2,000 soldiers could descend on Base Gagetown once Ottawa’s billion-dollar investment hits

Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc speaks at Fifth Canadian Division Support Base Gagetown, about Ottawa’s new defence spending plan (Laura Brown/CTV News).

Canada’s second-largest military base is expecting to see a big labour and population boom as Ottawa’s billion-dollar defence spending is put to work.

Fifth Canadian Division Support Base Gagetown is on Prime Minister Mark Carney’s list of military bases that are seeing an influx of money, helping the Government of Canada meet its NATO defence spending target of two per cent.

A new ground-based air defence system will cost about $172 million alone – the rest of the money will upgrade existing infrastructure, including the training grounds and range, and build 650 new housing units.

“Reintegrating air defence into the Canadian army is a very important and a very positive step forward,” said Base Commander Colonel Paul Williams. “What we foresee in the upcoming years is new infrastructure to house new equipment, the standup of new units… and eventually the arrival of the equipment itself.”

It’s being touted as transformative for the area. Estimates, based on these new training capabilities and the need for more personnel within the Canadian Armed Forces, would see another 2,000 soldiers added to the base.

Many of them will come with family, which could mean a massive population boom for the area.

The province of New Brunswick has said it needs 136,000 new employees over the next 10 years, to fill retirements.

Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said the billion dollars is being put to work as soon as possible.

“Obviously housing, the health centre, critical pieces of infrastructure that can be upgraded quickly - my understanding is that will be amongst the first things that will begin in the coming weeks or in the next few months,” he said.

But there are questions on whether New Brunswick has the tradespeople available for the massive undertaking.

The 2025-2034 Looking Forward report by BuildForce Canada states that the province will lose about 6,500 individuals to retirement from the local labour force over the next decade.

The report looks at the upcoming labour demand. A new BuildForce forecast will be unveiled at the end of June, and it will include the Base Gagetown plan within its projections.

New Brunswick Liberal MP David Myles said discussions are happening about how available the local labour force is within the province.

He said the hope is to hire locally as much as possible.

But recently, the provincial government announced its intent to remove some red tape so that out-of-province skilled workers could easily come to New Brunswick to work.

If the legislation passes, it would automatically recognize apprenticeship certifications from other provinces and territories, and eliminate the fees for a tradesperson or an apprentice to register in the province.