Much of the money—$32 billion—is to expand the National Defence presence in Yellowknife, Inuvik, Iqaluit and Goose Bay, N.L. Whitehorse and three small communities in Nunavut are to get lesser military improvements. Nearly $300 million more is for civilian airport improvements in Inuvik and Rankin Inlet. (The Logic)

Talking point: In 2022, then-defence minister Anita Anand promised $38.6 billion to modernize northern air defences, which Carney’s new announcement draws on. The Department of National Defence couldn’t say by deadline what the timeline is for spending the $32 billion on the four main bases, an amount much larger than the annual budgets of Newfoundland and Labrador and all three territories put together. Besides all that, the prime minister said the Major Projects Office will take up approvals for a Mackenzie Valley highway, the Grays Bay port on the Arctic Ocean and a road connecting it to Yellowknife, and a hydro expansion in the Northwest Territories.