Canada seeks more defence jobs as F-35 review pits Lockheed Martin against Sweden’s Saab

Melanie Joly said in an interview that a key goal for 2026 is to extract greater economic benefits from sharply higher defence spending. The government under Prime Minister Mark Carney has tens of billions of dollars of projects planned, including fighter jets and submarines, alongside ambitions to expand domestic production of armoured vehicles, satellites and other equipment.

Carney aims to create more manufacturing and technology jobs through a defence industrial strategy that could offset losses elsewhere and reduce reliance on the United States. Joly, who previously served as foreign minister, has sought to play Lockheed and Saab against each other as part of a push to strengthen Canada’s economic position.

“We cannot control the White House, nobody can,” Joly said. “But we can control the levers of our economy, and that’s why the defence industrial strategy is so important.”

Canada pledged in 2023 to buy 88 F-35 jets but has taken delivery of only 16, with the remainder now under review after Carney took office days after Donald Trump imposed new tariffs on Canadian goods. Saab is offering its Gripen jet with a Quebec-based production line and says choosing its GlobalEye surveillance aircraft as well could create 12,600 direct jobs in Canada, while the auditor general has put the rising cost of the F-35 programme at about $28 billion.

Source: Bloomberg.