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SHIFTHEADS: Four Subs Now, Eight More Whenever Europe Can Build Them
Description
Canada's submarine procurement finally has a plan, and Matt Gurney explains why getting there will still take most of a decade. He connects the announcement to a defense minister's own words about shared crews and interoperability, and what that reveals about the deal underneath the headline.
The conversation tracks Canada's credibility problem after years of underfunding defense, and why the government cannot prove this rearmament worked until long after the current leadership is gone. It contrasts the German-Norwegian option against South Korea's faster production line and names what each choice trades away.
It closes on the practical risk still unresolved: a shipbuilding bottleneck shared with Europe, the question of building submarines near Russia instead of far from it, and what Canada would need to build the rest of this fleet at home.
Topics: Canadian submarines, defense spending, submarine procurement, military strategy, Read the Line
GUEST: Matt Gurney | http://readtheline.ca | @mattgurney
Originally aired on 2026-07-07