The Alberta Defence Force at transition is 2,100 people — 300 permanent and 1,800 territorial — with civilian support, bases, operating cost and annual sustainment. It is a transition provision, not a defence policy. The size, shape, equipment and posture of a permanent force are decisions for the first legislature, and nothing here forecloses them.
The force is funded for pay, support, bases, operating and uniforms. Equipment follows rather than accompanies them, and no armament, vehicles or platforms are costed in this window, for two independent reasons. Equipping a force fixes its posture, and fixing the posture is not this budget's decision to make. And separately, every route to arming a force runs through another government: negotiated legacy stocks require Canada's agreement, Excess Defence Articles require an eligibility Alberta does not hold on Day 1, Foreign Military Sales requires a concluded agreement and notification to Congress, and even a commercial purchase requires an export licence issued against an end-user certificate. Alberta cannot buy its way past any of that inside twenty-four months.
What the window funds instead is the capacity to work that constraint: an acquisition task force standing up on Day 1 to negotiate with the United States, alongside the air-to-air security arrangement and the continental defence compatibility the force's Day 1 posture depends on. Day 1 security capacity is therefore the people, the bases, those arrangements, and the domestic policing and emergency powers costed at Policing and Public Safety. The equipment programme that follows is a decision for the first legislature, taken once a posture is set, and is not costed here. Forward to Freedom costs the mature force in steady state, at about one per cent of gross domestic product; the difference between that figure and this one is the equipment programme.
C$ millions, fiscal 2026-27 price base. A one-time cost, a recurring cost and a payment to a member of the public are different things and are never added together.
How the figure is built
C$415.5M a year of added running cost and C$58.2M one-time, of which C$20.2M is capital. This funds a 2,100-member force - 300 permanent and 1,800 territorial - its civilian support, its bases and operating, its annual equipment sustainment, and the uniforms and personal kit to stand it up. It does not fund armament, vehicles or platforms, and it does not fix a permanent defence posture.
The lines
| C$M | ||
|---|---|---|
| Military payroll, 2,100 members | 210.0 | Held flat across all scenarios. 300 permanent, 1,800 territorial, about C$100,000 each |
| Non-DRDC civilian support payroll | 31.5 | From the observed federal civilian-to-uniformed ratio in Alberta |
| Base and force non-pay operating and maintenance | 114.0 | Scaled from the federal Alberta operating proxy with a fixed-facility adjustment |
| Annual capital sustainment | 60.0 | Sustainment and minor recapitalisation. An amount required every year, so running cost under the rule that the three streams are never mixed |
| ADDED RUNNING COST, a year | 415.5 | |
| Basic non-weapon initial personal issue | 29.4 | Uniforms and personal kit. Expressly non-weapon |
| Stand-up capital | 20.2 | The capital subset, unchanged |
| Interim Acquisition Task Force | 8.6 | Eighteen posts over the window, external export-control counsel and negotiation support. The paper stands it up on Day 1 and it was not costed |
| ONE-TIME TOTAL | 58.2 |
The people
Complement: 300 permanent and 1,800 territorial, 2,100 in all. This domain’s build is not divided into named post blocks, so the figure is stated whole rather than tabled.
Comparators
| Figure | ||
|---|---|---|
| Payroll as a share of the recurring figure | 49.1% | |
| Implied cost per member | about C$100,000 | 2,100 members against a C$210.0M payroll line |
| Suffield capability-share allocation | C$60.3M to C$76.6M across four combinations | Two official sources conflict on the national organisation's scale; the memorandum discloses the conflict rather than resolving it, and states that it does not support the C$84.0M upper bound |
What these figures assume
- The force is 2,100 members - 300 permanent and 1,800 territorial - and Year 2 personnel are held flat. This is a transition provision. The size, shape and equipment of any permanent force are a decision for the first legislature (defence being a transition provision only).
- No armament, vehicles or platforms are costed. The initial issue is expressly basic non-weapon personal equipment, and any multi-year equipment or estate commitment must be recorded at full approved contract value under a separate authority.
- The Suffield defence research establishment is not funded in this window. Whether Alberta retains a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear research capability is a posture decision, and the estate itself is an asset settlement question.
How this connects to other domains
Emergency management sits with Public Safety. The Suffield estate and the British Army Training Unit arrangement are asset and treaty matters for Debt and Assets and International Relations. Any permanent force equipment programme is a posture decision and is not costed in this window.
Sources
- Alberta Transition Council costing analysis for this domain: component build, the Suffield allocation and sustainment classification.
- Alberta Transition Plan supporting analysis, Alberta Defence Force.
- Alberta Transition Council technical annex for this domain.
