Finding domestic workers may hamper progress on new defence industrial strategy

Although the current budget allocates considerable funding to support defence-related employment priorities, the new strategy is “very much focused on the skilled trades” employment sector. Photo by GRAHAM HUGHES/AFP via Getty Images

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The Canadian government’s $82-billion defence industrial strategy has widely been applauded by those in the industry, but some who have scrutinized the plan say a key vulnerability is the uncertainty around whether there are enough skilled workers to deliver on the plan.

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Prime Minister Mark Carney in February said the plan “ensures Canada remains a sovereign nation, in charge of its own destiny” and that it envisions “pursuing a long-term, whole-of-government approach to strengthening the defence industrial base.”

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The plan centred on deepening workforce development, indicating the government intends to “pursue a comprehensive Canada Defence Skills Agenda” focused on four core priorities: building the talent pipeline, investing in defence sector skills, growing the skilled labour supply and partnering with other levels of government to deliver defence skills.

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Wark said the strategy aims to “more than double the current defence workforce, and this is one of many hugely ambitious efforts.”

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The skills agenda portion of the strategy calls for a “strong Canadian industrial base” that has the domestic capacity to build equipment the military needs. This, according to the plan, “will require tens of thousands of trained new workers to fill the high-paying skilled jobs that will be created.”

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Despite the ambitious workforce goals presented in the strategy, defence policy specialist Philippe Lagassé, a professor with the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University, said the plan “underplays just how much of a challenge it’s going to be.”

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He said a central aspect of the skills agenda involves “retraining people from one sector to another, and that’s no small feat.”

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Due to personal and family considerations that are often involved in deciding whether to relocate for work, Lagassé said the government “can’t just assume that you’re going to be able to uproot people from one community, where there might be unemployment, and move them somewhere else.”

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The strategy refers to specific components of the 2025 budget that are dedicated to spurring major expansion in the domestic defence labour force.

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For example, a new strategic response fund commits $5 billion over six years “to help firms in all sectors and regions impacted by tariffs to adapt, diversify, and grow.”

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Another defence workforce budget initiative carves out $383 million over five years to connect employers, unions and industry groups “to work on ways to help businesses and workers succeed in the changing labour market.”

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Although the current budget allocates considerable funding to support defence-related employment priorities, Lagassé said the new strategy is “very much focused on the skilled trades” employment sector.