The federal government has unveiled its new national security strategy, which calls for Canada to prepare for war and other worst-case scenarios.
The new strategy, “The Plan for a Stronger Canada – National Security for Canadians,” is the country’s first national security policy since 2004. The 13-page document says Canada faces a range of global threats, including great power rivalries, authoritarian aggression, emerging artificial intelligence technologies, climate change, and pandemics.
“Once distant threats are now proximate and immediate. The global order that long protected our sovereignty has ruptured. We are prepared to protect Canada’s sovereignty, and when it is threatened, we will act,” the document reads.
The strategy calls strengthening national security a national imperative, pledging to be transparent with Canadians about threats and preparing for “all contingencies up to and including war and other worst-case scenarios.” It also pledges to “pragmatically partner with countries who share our interests” to bolster Canada’s strategic capabilities and advance priorities.
The strategy calls for Canada to develop “strategic autonomy” through a growing economy, a “disciplined” foreign policy, stronger armed forces, and improved intelligence capabilities. It also identifies eight strategic capability areas that it says Canada must strengthen: emerging technologies, critical minerals, defence, energy, transportation, pharmaceuticals and biotech, food security, and payments, settlement and investment.
“Protecting and developing these capabilities will guide our decisions at home and abroad,” the document says, adding that Canada will build them domestically where possible and turn to “reliable” allies when necessary.
To strengthen these capabilities, the government says it will develop plans to implement its Buy Canadian Policy, expand domestic food production under the National Food Security Strategy, improve national security and intelligence information-sharing with the private sector and research institutions, and advance technologies such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing. It also plans to deepen cooperation with allies and partners.
The strategy says Canada’s foreign policy will prioritize diversifying trade relationships and strengthening security ties, including by developing partnerships with “new partners in the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere.”
Regarding the United States, the document says Canada will seek to “build a new partnership” and maintain a “cooperative, clear-eyed relationship” based on “mutual respect, national sovereignty, and shared responsibility for the security of North America.”
In an accompanying statement, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada faces threats to its sovereignty, including the “weaponization of trade deals,” in apparent reference to tariffs that Washington has placed on Canada.
The strategy does not name any specific countries as adversaries.
The document says Canada will maintain a “robust, permanent presence” in the Arctic to assert its sovereignty and work with like-minded countries in the region. It also calls for partnerships across the Americas to strengthen security, including efforts to combat illegal drugs and organized crime.
The strategy reiterates Canada’s “unwavering commitment” to freedom of conscience and religion, freedom of thought and expression, and freedom of peaceful assembly and association. It says the government will defend these values against threats from foreign states, organized criminal networks, and “new and evolving forms of radicalization.”
The document also reiterates that Canada has increased its defence spending to 2 percent of GDP to meet the NATO target, and that it plans to reach the updated pledge of 5 percent of GDP by 2035. The pledge encompasses core defence spending as well as broader defence- and security-related spending.
Conservative MP and shadow immigration minister Michelle Rempel Garner said in a statement that the National Security Strategy is “completely silent” on gaps in security screening for non-citizens seeking to enter the country. Rempel Garner said this is a “massive problem” given that the Liberal government has signalled that immigration levels could soon increase.
The MP noted that Ahmed Eldidi entered Canada in 2018 and passed several security screenings to become a citizen in 2024. He was later charged with ISIS terrorism offences tied to a 2015 video that had been online for years.
“The National Security Strategy needs real, measurable reforms for screening non-citizens seeking to enter Canada,” she said.
