$20 Billion to Buy Submarines to Pay the Rich
As part of its ill-conceived and simplistic "Defence Industrial
Strategy" to try to revive the Canadian economy by purchasing
weapons
from sellers other than the U.S., the Mark Carney Liberal
government
plans to spend an estimated $60 billion buying up to 12
conventionally-powered
submarines with under-ice capabilities from a not-yet-chosen
foreign
war contractor to replace Canada's aging British-built
Upholder/Victoria Class submarines.[1] This works out to handing
over
an initial $5 billion per submarine.
Canada has never built its own submarines and the country's existing shipyards apparently lack the technical know-how. The avowed aim of the purchase is to protect Canada's three coastlines from unnamed aggressors, generally hinted to be Russia and China, even though there is no evidence any such incursions have taken place and all evidence points toward the United States as the current main threat to Canada's sovereignty.
The Carney government has narrowed bidders for the submarine contract to two foreign monopolies. One is ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) of Germany, a monopoly formed by the 1999 merger of two of Adolf Hitler's main corporate backers, Thyssen and Krupp.[2] The other bidder under consideration is Hanwha Ocean, now one of the "Big Three" shipbuilders of south Korea. Hanwha, still controlled by the founding family, was created as Korea Explosives Company in 1952 during the U.S.-led aggression against Korea. The submarine contract might also be split between ThyssenKrupp and Hanwha. The final contract is expected to be awarded around 2028, with the first submarine delivered by about 2035. It is likely that Canadians will strongly protest the purchase which totally contradicts their sincere desire for Canada to be a Zone for Peace.
Since 1914, the Canadian navy has commissioned only 15 submarines, almost all of them U.S. or UK cast-offs. None were built in Canada. BC Premier Richard McBride bought the first two submarines from a Seattle shipyard in 1914 to "protect the West Coast." In the 50 years following the First World War the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) acquired four submarines, two of which were British and the other two former German U-Boats. The RCN and the Royal Navy (RN) created the Sixth Submarine Squadron in 1955, made up of three British submarines commanded by RN officers. Canada bought an ex-U.S. Navy (USN) submarine in 1961, the Grilse, later replaced by the ex-USN submarine Argonaut in 1968. Canada purchased three British Oberon class submarines in 1962, the last leaving service in 2000. Four Upholder Victoria Class submarines were then bought from the UK, beginning in 2000.
The proposed submarine purchase has already been riddled with hypocrisy. The Carney government claims to be standing up for the defence of Canada when the whole boondoggle is obviously just another giant pay-the-rich scheme. Once again, social programs for the well-being of the people of Canada will be decimated so that the owners of huge foreign monopolies like ThyssenKrupp and Hanwha can get even richer. Throughout this farce the phrase "joint continental defence" has recurred, making it clear that the principles guiding Canada's very expensive submarine purchase have everything to do with the warmongering needs and sinister plans of the U.S. imperialists, NATO and NORAD, and nothing to do with the real needs of the people of Canada.
Whichever foreign contractor wins the bidding, the critical point is that it is the Canadian people who must exercise real control over our submarine supply and naval defence. It is a matter of sovereignty. When it comes to Canada's integration into the U.S. military apparatus, it is well known who gives the orders: the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) has a U.S. commander and a Canadian deputy commander.
Important decisions regarding the defence of Canada should be made by the Canadian people, not foreign monopolies and imperialist institutions. The Carney government is using fearmongering about the need for joint defence against a non-existent threat to claim that not buying new submarines will somehow be a danger to Canadian sovereignty, when exactly the opposite is the case.
The
truth of the matter is that it has been shown in practice time
and time
again that the U.S.-NATO-NORAD conception of defence and
"defensive
weapons" is not defence at all but attack, aggressive attack
against
any country which exerts its own independence and refuses to
knuckle
under to
imperialist dictate. Canadian submarines have not once "defended
Canadian sovereignty." In fact, the two known times Canadian
submarines
have been put to any use other than routine "surveillance" and
"deterrence" (the effects of which are not measurable) were as
part of
an international task force
enforcing U.S. sanctions against the Democratic People's
Republic of
Korea and as part of Operation Caribbe, a U.S.-NATO-commanded
operation
supposedly directed at preventing drug trafficking. The latter
is
well-known to be U.S. President Trump's patently phony excuse
for
violently interfering in
the affairs of Latin American countries by shooting innocent
people,
kidnapping leaders, and strangling economies.
Reducing questions of Canada's defence to a phony argument over "which submarine" (or which fighter jet) is yet another indication that the Liberals have no intention of defending the security of the Canadian people but rather of placing Canadians in serious jeopardy. On June 25, 2025, Carney announced his government would cave in to the U.S.-NATO demand that Canada spend five per cent of its annual GDP by 2035 on "improving its defence capabilities" to ensure "our individual and collective security." The Liberal government is pushing for further integration into the U.S. war machine precisely when Trump and the U.S. ruling elite are becoming more violent and launching further aggression against the world's people, including the latest attacks against Iran.
It is clear that our real security lies not in buying the "right" submarine to further enrich some foreign monopolies and support U.S. aggression but in standing as one with the world's peoples in defence of their right to be against U.S. imperialist preparations for another world war. Canada needs to take immediate action to get out of NATO and NORAD and all aggressive military bodies. Canadians must continue to fight hard for an anti-war government that will say No! to foreign control of Canada's defence, end interference in the affairs of sovereign countries, and become a staunch force for peace in the world.
Notes
1. The Upholder/Victoria-class submarines are a class of diesel-electric submarines built by the United Kingdom in the 1980s to supplement the nuclear submarines of the British Royal Navy. The British service life of the Victoria-class submarines was short, with the vessels being decommissioned in 1994. After the UK's unsuccessful attempt to transfer the submarines to the Pakistan Navy in 1993-1994, the Canadian government eventually purchased them. They initially suffered from serious electrical problems and were afflicted by numerous mechanical operational incidents that limited their active service and the scope of their deployments.
2. Fritz Thyssen's main U.S. business partner during the Anti-Fascist War was none other than Senator Prescott Bush, father and grandfather of two American presidents. Bush's company's assets were seized in 1942 under the Trading with the Enemy Act.
This article was published in
Volume 56 Number 3 - March-April, 2026
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/TML2026/Articles/M560319.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca