New defence purchasing agency will become more independent, MP says

OTTAWA — Ottawa is now well into its overhaul of defence procurement and will soon give the agency at the centre of its strategy more authority to ramp up the domestic defence sector and rearm the military, MP Stephen Fuhr told The Canadian Press.

Fuhr, the secretary of state overseeing changes to how the federal government buys equipment for the military, said the Defence Investment Agency, a new office created to streamline military procurement, will become a legislated stand-alone agency to give it more independence and authority.

He said that will result in one main point of contact for small- and medium-sized firms, granting them better access to decision makers as they navigate the military contracting process.

“Small to medium-sized enterprise don’t necessarily have the ability to have these big lobbyists in Ottawa to go and do their bidding for them. They don’t necessarily have the ability to navigate the web of complexity, so oftentimes they just can’t get involved,” Fuhr said.

Military contracting currently involves multiple government departments. It can be difficult for smaller businesses to secure capital to take on those contracts, and the lengthy process for obtaining security clearances can sometimes scuttle contract opportunities.

The new agency is made up of 85 bureaucrats and is housed within Public Service and Procurement Canada. The government says it will introduce legislation to make it a stand-alone agency this spring and eventually expand it to a staff of 400.

It’s a central part of the Liberal government’s new multi-billion dollar blueprint for building out the domestic defence industry.

While the Defence Industrial Strategy, released Tuesday, states companies “still need to engage with multiple agencies,” Fuhr said that only describes the situation today.

“The strategy around the Defence Investment Agency is to be the one-stop shop for defence procurement, and that’s what we’re going to work toward,” he said.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre dismissed the industrial strategy shortly after its release, saying the government should be cutting bureaucracy, not adding more agencies and red tape that will “gum up and slow the system down.”

Fuhr said the government is already picking up the pace on military purchasing “and the results speak for themselves.”

The original plan to procure up to 12 new submarines set a deadline of getting the new fleet in the water by 2035. That deadline is now 2032. Ottawa was looking to sign the submarine deal by 2028 but the multi-billion dollar contract could land as soon as this year.

Fuhr’s office said the contract to replace the aging Challenger VIP jets — given to Bombardier for six Global 6500 — was accelerated by three to four months using a risk-based approach to procurement. The new agency is expected to use that same approach to speed up future equipment purchases.

The industrial strategy itself won praise from businesses and industry groups after its official release on Tuesday — although some industry insiders also expressed caution privately and publicly about what the reforms may spell.

Christyn Cianfarani, the head of the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries, called it a “landmark document” that sets targets much “higher than I would have expected.”

The plan lays out a series of ambitious goals, such as boosting overall defence industry revenues by more than 240 per cent and creating 125,000 new jobs. It also commits to generating hundreds of billions of dollars in economic investment in Canada within the next decade.

Cianfarani said Tuesday the plan could still go sideways, noting much of the new strategy hinges on the success of the Defence Investment Agency.

“If we don’t see that organization rallying around streamlining procurement, moving projects forward and not just the big ones, but all the systemic problems that are major challenges for industry … then that could be the Achilles heel … that renders a good portion of the strategy inert,” she said.

“You can flood the system with money but if you can’t move that money into companies and the companies don’t grow, you won’t achieve the GDP targets and you certainly won’t achieve the job target.”

The defence sector — alongside the push for new major projects — is a key component of the government’s plan to bolster the Canadian economy.

Industry Minister Mélanie Joly said at an event in Toronto on Thursday that Ottawa is putting a heavy emphasis on the economic stimulus that large military purchases can deliver, and pointed specifically to the submarine project.

“We want to make sure there’s the most industrial benefits out this procurement, but fundamentally what we want also is a car plant,” she said.

“That is why we’re talking also with the Germans and the Koreans because we think we can attract more investments in the auto sector out of leveraging defence investments.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 19, 2026.

Kyle Duggan, The Canadian Press