Canada is in talks to partner with the U.S. on President Donald Trump’s proposed “Golden Dome” missile defence plan, the Prime Minister’s Office confirmed Tuesday, shortly after Trump claimed Canada “has called us and they want to be a part of it.”
“Canadians gave the Prime Minister a strong mandate to negotiate a comprehensive new security and economic relationship with the United States,” a spokesperson told Global News.
“To that end, the Prime Minister and his ministers are having wide-ranging and constructive discussions with their American counterparts. These discussions naturally include strengthening NORAD and related initiatives such as the Golden Dome.”
Trump announced the concept for the estimated US$175-billion system in the Oval Office and said he expects it will be “fully operational before the end of my term,” which ends in 2029. The system is envisioned to include ground- and space-based capabilities that are able to detect and stop missiles at all four major stages of a potential attack.
“Canada has called us and they want to be a part of it, so we’ll be talking to them,” Trump said during the announcement. “They want to have protection also. So, as usual, we help Canada do the best we can.”
Trump later added it “automatically” makes sense to include Canada in the new defence system, but insisted that Canada will “pay their fair share.”
The Prime Minister’s Office and the Department of National Defence did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump’s remarks. A Global Affairs Canada spokesperson referred questions to the defence department.
Canada and the United States already work together through the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, which can detect and shoot down some missile threats such as cruise missiles.
However, Canada is not part of the U.S. ballistic missile defence system under U.S. Northern Command. That means, while Canada helps monitor and detect missile threats through NORAD, the authority to shoot down a ballistic missile is solely at the discretion of the Americans.
Ballistic missiles can have a far greater range than cruise missiles and are the type most likely to be fired by an overseas adversary intent on attacking North America.
Former prime minister Paul Martin’s government announced in 2005 it would not join the U.S. system, a decision that has been repeatedly criticized by officials in both countries in the decades since.
A House of Commons defence committee report in 2023 urged the federal government to reconsider the 2005 decision, which the Senate defence committee endorsed in its own 2023 report on Arctic security.
A 2010 report from the Senate defence committee on ballistic missile defence raised concerns that “our military officials at NORAD will be asked to ‘leave the room’ when it comes to determining how to deal with a ballistic missile attack that threatens Canada or North America.”
During the 2023 committee studies, Canadian defence officials and policy experts said Canada should look toward multi-layered air and missile defence systems that can intercept the growing variety of threats, from submarine-launched missiles to space-deployed weapons to hypersonic and ballistic missiles.
“Integrated air and missile defence is the concept of the future,” then-chief of the defence staff Gen. Wayne Eyre told the House of Commons committee.
The Liberal Party platform released during the recent election campaign vowed new investments in Arctic security and boosting Canada’s military, but made no mention of missile defence.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said after meeting with Trump at the White House earlier this month that their talks marked the beginning of negotiations toward “an economic and security partnership” between the two countries.
Trump has repeatedly criticized Canada’s defence spending and complained that the U.S. “subsidizes” and protects Canada militarily.
Carney has vowed to get Canada’s defence spending to NATO’s target of at least two per cent of GDP by 2030. However, the Trump administration has begun pushing the alliance to boost that target to five per cent of GDP, a level no ally — including the U.S. — currently reaches.
The U.S. Congressional Budget Office estimated this month that just the space-based components of the Golden Dome could cost as much as US$542 billion over the next 20 years. Trump has requested an initial US$25 billion for the program in his proposed tax break bill now moving through Congress.
—With files from Global’s Touria Izri