The associate minister of national defence () is a member of the Canadian cabinet who is responsible for various files within the defence department as assigned by the prime minister or defence minister.
The position was created in 1940 during World War II under the War Measures Act along with the creation of a minister of defence for air and a minister of defence for naval services. These positions lapsed with the end of the war. The position of associate minister of defence was recreated in 1953 when the National Defence Act was amended to provide for the appointment in peacetime.
This post remained vacant under Prime Ministers Pierre Trudeau, Joe Clark and John Turner. Brian Mulroney revived the position but it was abolished under Kim Campbell when she decreased the size of the cabinet from 35 to 24 ministers. The post was also not used under Jean Chrétien.
This position reappeared on December 12, 2003, when Paul Martin chose his first cabinet and named Albina Guarnieri as the associate minister of national defence and minister of state for civil preparedness, and the portfolio passed to Mauril Bélanger in a subsequent reshuffle. Stephen Harper did not name anyone to the position until his May 18, 2011 reshuffle, when Julian Fantino was appointed to the portfolio. The position was left vacant by Harper in the July 15, 2013 cabinet shuffle.
Throughout the prime ministership of Justin Trudeau, the minister of veterans affairs was concurrently the associate minister of national defence. After a brief interruption during 2025, his successor Mark Carney resumed this practice.
List of associate ministers of national defence Minister Tenure Prime Minister Charles Gavan Power July 12, 1940 November 26, 1944 King(16) vacant November 27, 1944 November 15, 1948 November 15, 1948 February 11, 1953 St-Laurent(17) Ralph Osborne Campney February 12, 1953 June 30, 1954 vacant July 1, 1954 April 26, 1957 Paul Hellyer April 27, 1957 June 20, 1957 vacant June 21, 1957 August 19, 1959 Diefenbaker(18) Pierre Sévigny August 20, 1959 February 8, 1963 vacant February 9, 1963 April 21, 1963 Lucien Cardin April 22, 1963 February 14, 1965 Pearson(19) Léo Cadieux February 15, 1965 September 18, 1967 vacant September 19, 1967 April 20, 1968 April 20, 1968 June 3, 1979 P.E. Trudeau(20) June 4, 1979 March 2, 1980 Clark(21) March 3, 1980 June 29, 1984 P.E. Trudeau(22) June 30, 1984 September 16, 1984 Turner(23) September 17, 1984 August 19, 1985 Mulroney(24) Harvie Andre August 20, 1985 June 29, 1986 Paul Dick June 30, 1986 June 29, 1989 Mary Collins June 30, 1986 January 3, 1993 vacant January 4, 1993 June 24, 1993 June 25, 1993 November 3, 1993 Campbell(25) November 4, 1993 December 11, 2003 Chrétien(26) Albina Guarnieri December 12, 2003 July 20, 2004 Martin(27) Mauril Bélanger July 20, 2004 February 6, 2006 vacant February 6, 2006 May 18, 2011 Harper(28) Julian Fantino May 18, 2011 July 4, 2012 Bernard Valcourt July 4, 2012 February 22, 2013 Kerry-Lynne Findlay February 22, 2013 July 15, 2013 vacant July 15, 2013 January 5, 2015 Julian Fantino January 5, 2015 November 3, 2015 Kent Hehr November 4, 2015 August 28, 2017 J. Trudeau(29) Seamus O'Regan August 28, 2017 January 14, 2019Jody Wilson-RaybouldJanuary 14, 2019February 12, 2019vacantFebruary 12, 2019March 1, 2019Lawrence MacAulayMarch 1, 2019July 26, 2023Ginette Petitpas TaylorJuly 26, 2023December 20, 2024Darren FisherDecember 20, 2024March 14, 2025 vacant March 14, 2025 May 13, 2025 Carney(30)Jill McKnightMay 13, 2025
Cadieux and Hellyer were later appointed as minister of national defence.
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