-edmonton-region","tag-western-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562960","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=562960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/562961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=562960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=562960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=562960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Daryn Edgar is CEO of Edmonton Global.
James Jackson is vice-president, Air Service and Business Development, Edmonton International Airport.
Peter Leclaire is vice-president, academic, Northern Alberta Institute of Technology.
Bill Flanagan is president and vice-chancellor, University of Alberta.<\/p>\n