McGuinty pitches $8 billion in Alberta defence spending at CFB Edmonton as Smith calls separatists’ reported offer to the U.S. ‘absurd’

Defence Minister David McGuinty came to Canadian Forces Base Edmonton on Wednesday to highlight roughly $8 billion in ongoing military investments in Alberta, with Premier Danielle Smith standing beside him and less than two weeks to go before Albertans vote on whether it is time to quit Confederation, The Canadian Press reported via CBC News. The Department of National Defence said the visit was meant to show how investments to “rebuild, rearm and reinvest” in the Canadian Armed Forces will benefit Alberta’s defence industry and local economies.

According to the department, the ongoing investments include nearly $4 billion to support future fighter capabilities at CFB Cold Lake, $750 million for a new Chemical and Biological Laboratory and Blast Assessment Centre at CFB Suffield, $550 million to establish the western operating base for the Royal Canadian Air Force’s CC-330 Husky fleet, and more than $580 million over the next three years for maintenance and repair work at bases in Alberta. Ottawa estimates the spending will support about 29,000 to 38,000 jobs in the province over the next five to 10 years.

McGuinty framed the money as part of a larger national bargain. “Confederation was not an accident,” he told the crowd assembled in a training facility at the base. “It’s a bargain of reciprocity, and that bargain is tested most profoundly when the country is called to defend itself.” He said the announcement was not random and reflected the urgency of building up the forces. “We’re not simply rebuilding bases,” he said. “We’re rebuilding Canadian military power — hard power.”

Smith said the funding bolsters Alberta’s place at the forefront of defence and agreed the event was also about showing that her province and Ottawa can work together. “Hopefully these kinds of announcements will give people more and more confidence to vote to remain on Oct. 19,” she said. She added that the two governments have been collaborating “for some time” to use existing military assets in Alberta to help meet Ottawa’s target of spending five per cent of gross domestic product on defence by 2035.

The minister also announced that Ottawa is reopening the Defence Drone Initiative Marketplace request for supply arrangement, which lets more Canadian companies pre-qualify to supply autonomous systems to National Defence; 30 Alberta-based companies have qualified so far, the department said. On behalf of Eleanor Olszewski, the minister responsible for Prairies Economic Development Canada, he announced more than $8 million for seven Alberta projects through PrairiesCan programs, including the Regional Defence Investment Initiative. Defence spending contributed about $1.3 billion to Alberta’s economy in 2024-25, and about 10,300 Canadian Armed Forces members live and work in the province, according to the department.

The Husky money is tied to a fleet that is replacing the CC-150 Polaris. The new fleet will comprise nine aircraft, a mix of four new and five used Airbus A330-200s, used for in-flight refuelling, troop and cargo airlift, medical evacuations and transport of government officials, according to the Strategic Tanker Transport Capability project page. CFB Trenton in Ontario will be the eastern main operating base, while the page says negotiations are under way with Edmonton International Airport for the western base.

At the same Edmonton news conference, Smith called it “absurd” and “ridiculous” for prominent separatists to offer the U.S. government access to fresh water and resource royalties in exchange for help establishing an independent Alberta, CBC News reported. The offer was reported Saturday by the Globe and Mail, which said Dennis Modry, co-founder of the Alberta Prosperity Project, described it; Jeff Rath, a lawyer with the separatist movement, denied to the newspaper that those matters were discussed. CBC said it has not independently confirmed the details. Separatists met three times with U.S. State Department officials in Washington in late 2025.

“I think it’s absurd that anybody would offer something like that up that’s not theirs to offer,” Smith said. “It’s a decision that Albertans would make, and I don’t think Albertans would support it.” She did not answer a question about whether she had encouraged U.S. involvement by putting the independence question on the ballot, saying instead that the people involved in the meetings are critics of hers because she plans to vote to stay in Canada. “We expect that the American administration will deal with the duly elected governments,” she said. “That includes mine, but it also includes the government of Canada.”

Smith is putting 10 questions to voters on Oct. 19, including proposals on immigration and constitutional reform. The key question asks whether Alberta should remain in Canada or begin the legal process toward a second, binding referendum on leaving the country.

Sources: National Defence news release (Oct. 7, 2026); The Canadian Press via CBC News (Oct. 7, 2026); CBC News: Smith on separatists’ reported offer (Oct. 7, 2026); National Defence: Strategic Tanker Transport Capability project.