North Bay's mayor says he is not worried over comments U.S. President Donald Trump has made about the future of NORAD which includes 22 Wing CFB North Bay.
"What is the flavour of the day for him?" said Peter Chirico, North Bay's mayor, about Trump.
Chirico has a unique tie to the Canadian Air Force as he was named a 22 Wing Honourary Colonel in 2020.
"That would be no, I'm not concerned because I think that NORAD plays a pivotal role in our world defence, quite frankly, when we take a look at what 22 Wing here does, monitoring the air traffic control of all of North American aerospace, plus space.
"I believe that it's something that is a continued investment that we will see support from our Canadian government, we will see support from the American government and we'll see from all of our NATO partners and NORAD partners."
The concern came recently through a New York Times article which indicated Trump was reconsidering military cooperation, including the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) — the long-standing partnership that aims to protect the continent from outside threats like nuclear missile attacks.
Since then, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has apparently tried to assure Canada that this was not going to happen, according to the New York Times’ sources.
Established in 1958 as a binational treaty level defence agreement between Canada and the U.S. NORAD was initially tasked with aerospace warning and control for North America, evolving to include the maritime warning mission in 2006.