By Scott Taylor
Last week, Canada's Minister of National defence, David McGuinty announced the latest $200 million (CDN) donation to Ukraine's war effort.
This contribution is part of a NATO initiative known as the 'Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List' (aka PURL). Combined with three other NATO nation contributors (Norway, Poland and Germany) this latest PURL package amounts to roughly $500 million (USD). This funding will be used to purchase critical air defence assets, ammunition and other systems that the Armed Forces of Ukraine have specifically requested in order to keep their military in the fight against the Russian invaders.
Launched in August 2025, the PURL initiative was designed to rapidly source the equipment Ukraine needs most — especially items that the United States can supply in larger volumes than Europe and Canada alone. Those vital weapon systems and munitions will either be contracted from US based defence firms or purchased from existing stocks held by the US military.
In other words, the money Canada and other NATO allies are donating to the Ukraine war effort are actually being spent in the US to buy the weapons and ammunition that only the Americans can produce in the quantity necessary.
So with Prime Minister Mark Carney urging Canada to get our 'elbows up' in response to US President Donald Trump's punitive tariff war, and the stated intention of Canada diversifying our defence hardware purchases away from the current near total reliance upon the US, here we are handing our tax dollars to the Trump administration, in order to buy weapons for Ukraine.
Immediately following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022,Canada was quick to empty our own military's combat cupboard in order to shore up Ukraine's resistance. Despite not really having any surplus inventory, the Canadian Army furnished Ukraine with Leopard 2 main battle tanks, M777 155mm howitzers, Light Armoured Vehicles (LAV's), ammunition, drones, medical supplies and winter gear.
Canada subsequently purchased thousands of rounds of artillery ammunition from a US supplier in order to send it directly to Ukraine.
To be fair, on paper it seemed that no matter the scale of international support and the defiance of the Ukrainian soldiers, this conflict was not expected to drag on for nearly four years, and counting. Early odds makers figured the numerical superiority of the Russian invader would soon force a negotiated peace.
However, once it became clear after the first few months of conflict that the war in Ukraine had become a bloody stalemate, Canada still did nothing to ramp up domestic defence industry capacity to not only better assist Ukraine but also to re-arm our own depleted military forces.
Former Chief of Defence Staff General Wayne Eyre held a conference urging defence industries to put themselves on a war time production schedule. Unfortunately for General Eyre defence contractors do not simply produce weapons and munitions in the hope that a buyer will one day come along. They need signed agreements before they invest in production capacity.
That none were forthcoming from the Canadian government, means that this latest PURL package will once again reward US firms while the Trump administration is trying to force Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to accept Russia's demands for a ceasefire agreement.
Love him or hate him, one needs to admit that in this instance Trump has put the US into a pretty sweet spot. By cutting their own aid to Ukraine, and pressuring Zelenskyy to essentially submit to Russian President Vladimir Putin's demands, the US is forcing NATO countries including Canada to bolster their own support for Ukraine's war effort. The only way for these NATO supporters of Ukraine sovereignty to secure sufficient military hardware is to purchase it from the US.
This is exactly why Canada needs to act on Carney's stated objective of reducing our dependency on US weapon systems.
A great start to this would be to cancel the remaining 72 US built F-35 fighter jets that are on the order books at Lockheed Martin but not yet actually contracted. Instead we give the green light to Sweden's SAAB to build 72 Gripen fighter jets here in Canada, thus investing in Canada's aviation sector.
One of the proposals floated was that Canada could in turn build an additional 100 Gripen fighters to re-equip the Air Force of Ukraine. One would hope that this would fall under the PURL initiative and therefore other NATO allies would be funding the purchase of those Gripens for Ukraine.
It will not change things in the immediate future but it would send a clear message that moving forward Canada will stand on its own two feet for a change.
