Bill Blair is sworn in as Canada’s minister of national defense as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau looks on at Rideau Hall in Ontario, Canada.
THE WATCH STAFF
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has turned to a former Toronto police chief to be his new minister of national defense at a critical time in his country’s joint effort with the United States to modernize the binational North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
Trudeau appointed Bill Blair on July 26, replacing Anita Anand, who now leads the country’s Treasury Board.
Blair told the Canadian Broadcast Corp. (CBC) shortly after his appointment that NORAD improvements are a priority for the Trudeau administration.
“We’ve made huge commitments to NORAD modernization,” he said.
In 2021, the United States and Canada announced plans to upgrade NORAD to better detect threats from cruise missiles to drones and quickly transfer data from its sensors to weapon systems in real time using advanced machine learning and artificial intelligence.
In his 2023 Congressional testimony to the House Armed Services Committee, Gen. Glen D. VanHerck, commander of NORAD and U.S Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), has said the existing sensor network needs to stay abreast of increasingly sophisticated threats to the homeland.
In June 2022, Canada announced it will spend almost $30 billion over the next two decades for NORAD modernization.
Blair, 69, served as police chief in Canada’s largest city from 2005 to 2015 before being elected to Parliament. As a member of Trudeau’s Cabinet, he recently led the effort to combat the historic forest fires that have ravaged the country this year.
In that role as Emergency Preparedness minister, Blair proposed a “NORAD-like” model of coordinated response to natural disasters like the fires, which produced smoke that drifted across much of the United States this summer. He spoke to U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency officials about the concept, he told the CBC.
Blair also told the CBC that Canada is on the path to meeting its NATO commitment to devote at least 2% of its GDP to defense.
Trudeau recently reaffirmed Canada’s commitment to meeting that spending threshold, he said.
Canada has increased defense spending by 40% since 2017. Canada is also the fifth-largest contributor to NATO and maintains a battle group in Latvia, he told the CBC.
“It’s a very significant investment and commitment that we’re making, I think, in many respects, Canada punches above its weight,” Blair said.
On July 31, Blair spoke with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Afterward, he posted on social media that “the United States is our closest friend and ally. …We discussed our work to modernize NORAD, support Ukraine, stand with our allies and promote a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific.”
And in an online posting to ministry employees, Blair outlined his agenda.
“I look forward to working with many of you to implement Canada’s NORAD Modernization Plan, to deliver new equipment for the Canadian Army, Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Canadian Air Force, and to release Canada’s Defence Policy Update in the coming months. In addition, we must and will take new, innovative measures to recruit and retain even more talented Canadians in this institution,” he wrote.