Ford announces new defence strategy as Ottawa and Toronto vie to be home of new defence bank

Premier Doug Ford said at an Ottawa conference that Toronto should host a global defence bank but thinks Ottawa would still benefit. CTV’s Dylan Dyson reports.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford was in Ottawa Thursday announcing a new strategy for the province’s defence industry.

Speaking at the CANSEC 2026 event at the Cohere Centre, Ford said the goal is to bring 43,000 jobs to the sector over the next 10 years.

“Our Defense Industrial Strategy is designed to leverage this capacity while supporting Ontario workers. We expect the strategy to add 43,000 new jobs right here in Ontario,” Ford said.

The announcement comes after Canada was announced to be the future home of a new global defence bank.

Although the federal government hasn’t outlined its criteria for exactly where it would like to see the defence bank located, that hasn’t stopped politicians in Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver from making their bids known.

“I think Ottawa-Gatineau is the ideal place to host the Defense Security and Resilience Bank,” Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe told CTV News.

“I know other cities are interested and are bidding for it. We’ll see how it plays out.”

Ford has publicly put his support behind Toronto to be home to the new defence bank. He says even if it lands in Toronto, it would be a win for Ottawa as well.

“I had a conversation with the mayor here and if Toronto wins, Ottawa wins. It’s not just all about Toronto. When you have over 760 tech companies just in Kanata alone, when you have the capital here, it’d be a joint venture as far as I’m concerned,” Ford said.

Among the companies in attendance at the CANSEC event was Saab, showcasing its top-of-the-line Gripen fighter jet.

For the Swedish defence and aeronautical company, the chance to expand into Ottawa is enticing.

“For us as a company, of course we should be here. It’s close to the decision makers, a lot of headquarters and so on are here,” said Anders Carp, deputy CEO of Saab.

“We will have a footprint here that’s larger than we have today, but exactly how much and when that is still to be determined.”

“We know there’s a major opportunity in front of us,” said Sutcliffe.

“The federal government is making historic investments, and our job is to attract as much of that investment to this region as possible.”

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