Civil and defence aerospace are two sides of the same coin

The health of the broader civilian industry matters for our national security and defence industrial base.

Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon, left, and Defence Minister David McGuinty. There are widely used technologies in civil aviation that originate from government-funded defence research initiatives, writes Pierre Pyun.The Hill Times photographs by Andrew Meade

Opinion

BY PIERRE PYUN

January 5, 2026

Some people may know that Transport Canada’s roots can be traced back to military aviation. In fact, the Royal Canadian Airforce used to oversee civil flying until a Civil Aviation Branch of the Department of National Defence was created, becoming later the Department of T...

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