Budget a ‘step forward’ for North American defences
$163M earmarked for what government calls NORAD modernization
OTTAWA — It was only a few lines in the federal budget, and the money involved represents a rounding error in the overall scheme of things.
For defence officials and experts who have been sounding the alarm about North America’s aging defences in an increasingly turbulent world, however, it represented an important step: the first real funding to update the North American Aerospace Defence Command.
Yet there remain many unanswered questions, including what that those new defences will look like, how fast they will be built — and whether the rest of the money required to finish the project will be available when needed.
“This is a step forward,” said University of Manitoba professor James Fergusson, one of Canada’s top experts on NORAD. “There was some money. It’s not very much, but at least the government has started to move. The question becomes: How pressing is all this?”
The federal budget unveiled Monday included more than $100 billion in new spending over the next few years. Of that, $163 million has been earmarked for what the government calls NORAD modernization.
“This funding will enable the enhancement of all-domain surveillance of our northern approaches and renewed investment in continental defence more broadly,” Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan’s spokesperson Daniel Minden said.
“Our government is determined to develop better surveillance, defence and rapid-response capabilities in the north and in Canada’s maritime and air approaches. We are currently evaluating further NORAD modernization initiatives, which will be announced when finalized.”
The U.S. and Canada created NORAD in the 1950s to protect North America from a Soviet nuclear attack. Strings of radars and airbases were built to detect and stop incoming missiles and bombers.Yet military officials and experts have been cautioning in loud voices about the state of the current system, which includes a string of radars built in Canada’s far north in the 1980s called the North Warning System.