New Brunswick announces $2 million subsidy for Moncton company supplying U.S. military giant Lockheed Martin

The provincial government has announced $2 million in new funding for a Moncton-based company that has attracted protest for supplying American military giant Lockheed Martin, which builds fighter jets for customers that include the Israeli Air Force.

Opportunities NB, the economic development agency, announced the new “performance-based support” for Apex Industries last week during DEFSEC Atlantic, an annual exhibition in Halifax billed as “a major networking opportunity for the Aerospace, Defence and Security industries.”

New Brunswick’s Liberal government said in a media release that the subsidy would go towards a 3,250-square-metre expansion of the company’s production facility, a project expected to create 35 full-time jobs and add “up to $15.3 million in direct provincial GDP by the end of 2029.”

Activists have staged demonstrations outside the Millennium Boulevard factory over the company’s participation in the Lockheed Martin F-35 program. The American aerospace and weapons contractor sells fighter jets to a number of U.S. allies, including Canada and Israel.

The NB Media Co-op reached out to Apex Industries CEO Keith Parlee for this story but didn’t receive a response by publication time.

Parlee was quoted in the government media release saying the new funding “represents an important step forward as we expand our contract manufacturing business, which has been largely migrated to the defence and naval sectors in recent years.”

He added that the money would make the company more competitive in the “rapidly expanding defence sector for years to come.” He previously told the NB Media Co-op that the company has “no control” over how its products are used.

Premier Susan Holt has promoted New Brunswick as “uniquely positioned to seize the generational opportunities arising from Canada’s focus on defence investments,” while Ottawa has dramatically increased military spending.

In January 2025, Prime Minister Mark Carney agreed to join other NATO countries in committing five per cent of gross domestic product annually towards military spending by 2035, while other federal departments face deep budget cuts.

That’s more than double the current level of military spending, which already represents a multibillion dollar increase since Carney came to office. The increased spending follows pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump.

Federal NDP Leader Avi Lewis has stated that the the money will ultimately flow to American war contractors at a time when Canada faces threats of annexation from the Oval Office.

Apex Industries has previously received funding from federal and provincial levels of government over the years worth millions of dollars.

The office of Luke Randall, minister responsible for Opportunities NB, didn’t respond to an interview request by publication time.

In the media release announcing the new subsidy, he said the investment will “help APEX Industries expand and modernize its operations, increase production capacity and strengthen its ability to serve customers in these sectors, while creating opportunities for workers, suppliers and other businesses across the province.”

The company’s website notes that its clients include Lockheed Martin and other American military-aerospace contractors, including Bell Textron and Boeing.

The F-35 has been used by Israel in its attacks on Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran, according to researchers. Activists have said that the Israeli Air Force has used its fleet of F-35s to drop U.S.-made 2,000-pound bombs on Palestinian and Lebanese civilians, and that the fighter jets contain millions of dollars worth of technology made by Canadian companies and subsidiaries.

The group World Beyond War previously identified Apex as one of the Canadian firms “making a fortune off of the carnage in Gaza and the occupation of Palestine.” Human rights organizations have condemned Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip as genocidal, and its occupation of Palestinian territory as apartheid.

Lockheed Martin’s customers also include Canada. In 2023, the federal government announced that it would purchase 88 of the fighter jets. Amid the ongoing trade war, Carney ordered a review of the full order, but Canada remains committed to purchasing 16 of the aircraft.

However, the federal government has suspended an order for 16 Black Hawk helicopters manufactured by Sikorsky, a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, the CBC reported on Wednesday.

David Gordon Koch is a staff reporter with the NB Media Co-op. This reporting has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada, via the Local Journalism Initiative.