25. Polite Canada Remilitarizes w/ Brent Patterson

I sit down with Brent Patterson, a veteran anti-militarism organizer whose four decades of work span prison abolition, Indigenous solidarity, and campaigns against state violence. We examine the Carney government's remilitarization agenda. It is not a response to genuine security threats, but as a coherent economic strategy dressed in the language of sovereignty and national pride.

We look at the math on the F-35 warplane purchase: what it actually costs, who controls it, and what that money could do instead. We talk about Arctic resource extraction and the military infrastructure being built to enable it, the integration of Canadian and US military supply chains, the No More Loopholes arms export bill, and the gap between Canada's international self-image and its actual record of 1,600 bombing missions over Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Serbia. We close with Brent's forty years of organizing experience — the losses, the marginal wins, and what sustains people in a long struggle.

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Brent Patterson is Executive Director of Peace Brigades International, and writes for Rabble.ca.

SOURCES

NATO total military spending 2024: $1,506 billion — SIPRI Trends in World Military Expenditure, 2024

NATO 5% GDP target agreed at The Hague summit — Atlantic Council NATO Defence Spending Tracker

Canada's Department of National Defence spent $34.5 billion in FY2024 — Canadaspends

Carney commits Canada to $150 billion annually in defence by 2035 — Globe and Mail, June 2025

Carney's first budget: $81.8 billion in defence investment over five years — CBC News, November 2025

DND defence spending targets and NATO commitments — Canada.ca

Full 45-year F-35 life-cycle cost estimated at C$73.9 billion — Parliamentary Budget Office, November 2023

F-35 acquisition cost jumps 50% to C$27.7 billion — Skies Mag / Auditor General, June 2025

Full acquisition cost now C$33 billion including infrastructure and weapons — Flight Global, June 2025

Full history of Canada's F-35 procurement process — Wikipedia

Chapters

• (00:03:23) - Canada's $35 billion F35 deal
• (00:12:18) - What Does Militarization Tell Us About Global Capitalism?
• (00:14:13) - Canada's Remilitarization Plans
• (00:29:23) - Canadian Military Spending and National Sovereignty
• (00:38:59) - Wins and Losses
• (00:42:07) - What Would You Tell Young Activists in Their 20s?