Take Action: Engage Your Member of Parliament
The Conference of Defence Associations (CDA) believes that an informed citizenry is the foundation of national security. Your voice—the voice of a Canadian constituent—is the most powerful tool to ensure our leaders prioritize the security of our nation and the well-being of those who serve.
This page provides the simple, direct resources you need to effectively communicate the urgent need for a credible, modern, and well-supported Canadian Armed Forces to your local Member of Parliament (MP).
Why Your Action Matters Now
Canada’s strategic environment has changed. Global threats are intensifying, deterrence is fraying, and our allies are rearming. We cannot afford complacency. By contacting your MP, you are reinforcing the need for Canada to act decisively.
The CDA’s Four Priorities for Canada’s Security:
We urge all policymakers to prioritize action in these four essential areas:
Reinforce Canada’s Role in the World: Strengthen NATO, NORAD, and The Five Eyes by reliably meeting our international commitments.
Modernize and Equip the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF): Invest in a coherent, sustained modernization agenda to ensure the CAF can operate effectively across all domains (air, maritime, land, space, and cyber).
Build a Defence Industrial Base for the 21st Century: Accelerate defence procurement, incentivize innovation, and strengthen domestic capacity to secure our supply chains and economy.
Support the People Who Serve: Champion policies that protect the dignity, well-being, morale, and career pathways of CAF members and Veterans.
How to Contact Your MP: Quick Guide for Constituents
The most direct way to make your voice heard is by sending an email. Following these simple steps ensures your communication is professional, impactful, and taken seriously by your local Member of Parliament (MP).
| Action Item | Detail | Why it Matters |
| 1. Find Your MP | Use the Parliament of Canada website to find your MP’s name and contact information: https://www.ourcommons.ca/Members/en | MPs prioritize correspondence from constituents who live in their electoral riding. |
| 2. Choose Your Letter | Review our prewritten templates and select the letter that best represents the issues in your riding or your personal experience. | Personalizing the core message makes the advocacy more resonant and effective. |
| 3. Send the Email | Email your chosen template directly to your MP. Remember to personalize the bold sections (your name, riding, etc.). | Email is the fastest and most efficient way to communicate with their office. |
| 4. Follow Up | If you do not receive a reply in two weeks, call the MP’s constituency office to follow up. | Shows persistence and sincerity about the issue. |
Template: Letter/Email to Your MP
Use the template below to ensure your message is professionally formatted and includes all critical information. Remember to personalize the bold sections to make the letter truly impactful.
[Date]
[Member of Parliament] House of Commons Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Dear [Member of Parliament],
I am writing as a deeply concerned Canadian who believes our country is no longer keeping pace with the global security environment or with the demands placed on the Canadian Armed Forces. The world has changed faster than our defence posture, and the risks facing Canada—particularly in the Arctic, in North American defence, the Indo-Pacific, and through our commitments to NATO—have grown sharply.
For years, Canada has referenced the NATO guideline of allocating two percent of GDP to defence spending. While even that target has remained out of reach, international security experts now agree that two percent is no longer sufficient for countries that urgently need to modernize outdated equipment, rebuild personnel strength, restore depleted munitions stockpiles, and invest in the technologies shaping modern warfare.
A new, more realistic benchmark is emerging: an investment of five percent of GDP to modernize and properly equip a credible Canadian Armed Forces. This level of funding is not about militarism—it is about ensuring Canada has the readiness, resilience, and capability to defend its sovereignty and protect its citizens in a world that is becoming more dangerous and less predictable.
With this in mind, I respectfully ask that you support raising Canada’s defence spending target to five percent of GDP, aligned with a clear modernization plan that includes:
1. Rebuilding personnel and readiness to ensure the CAF can meet its commitments at home and abroad.
2. Modernizing our capabilities, including NORAD renewal, Arctic surveillance, next-generation submarines, integrated air and missile defence, and increased munitions production.
3. Investing in next-generation technologies—cyber, space, AI, and unmanned systems—that are redefining warfare across the world.
4. Strengthening Canada’s defence industrial base, ensuring we can produce and sustain essential equipment here at home.
5. Establishing a long-term, predictable procurement strategy that avoids delays, cost overruns, and capability gaps.
Canada cannot rely on outdated assumptions or decades-old procurement cycles. We must make decisions that reflect the world as it is today—not the world we remember. A credible, well-
equipped military is not optional; it is the foundation of national sovereignty, Arctic security, and our obligations to our allies.
I hope you will raise this issue within your caucus and in the House of Commons. At a time of increasing global instability, Canadians need to know that their Armed Forces have the tools, training, and support required to keep our country safe.
Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter, and for your service to our community.
