Ottawa eyeing Ukrainian partnership, EU loans for defence equipment, minister says

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OTTAWA — Ottawa is weighing whether to follow in the footsteps of several European nations by forging a new defence co-production deal with Ukraine for military equipment, Defence Minister David McGuinty said Thursday. 

McGuinty said the idea is under “active consideration” by the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces and the government is looking at Denmark and France as potential models. 

Ukraine has become a world leader in combat drone technology over the course of its war with Russia, and countries such as the U.K. and Denmark have announced plans for co-operative equipment production projects with Kyiv. 

“The Ukrainians have made huge strides and advances in drone technology, something that we’re actively looking at,” McGuinty said. 

“There may very well be some interesting industrial benefits which would directly accrue to Canadian companies. That’s exactly what we’re looking at, to see what the best mechanism is.” 

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced a new agreement that this week to share military technology. The agreement is meant to boost Ukrainian drone production and pipe technical data into the U.K.’s defence sector. 

McGuinty made the comments while speaking to Canadian reporters on a call from the embassy in Riga, Latvia, capping off his trip to Europe this week. 

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a massive new defence spending commitment at the NATO summit in The Hague this week and said in Brussels that Canada and the European Union will negotiate a new security and defence procurement partnership. 

McGuinty said Canada needs to be able to leverage European loans through that partnership. 

He said Canada will first need to ratify more bilateral arrangements but will eventually be able to join up with other EU nations on bulk purchases. 

“For example, if we’re procuring equipment for Canada, we’ll able to join with other states and use economies of scale to make sure that we pass on the savings for anything we purchase to the Canadian taxpayer,” he said.