Liberals considering arming the Coast Guard amid significant pivot towards new security mandate

In the recent election campaign, the Liberals promised to give the CCG a new mandate “to conduct maritime surveillance operations” along with the required equipment.

Last week, the Liberals tabled a border security bill that proposes to give the CCG a new security mandate, the power to conduct “security patrols” and the ability to share information with the military and intelligence agencies.

In an interview, former CCG Commissioner Jody Thomas said the agency is long overdue for significant reform and that she’d been “nagging” the government to move the agency to the defence or public safety portfolio for years.

“It is a major change, and I think it’s an important change. I think that this is just another signal that Canada is changing its perspective on our own sovereignty,” said Thomas, who was also headed the Department of National Defence and was National Security Advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Regarding armaments, she said that icebreakers currently under construction have been fitted for, but not with, weapons, meaning that arming them would be a relatively straightforward task.

The real challenge of arming the Coast Guard, she warned, is training.

“It’s a very expensive decision, not for the weaponry, but for the training and the constant preparation and exercising that’s required,” she said. “The Navy is always in training… for what’s coming. The Coast Guard is out there working. So, it’s a very different fleet and with very different purposes.”

There are also talks within government of switching the Coast Guard from a special operating agency, which is still part of its host department, into a departmental agency with its own governing legislation that reports to the Minister of National Defense.

I think that this is just another signal that Canada is changing its perspective on our own sovereignty

In an interview in late May, Thomas argued that that needs to happen.

“It does need to be a legislative agency, the special operating agency status right now, that’s a very flimsy sort of architecture and legal basis for an agency” with a security focus, Thomas said.

A chronic challenge for the Coast Guard has been the deteriorating condition of its fleet while it operates on a “shoestring” budget, according to Thomas.

As of November, the CCG had 18 icebreakers, making it the second-largest icebreaking fleet in the world. Its fleet registry shows it has just over 120 ships on duty, the majority of which are small rescue vessels.

But the aging fleet is also deteriorating rapidly, with ships spending more time in repairs and less time in the water.

“The CCG’s aging vessels are becoming more costly to maintain and are more frequently taken out of operation for unscheduled repairs, placing further strain on the remaining fleet,” the agency said in its 2024-2025 department plans report. “The need to replace the vessels has never been more important.”

In March, the federal government contracted two new polar icebreakers which are expected to be delivered between 2030 and 2032. But Thomas said the coast guard has much bigger needs.

“We’re one of the few countries that uses the same fleet for northern and southern ice breaking. We ice break year-round, essentially,” she said.