Sincerely,
[Name]
[Address]
[City, Province]
[Date]
[Member of Parliament] House of Commons Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Dear [Member of Parliament],
I am writing as a concerned Canadian who believes we are failing the people who serve this country in uniform. The Canadian Armed Forces—active members, veterans, and military families—are carrying the weight of a growing global security burden while living with declining resources, inadequate support, and increasingly difficult living conditions.
Before we speak about equipment and modernization, we must speak honestly about the human reality inside our military community. We have serving members relying on food banks. We have families unable to find affordable housing near their bases. We have military spouses who move repeatedly, losing income and career stability. And we have veterans who wait months or even years for the benefits they earned.
This is not the standard a G7 nation should accept. And it is certainly not the standard Canada’s bravest and best citizens deserve.
For this reason, I am urging you to support increasing Canada’s defence spending to five percent of GDP—not as an abstract target, but as a commitment to properly compensate and care for the people who serve. Any credible modernization plan must include:
1. Fair, competitive compensation for serving members, closing the gap between CAF salaries and comparable civilian roles, especially in high-demand trades.
2. Affordable, adequate military housing for families at major bases across the country, including immediate investments to repair, expand, and modernize aging housing stock.
3. Improved benefits and family supports, including mental-health care, child-care access, transition assistance, and spousal employment support.
4. A fully resourced veterans’ care system, with faster decisions, fewer administrative barriers, and long-term treatment plans that honour the full cost of service.
5. Stability and predictability, ensuring the CAF has a long-term, protected budget so families are not living with constant uncertainty about training, postings, and support programs.
These investments are not luxuries. They are the minimum moral obligation owed to the people who defend our sovereignty, protect our North American security, and uphold our commitments to allies in an increasingly dangerous world.
If Canada expects its Armed Forces to meet rising global and domestic demands—from Arctic security to NATO operations—we must first ensure they can meet the demands placed on their own families. Housing security, fair pay, and dependable benefits are foundational to recruitment, retention, morale, and national readiness.
Increasing defence spending to five percent of GDP is not just about militarization—it is about honouring the human beings who carry our flag into harm’s way. It is about ensuring their children have stable homes, that their partners are supported, and that veterans can live with dignity after service.
I hope you will raise this matter in caucus and in Parliament. Serving members and their families deserve to know that their country stands firmly behind them—not just in words, but in meaningful action.
Thank you for your attention and for your continued service to our community.
Sincerely,
[Name]
[Address]
[City, Province]
[Date]
[Member of Parliament] House of Commons Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Dear [Member of Parliament],
I am writing as a concerned Canadian who believes our country can no longer afford the chronic delays and bureaucratic paralysis that have become the hallmark of Canada’s defence procurement system. In a rapidly changing global security environment, the Canadian Armed Forces are being asked to operate with equipment that is aging, overstretched, and in some cases already obsolete. No amount of strategic planning can compensate for the fact that timely procurement simply is not happening.
If Canada is to meet its responsibilities in North America, NATO, the Indo-Pacific and the Arctic, we must modernize not only our military, but the system that delivers military capability. Increasing defence spending to five percent of GDP will only be meaningful if those dollars translate into real, tangible capability—on time, in service, and in the hands of the men and women who need it.
For this reason, I respectfully ask that you support a major overhaul of Canada’s defence procurement model, grounded in three essential priorities:
1. Timely procurement that delivers capability within operationally relevant timelines. Too many projects take decades from approval to delivery. Our allies move in years; Canada often moves in generations. That gap is now a direct national-security liability.
2. A greater reliance on proven, off-the-shelf solutions. We should not be reinventing platforms, systems, or technologies that are already in production, in service, and widely used by our closest allies. Off-the-shelf capability dramatically reduces cost, risk, timeline uncertainty, and interoperability gaps.
3. A clear, accountable procurement governance model. The new Defence Investment Agency is a start but today, responsibilities are split across multiple departments and agencies, creating bottlenecks and decision dead zones. A streamlined, accountable structure is essential to ensure that funding actually becomes capability.
These reforms are not optional. Without them, increasing defence budgets will not improve readiness, will not modernize the force, and will not deliver the ships, aircraft, vehicles, and systems required to protect Canada. Modern threats will not wait for our processes to catch up.
As global instability deepens—whether in the Arctic, Eastern Europe, or the Indo-Pacific—Canada must act with the seriousness the moment demands. This means moving away from
bespoke, delayed, and politically paralyzed procurement processes toward a system that prioritizes urgency, interoperability, and real operational value.
With predictable funding, a modernized procurement system, and an emphasis on buying what already works, Canada can finally deliver the capabilities the Canadian Armed Forces have been waiting for: next-generation submarines, integrated air and missile defence, Arctic domain awareness systems, munitions production, and equipment that keeps our serving members safe and effective.
I hope you will raise this matter in caucus and in Parliament. Procurement reform is not only a fiscal issue—it is a national-security imperative.
Thank you for your attention, and for your service to our community.
Sincerely,
[Name]
[Address]
[City, Province]
