Stephen Fuhr
- Born
- May 27, 1969 — Edmonton, Alberta
- Family
- Father of one
- Education
- Diploma in aviation technology from Trinity Western University
- Career
- Retired air force officer, aviation executive
- Political Experience
- MP for Kelowna—Lake Country (2015-2019), MP for Kelowna (2025-present), Secretary of State for Defence Procurement (2025-present)
- Notable
- Served for 20 years in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), retiring with the rank of Major. Home in West Kelowna was destroyed in the McDougall Creek fire in August 2023.
Based on publicly available information — may contain inaccuracies
Business & Financial Interests
Before entering politics, Stephen Fuhr had a career in aviation. He served for 20 years with the Royal Canadian Air Force, where he was a CF-18 fighter pilot. After his military service, he worked as a commercial pilot for several companies. Fuhr was also an entrepreneur, co-founding a technology company called The Hangar, which focused on the aviation industry.
Key Relationships & Connections
As a Member of Parliament, Stephen Fuhr served as the Chair of the Standing Committee on National Defence. In this role, he worked closely with the Minister of National Defence at the time, Harjit Sajjan, on military and security issues. He was also a vocal advocate for the economic potential of the cannabis industry in his Okanagan-based riding, which brought him into contact with various industry stakeholders.
Potential Conflicts of Interest
In 2018, the federal Ethics Commissioner investigated Stephen Fuhr following allegations that he used his position to benefit a cannabis company. The complaint related to a letter Fuhr sent to a municipal official in support of the company, The Hydropothecary Corporation (now HEXO Corp.), which had a consulting contract with a firm owned by his then-spouse. The Ethics Commissioner's report concluded that Fuhr had not breached the Conflict of Interest Act, clearing him of wrongdoing, but noted the situation could create a perception of a conflict.
Public Controversies
Stephen Fuhr faced a public controversy in 2016 after he was secretly recorded at a town hall meeting discussing electoral reform. In the recording, Fuhr suggested that the Liberal party's promise to change the voting system was made with the assumption they would not win a majority government and that the commitment might not be followed through on. The comments were widely criticized as cynical. Fuhr later publicly apologized for his remarks, stating they did not reflect the views of the government or the Prime Minister.
Where Stephen falls on key policy spectrums
Your Money
People & Society
How We're Governed
Land & Community
Tracy Gray won with 27,620 votes (46.9%)
Total votes cast: 58,841
How does Stephen Fuhr's voting record line up with your values?
Mr. Speaker, furthermore, pursuant to Standing Order 83(2), I request that an order of the day be designated for the presentation of the budget to be delivered in the House at 4 p.m. on Thursday, November 5, 2026.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to designate next Tuesday, October 27, as an opposition day, and also as the day appointed for the conclusion of the debate on the motion to concur in the 10th report of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, pursuant to Standing Order 66(2).
Madam Speaker, as I said in my remarks today and last Thursday when we had an interaction in this place, we have signed a number of contracts. I will not repeat them, but perhaps the member could review the tapes. There were supply arrangements, contracts and preferred suppliers. There are a number of things, and we should not confuse those things, but, yes, we have signed a number of contracts,
Madam Speaker, as many people know, the NATO commitment is 5% by 2035. That is broken up into 3.5% in hard military spend and 1.5% in infrastructure and dual use. We did an announcement in Yellowknife, five months ago, I want to say. We are investing $35 billion into the north for roads, bridges, ports, northern supply hubs, and infrastructure for NORAD bases such as Inuvik. There is lots of
Madam Speaker, as my colleague was building an alternate universe, I ran out of paper, so let me just try to respond. It was very high level. For years, the Conservatives have crowed about supporting the military and spending and all this stuff. They did buy a few things, there is no question about it. There is the list of things the member pointed out, and I think there was even a compliment in
C-40, An Act respecting production, procurement and investment in relation to national defence and national security moved that Bill, be read the second time and referred to a committee. C-40 He said: Madam Speaker, it is my pleasure to rise today to speak to Bill, the strengthening Canada's defence sector act, and the future of the Defence Investment Agency. C-40 I think we can all agree that
Madam Speaker, I covered this last week. With respect to all the major investment we are going to be undertaking, we have undertaken and will continue to undertake, it is a massive amount of taxpayer dollars, and obviously we have to be responsible for that. I want to untie Canadian economic benefit and Canadian companies, because oftentimes we confuse those. Economic benefit to Canada can mean
Madam Speaker, so says the critic and an older parliamentary secretary to the minister of national defence. I accept his comments. C-31 C-40 I did not speak to Bill. As the member pointed out, it was an omnibus bill. I did not speak to it in the House. He was very upset that it was an omnibus bill and that the committee was not going to get to see it. Not talking about Bill C-31 or Bill, the
Madam Speaker, just by way of history, I will say that the previous Liberal government actually doubled defence spending over the 10 years that Trudeau was prime minister, but we did not see a noticeable change. The reason was that there was a financial commitment but we did not have a process that was able to dispatch the funding in a good way. It certainly did not work then, and it now needs to
Mr. Speaker, anyone who is paying attention would know that the Defence Investment Agency, over the last 12 months, has done a lot to deliver for our armed forces. We are in contract award for new aircraft. We are in contract award for armoured vehicles. We are advancing projects such as submarines and AEW&C aircraft. All these things are happening. C-40 Billwould give our Defence Investment
Mr. Speaker, Telesat and MDA is a signed contract. Bombardier is a signed contract. General Dynamics Land Systems—Canada is a signed contract. May I remind the member that he voted against defence spending in 2024 at the defence committee. We will take no lessons from the Conservatives.
C-40 Mr. Speaker, part of the question was incoherent, but let me address the part of it that I think I could hear. Billwould still have all the safeguards for oversight and government accountability that we have in the system we have right now. With regard to the member's comment about the GlobalEye, we did the necessary analysis to make the choice to download Saab as the preferred supplier.
Mr. Speaker, it is always interesting to find out, when people are criticizing what we are up to, what they did when they had the keys to the car. The Conservative Party let NATO defence spending fall below 1%. The Conservatives actually got us out of NATO AWACS. That was a specific, conscious decision by the Stephen Harper government. Regarding the NATO airplane we are looking at buying,