‘The Arctic is our biggest vulnerability. We have to do more.’

“The area that I need to do the most work in is the Arctic. What northerners taught me is that means an investment in infrastructure.”

That’s defence minister Bill Blair’s assessment of how Canada’s increasing focus on Arctic security can help the Northwest Territories to replace and upgrade the ageing infrastructure that’s causing governments increasing headaches.

What does that really look like, though?

Under a new defence policy promising more than $70 billion in nationwide spending over the next 20 years, how much is coming north and what will it buy?

Blair appeared on Cabin Radio to set out what the North can expect.

“We need to be more persistently present in the Arctic,” he said, describing a need to build five “northern support hubs” in communities yet to be decided. Each hub will require upgrades that can drive construction jobs, he said, and hubs can then share the resulting infrastructure with locals.

“The area that I need to do the most work in is the Arctic. What northerners taught me is that means an investment in infrastructure,” said Blair.

He acknowledged there is “nothing in the defence policy update” that directly speaks to the NWT’s highest-priority projects, like the Mackenzie Valley Highway connecting the Beaufort Delta to Yellowknife by road through the Sahtu.

Arctic defence means building Mackenzie Valley Highway, Sahtu says

More generally, he said, the new “persistent presence” mantra “means we have to build the infrastructure required to support it” – and means a bigger armed forces presence in the North personnel-wise, too.

“Because of climate change and the actions of certain adversaries, the Arctic is perhaps Canada’s greatest point of vulnerability,” he said. “We have to do more there.”

Listen to Blair’s full interview on the Cabin Talks podcast, in which the minister is asked what will tangibly change in the North through the defence update, and what communities need to know about the “northern hub” plan. The interview also examines how Canada plans to recruit at least 16,000 more members of the military.

Want to get the show on another podcast platform? You can find it on Spotify, Apple, Google, iHeartRadio and Amazon Music.

Conservatives, meanwhile, welcomed the Liberal government’s focus on the Arctic but urged immediate action.

The party’s northern affairs critic, Fort Nelson and Fort St John MP Bob Zimmer, said he was “pleased to see, finally, that the Arctic is being taken seriously at least in word” by the Liberal government.

“Now we need to see money and actions follow those words,” Zimmer said.

“Even a couple of years ago, they talked about Norad modernization … nothing’s really happened.

“What they’ve said is, ‘Look, you just need to re-elect us. You’ve already put us into power for almost nine years, now, but you need to give us another 20 to really get things done.’ That’s just unacceptable.”