Prime Minister Mark Carney Tuesday announced the new defense strategy which will shape the country's future in the coming days. 

The statement from the government said that the  international rules-based order is fading, and technological change is expanding the fields of conflict. In response, Canada’s new government is focused on what we can control: rebuilding, rearming, and reinvesting in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). We are working fast and seeing results: Canada is on track to hit our 2% NATO spending target this fiscal year and applications to join the CAF are up nearly 13%.

To protect Canada’s sovereignty, build our prosperity, and strengthen our strategic autonomy, the Canadian government must change how we invest in defence. Canada’s defence procurement has long been too complicated, too slow, and too reliant on international suppliers, limiting the growth of our defence industries. This has left our workers and businesses with fewer opportunities, our domestic industries without the demand necessary to scale, and critically, the women and men of our military without the equipment they need to defend our sovereignty and that of our Allies.

Canada’s new government is changing this. The PM   Mark Carney, launched Canada’s first Defence Industrial Strategy. This is a strategy to transform our defence industries by prioritising Canadian suppliers and materials, investing in Canadian innovation and commercialisation, and streamlining procurement to give businesses consistent and predictable demand. This will enable Canada’s aerospace, cyber, and other industries to scale up operations to sell more at home and to trusted partners around the world, creating high-paying careers for Canadians across defence supply chains.

The Defence Industrial Strategy positions Canadian industry to take advantage of $180 billion in defence procurement opportunities and $290 billion in defence-related capital investment opportunities in Canada over the next 10 years, with an anticipated $125 billion downstream economic benefit by 2035. The Defence Industrial Strategy will create 125,000 high-paying careers, increase our defence exports by 50%, raise the share of defence acquisitions awarded to Canadian firms to 70%, and grow Canadian defence industry revenues by 240%. Within a decade, we will raise maritime fleet serviceability to 75%, land fleets to 80%, and aerospace fleets to 85% to bolster Canadian defence.

In total, the Defence Industrial Strategy is an investment of over half a trillion dollars in Canadian security, economic prosperity, and our sovereignty.

The Defence Investment Agency (DIA) is central to this strategy. It will streamline processes, cut red tape, and speed up delivery. It will equip the CAF with what it needs, when it needs it, and will prioritise manufacturing and strategic partnerships with Canadian firms, including small and medium-sized businesses. The DIA will also lead Canada’s participation in joint procurement initiatives.