Candidates say N.L. will have a role to play as Canada heightens its national defense

As Canada works to bolster its national defence in response to growing tensions with the United States, Liberal Party candidate for St. John's East Joanne Thompson says Newfoundland and Labrador will have a role in servicing ships that protect the country's northern regions.

"Crisis is creating work and opportunity in this city," Thompson said. "Who would ever have imagined that we would talk about our democracy being under threat or that we would talk about a need to have protection for our sovereignty for the north?"

Thompson met with reporters Friday morning at the 140-year-old St. John's business and dockyard, Newdock, to echo Liberal Leader Mark Carney's points on national defence made during a campaign stop at the Irving Shipyard in Halifax on Tuesday.

At the time, Carney said Canada must look out for itself. To do so, he rehashed the country's existing plans and proposals, including the purchase of new submarines for the navy and a proposal to give military members a substantial raise.

"My responsibility is to plan for the worst, is to think about the most difficult evolution of the new threat environment, what it means for Canada and how do we best protect Canada," Carney said.

Thompson said Canada can't let the United States crush its democracy.

"What is at stake is our very existence," she said.

Conservative candidate for St. John's East David Brazil said his party, too, values national defence. They've committed to building two more ships than the Liberals and have a timeline to complete them.

"We've committed to have these ready by 2029, because you can't put off sovereignty," Brazil said. 

He believes Newfoundland and Labrador could be the gateway to the North, and the people of this province will play a significant role.

"Newfoundland and Labrador has the highest percentage per capita of people who joined the military," Brazil said. "That's going to mean more Newfoundlanders and Laboradorians deployed, protecting our sovereignty and doing what they've signed up to do: be committed to our military forces here."

He added that Newfoundlanders and Labradorians often captain Canadian Coast Guard ships and icebreakers. 

"Who are the captains and the engineers and the crews of the lot of ships in Canada? Particularly ice breakers? Newfoundlanders and Labradorians," Brazil said. 

The NDP candidate for St. John's East, Mary Shortall, said her party has always supported building ships, but with tensions rising, the country should continue its peace support operations.

"We need to reclaim our role as peacekeepers," Shortall said. "These are people in the Canadian Armed Forces and in the coast guard that spend time up there doing just that, keeping the peace and making sure everything they're supposed to do is done."

She also questions how the government will pay for these promises if the Liberals or Conservatives are elected.

"When Mark Carney made his acceptance speech, he talked about, in the first five minutes of that, cutting operational budgets. That means cutting public spending, and that also means cutting the public sector and public servant jobs," Shortall said.

"We need icebreakers, yes for sure, that's really important, but we also need to support the workers who work there, and those are members of the armed forces and the coast guard."

Canadians will head to the polls to vote in the federal election on April 28.

Download our free CBC News app to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Sign up for our daily headlines newsletter here. Click here to visit our landing page