Canada’s $6.6 Billion Defence Reset... The Era of Borrowed Security Is Over
Ottawa is shifting from dependence to domestic strength... more Canadian manufacturing, more jobs, and a quieter but serious move away from automatic reliance on the United States.
For most of my life, Canada’s defence strategy could be summed up in one sentence…
“We live next to the Americans.”
Geography was our insurance policy.
We didn’t need to build everything ourselves because the world’s largest military sat right beside us.
That assumption is now cracking.
And Ottawa knows it.
Canada has announced a $6.6-billion defence industrial strategy designed to do something we haven’t seriously attempted in decades…
Build, maintain, and design more military capability at home.
Not symbolic. Structural.
This isn’t about buying more equipment.
It’s about changing where capability lives.
Trust Is Shifting… At Home and Abroad
Public opinion has moved faster than governments.
Recent polling shows more than half of Canadians now view the United States as the biggest potential threat to Canada’s security.
About 42% no longer see the U.S. as an ally at all, while many others describe it as unreliable.
That’s a remarkable psychological shift between two countries that share the world’s longest undefended border.
Europe is experiencing something similar.
Only a small minority of Europeans now describe the U.S. as a dependable ally, and in several countries concerns about American unpredictability are rising sharply.
Denmark’s public opinion shifted after tensions around Greenland.
Germany surveys show growing unease about U.S. stability.
France is actively pursuing “digital sovereignty,” replacing or reducing reliance on American platforms inside government systems.
All of that matters to Canada because our economic and security relationships are deeply tied to Europe as well as the United States.
When Europe adjusts course, Canada feels the pull.
The $6.6 Billion Strategy… What It Actually Does
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s plan focuses on a simple principle…
More Canadian defence work should happen in Canada.
Right now, roughly 43% of defence procurement goes to domestic firms.
The target is about 70% by 2035.
That’s a major shift.
The government estimates the strategy could support about 125,000 jobs over the next decade across sectors like…
Steel and aluminum
Aerospace
Shipbuilding
Advanced manufacturing
Software and cyber systems
Drones and munitions
Exports are also expected to grow, with defence production becoming part of Canada’s broader industrial economy rather than just a government expense line.
In plain language…
Defence spending becomes economic development.
A Quiet but Important Definition Change
The strategy also changes what counts as a “Canadian” defence company.
If roughly 70% of the work and content is produced in Canada, the firm qualifies… even if the parent company is foreign.
That matters.
Because it shifts focus from ownership to economic impact…
Where the jobs are created
Where the intellectual property is developed
Where the supply chains operate
It’s pragmatic policy, not ideology.
A Readiness Problem Canada Can’t Ignore
Canada also faces an uncomfortable reality.
Only about half of our military equipment is currently considered operational.
The goal is to push readiness closer to 80%.
To help fix procurement delays, the government is creating a new defence investment agency… a single entry point intended to reduce bureaucracy and speed up projects.
Whether that works will depend entirely on execution.
Canada has struggled with procurement efficiency for decades.
Diversifying Allies Without Breaking Alliances
None of this means Canada is abandoning NATO or NORAD.
But it does mean diversification.
Canada is expanding partnerships with European and Indo-Pacific countries, including Germany, Sweden, and South Korea, and working with the European Space Agency to open markets for Canadian technology.
The message is subtle but clear…
The United States is no longer the automatic default supplier.
We will still buy American… when it makes sense.
Meeting NATO Targets… and Economic Opportunity
The strategy also supports Canada’s path toward NATO’s defence spending target of roughly 2% of GDP.
But the deeper opportunity is economic.
If executed properly, domestic defence production strengthens…
Industrial capacity
Supply chain resilience
High-skill employment
Export revenue
Strategic independence
It becomes part of national competitiveness.
The Real Test Isn’t the Announcement
Plans are easy.
Execution is hard.
This strategy succeeds only if…
Procurement actually speeds up
Smaller Canadian firms can participate
Long-term investment survives political cycles
Bureaucracy doesn’t choke innovation
Canada has announced ambitious industrial plans before.
Delivery is what will matter.
A Bigger Shift Is Underway
The world is fragmenting into economic and security blocs.
Alliances still exist… but they’re less automatic.
Countries are hedging risk.
Canada is doing the same.
This defence strategy isn’t anti-American.
It’s pro-Canadian.
It’s about whether we control critical capabilities ourselves or rent them from someone else.
If it works, it could reshape parts of our economy for decades.
If it fails, we remain dependent.
That’s the stakes.
The Recap…
Canada just announced a $6.6-billion defence reset… and most people don’t realize how big this is.
More domestic manufacturing.
More jobs.
Less automatic dependence on the U.S.
This isn’t about weapons.
It’s about sovereignty.
The Gut Punch…
Security you don’t control isn’t security… it’s a lease.
Source Credit:
Source: Public reporting and policy discussion on Canada’s newly announced defence industrial strategy and international security trends.
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#CanadaStrong
6.6 billion that's a good tip.
We need a 160 billion.
Need to be totally self-sufficient. They need to control the supply lines and they gotta be controlled from inside of our nation by Canadians .
If you want a Korean sub then get the Koreans to build it in a Canadian shipyard.
If you want a German sub get the Germans to build it in a Canadian ship yard.
Same with all of our aircraft we should be building everything we need ourselves.
And we need an air superiority interceptor.
That should be our next project once they begin building the Swedish jets. Then design a new Air superiority aircraft And build those.
In addition to this we should be selling everything to our allies too just like we did during World War 2.
I think we need to understand how vulnerable we are to American retaliation when we reduce our military spending on American products.