CALGARY — A provincial government official has stated that Alberta is well placed to capitalize on rising global security demands and increased defence investment from Ottawa in the near future.Speaking at DEFSEC West — the Defence and Security Conference of Western Canada — in Calgary on Thursday, Dale Unrau, Executive Director of Industry and Defence Strategy for the Government of Alberta, highlighted the province’s workforce, industrial capacity, and geographic advantages as being key factors in meeting rising security demands worldwide in a period of heightened global instability.“Alberta is positioned to deliver real impact. [We have] the people, assets, geography, and industrial base to play a central role in Canada's defence and Arctic security objectives,” Unrau said, adding that the full economic and security benefits of defence investment start with one thing: people.Unrau noted Alberta has the youngest population in Canada, with a “higher share of the prime working age population than any other province,” which was described as a major advantage over competitors.“This directly affects the ability to staff, scale, and maintain industrial and sustainment programs over multi-decade timelines,” he said.“Our workforce is already operating in environments defined by continuous operations, strict safety regimes, and high equipment uptime requirements.”The executive director added that efforts were already underway to build that workforce pipeline as the conference brought together 150 students from institutions including the University of Alberta, the University of Calgary, as well as NAIT and SAIT to connect with defence industry experts and insiders..New defence strategy aims to rebuild Canada’s military industry.Alberta’s growing role in defence-related innovation, particularly in artificial intelligence, robotics, and remote operations, was also touted, with the province hosting two NATO Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) innovation sites, as well as being home to major research hubs such as the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (AMII) in Edmonton and Quantum City in Calgary.Unrau said Alberta is also uniquely positioned to support “sovereign computing” — secure domestic data infrastructure — due to its ability to scale electricity production and co-locate data centres near military bases.“[We’re] the best positioned province in Canada to construct data centres that provide sovereign computing capabilities to the Canadian military and international partners,” Unrau said.“[Alberta] has the ability to rapidly scale electricity generation and construct data centres on or near military bases right across the province, and with the growing strategic importance of the Arctic, Alberta's central location, extensive rail and energy networks, and industrial expertise position Alberta as the gateway to the north.”Currently, more than 70 million tonnes of freight rail originate in Alberta annually — more than any other province — connecting to northern corridors that support operations in locations such as Cold Lake and Fort McMurray..Canadian commander warns 'the army we have is not the army we need'.Alberta’s extensive military infrastructure was described as a major asset, including CFB Edmonton, 4 Wing Cold Lake, CFB Suffield, and CFB Wainwright.These bases support everything from fighter operations and NORAD integration to large-scale training exercises and weapons testing.Unrau also cited Alberta’s vast training areas and controlled airspace as being increasingly valuable as global demand for realistic testing environments grows.“Modern systems must be validated under realistic conditions before they can transition into procurement and deployment,” he stated.“Alberta provides large-scale, un-congested environments such as Suffield and Wainwright, where systems can be exercised under real conditions and iterated at tempo. This reduces technical risk and accelerates transition to service.”The Alberta government recently outlined three priorities to expand its role in the defence sector: investing in military infrastructure, attracting federal procurement opportunities, and supporting broader industry growth.This includes upgrading key bases, positioning Alberta firms to benefit from federal defence contracts, and encouraging the development of new facilities and dual-use technologies.Going forward, Unrau said Alberta will be strengthening “sovereign capabilities where we have competitive advantages”, positioning Albertan companies to “contribute to industrial and technological benefits for major defence contractors” while “creating new opportunities for growth and innovation here in the West."
