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National Defence Headquarters (NDHQ) (French: quartiers généraux de la Défense nationale (QGDN)) consists of the military headquarters for the Canadian Armed Forces, as well as hosts the majority of the civilian Department of National Defence (DND) staff. NDHQ comprises a collection of offices spread in buildings across the National Capital Region, although it is most commonly identified with the Major-General George R Pearkes Building on Colonel By Drive in Ottawa. From 2017, the various locations will begin to be consolidated at the Carling Campus on Carling Avenue.
Completed in 1974, the George R Pearkes Building was originally built for Transport Canada until a plan for a new NDHQ in LeBreton Flats was cancelled. Transport Canada instead moved to the newly completed Place de Ville Tower C (1972). The Carling Campus was originally Nortel's research and development site until it was purchased by the Federal Government in 2010.
Falling under the Minister of National Defence, NDHQ includes the office of the Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), who is the senior military commander within the Canadian Armed Forces; and the Deputy Minister, who as the senior civil servant is in charge of the Department of National Defence.