Federal Defence Minister David McGuinty and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith highlighted more than $8 billion in ongoing federal defence spending in Alberta at CFB Edmonton on Wednesday, less than two weeks before Albertans vote on the province’s future in Confederation. The two presented the investments as evidence of Alberta’s importance to Canada’s security and of a changed working relationship between Ottawa and the province. Smith urged Albertans to vote to remain in Canada in the Oct. 19 referendum.

McGuinty spoke before soldiers and an unfurled Canadian flag, with Smith and Matt Generoux, the MP for South Edmonton, beside him. He credited Alberta’s railway, road, pipeline and industrial work since the province joined Confederation in 1905. “When Canada called, Albertans put on the uniform. Alberta has always been where Canada comes to renew its ambition, where big projects meet bold ideas,” he said. “This is the province that reminds Canada how to think big, how to build big, how to turn natural advantages into national strength.”

McGuinty said Confederation was “not an accident, it was a choice,” renewed from one generation to the next through what Canadians do for one another, particularly during wartime. Asked about the referendum, he said, “We’re not being distracted. We’re moving forward.” He said Wednesday’s visit was his fifth to Alberta in 14 months, adding, “This isn’t random,” and, “It’s the execution of a plan we’ve been devising and working on for some time.”

The spending will modernize and expand facilities at CFB Edmonton, Cold Lake, Suffield and Wainwright, Alberta’s four main defence sites. A $4-billion project at CFB Cold Lake, Canada’s largest fighter base, will add a fighter squadron facility and support future fighter capabilities. Another $750 million is allocated to CFB Suffield for a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear laboratory and assessment centre, while $582 million is designated for upkeep across the four sites.

A further $550 million will establish a western operating base for the Canadian Air Force’s CC-330 Husky air-to-air refuelling fleet. McGuinty said the planes could be deployed for Canadian and Arctic operations as well as Nordic purposes. He also described maintenance as part of military preparedness: “Maintenance may not make headlines, but readiness does.”

McGuinty pointed to a changing international security environment as a reason Canada needs Alberta’s support. “The world around us has changed. War has returned to Europe. Our Arctic is becoming more accessible and more contested technologies that barely existed a generation ago … (are) changing the character of conflict at extraordinary speed,” he said. “Patriotism is good. We hope to see patriotism around the country,” he added. “I think there’s a new wind blowing in Canada. People are concerned. (They) want to make sure we remain secure and sovereign.”

Smith said the federal investment could generate an estimated 38,000 jobs and showed Ottawa was responding to Albertans’ concerns. “There seems to be a real recognition on the part of the federal government to identify the issues that have caused concerns to Albertans and to address them in a meaningful way,” she said. She called the spending a “generational investment” that puts Alberta at the forefront of air defence and said the announcement also demonstrated that the province and Ottawa could work together.

“Obviously we want to demonstrate that there’s a new day in the relationship between Canada and Alberta … Announcements that we’ve made on infrastructure, those are all a demonstration that things have changed,” Smith told reporters. She also said the upgrades would strengthen Alberta’s role alongside the Canadian Armed Forces. “The men and women who serve on these bases are not only proud Canadians, but also proud Albertans.”

Smith said the relationship reflected “a spirit of co-operative federalism” that differed from the situation about 18 months earlier. She said she hoped the announcements would give voters more confidence to remain in Canada on Oct. 19. The ballot has 10 questions, including whether Alberta should remain a Canadian province or hold a separate, binding referendum on leaving the country.

Mount Royal University political science professor Lori Williams said the investment builds on Alberta’s military history amid Canada’s international commitments, including aid to Ukraine. She said the projects would expand military capacity and add jobs, while also supporting monitoring and surveillance as international challenges emerge. “It builds on existing infrastructure to develop Canada’s capacity to manage some of the emerging international challenges, both militarily and just in terms of monitoring and surveillance,” she told CTV News Edmonton.

Williams said the timing, less than two weeks before the vote, was a “consideration.” She described the announcement as part of a series of federal efforts to make co-operative federalism work and use Ottawa’s spending power to support economic growth, sovereignty and partnerships with provincial governments. Asked whether the investments could change referendum votes, she said, “maybe.” “Might be for those soft separatists, those ‘send a message’ separatists. This might be enough to change their vote,” she said. She added, “The reality is that on a number of fronts, the majority of Albertans support not just staying in Canada, but a better relationship with the rest of Canada.”

David Bercuson, former director of the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary, said Alberta has been central to Canadian defence since the Cold Lake fighter base opened around the Cold War. He said cash was needed to build up forces in the West after deep cuts left reserve forces short of funding. “We fell way behind. We’re still flying fighter jets that belong in the 1980s,” he said. The equipment plans for municipalities have not been announced, but Bercuson said Edmonton’s Canadian Forces Base could see major changes and expansions in housing and capacity.

Nicole Butler, western Canada defence lead at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, called Alberta’s growing military role positive for the economy and Canada’s international standing, regardless of the referendum result. “I think this is a good indication for these local companies that, yes, the government and the military is taking investment in our military, but as well Alberta, very seriously,” she said. “It would be a huge deal, not only for Edmonton but for Alberta and western Canada in general … It would bring jobs. It would bring growth.”

Based on reporting by CTV News Edmonton, Edmonton Journal and Global News Edmonton.