The General Purpose Frigate, or GPF, was a procurement project for the Royal Canadian Navy during the Cold War.

[1] Intended as a replacement for the Second World War-era destroyers in service at the time, the frigate design was developed for the Progressive Conservative Diefenbaker government in the late 1950s as part of the general fleet renewal program.

The GPF program was cancelled under the Liberal Pearson government as part of their plan to reshape the Canadian Armed Forces.

The need for further dedicated anti-submarine warfare (ASW) surface platforms was questioned due to the planned addition of submarines.

[4] At the same time NATO had developed a new defence plan, implemented in 1954, that called on Canada to have a force capable of fielding 43 ships.

Among the plan's suggestions was the need for Canadian ships to be forward deployed, capable of operating in regions under the threat of Soviet air attack.

[7] The GPFs were included as part of the 1961 building program of the Royal Canadian Navy after being presented to the Chiefs of Staff in May.

[16] In May 1963, Canada was informed by the United States that delays in the Tartar missile project would require C$250 million more in funding to solve the problems with that program.

[15] On 10 October 1963 the program was cancelled by Cabinet as a result of the internal debate about the future of the Royal Canadian Navy.

[19] After the cancellation of the GPF project there was still a need for new ships to replace those to be retired and the Royal Canadian Navy came up with several versions of improved GPFs.