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Defending the economy and preparing for the possibility of war in a more unstable world top the list of priorities in Canada’s new national security strategy.
The long-awaited framework plan, released on Thursday, sets the stage for an overhaul of the defence, security and intelligence sectors, details of which will come in future policies.
One of the key aims of the new strategy, the first in more than two decades, is to modernize the country’s intelligence capabilities, including the ability to gather and analyze intelligence on emerging threats to sovereignty.
The strategy pledges to ramp up Canada’s intelligence-gathering capabilities and “prepare for all contingencies up to and including war.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney, speaking in Montreal at the opening of the Canada-EU summit, said ultimately the strategy will help Canadians to “live as we choose.”
He also said it reflects the reality of a new and dangerous world.
“It is not enough to feed, fuel and defend ourselves. Sovereignty now requires secure access to semiconductors, critical minerals, payment systems, clean energy technologies, vaccines, space-based communications and artificial intelligence,” Carney said.
The rebuilding of Canada’s military and defence industrial base also forms part of the plan released on Thursday, but those measures are already underway.
Increased defence spending
Carney’s government has already begun a substantial increase in defence spending, which will eventually see the country allocate more than $163 billion toward the military by midway through the next decade.
It has also introduced legislation to create a Crown corporation dedicated to defence procurement.
Entirely redrawn defence and foreign policies will be released in the coming months.
At the heart of the new foreign policy will be “diversifying” Canada’s trading relationships. The new strategy does not name specific countries as threats, even though U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly mused about making Canada the 51st state in the American union.
The strategy does, however, commit to a “co-operative, clear-eyed relationship with the United States.”
U.S. President Donald Trump lashed out at a possible Canada-EU trade alliance, threatening new tariffs if he finds it to be ‘a hostile act.’ Meanwhile, Democrats in Washington expressed sympathy for Canada and said trade talks should resume.
The Trump administration’s own National Security Strategy, released almost a year ago, seeks to make the U.S. the pre-eminent power in the Western Hemisphere.
The Canadian plan will see Ottawa “work to maintain a relationship with the United States based on mutual respect, national sovereignty and shared responsibility for the security of North America.”
Strengthening public safety
Over the last several years, the federal government was seized with allegations and reports of foreign interference by China. While the new strategy makes no mention of that, it does commit to strengthening public safety against criminal and national security threats.
One of the more highly anticipated portions of the report had been whether it would set Canada on course to create its own foreign intelligence service.
At the moment, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service has a mandate to collect intelligence on domestic threats. While it occasionally operates overseas, it has no clear authority to operate in the same manner as the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency or Britain’s MI6.
Senior federal officials, who walked journalists through the report on Thursday, said the matter is still under consideration, with no decision at this time.
“I don’t think we’re on the verge of announcing a separate agency that would be akin to the CIA or MI6. But at the same time we’re looking at the capabilities that our intelligence agencies have and making sure that they are fit for purpose and for the challenges that we face today,” said one senior official who spoke on background.
Creating a foreign intelligence service would require changes to legislation and investment by the federal government.
Wesley Wark, one of the country’s leading security and intelligence experts, described the overall plan and commitment to review national security legislation within a year as hugely ambitious.
“It will take money, in some cases bucket loads. It will require some profound institutional changes in how national security is organized and led. Allies and partners will need convincing, and it will take public buy-in,” Wark said.
“It’s a steep climb over years of effort.”
On Thursday, federal Conservatives dismissed the strategy, saying it had little substance.
“It was pretty thin,” said Michelle Rempel Garner, the Conservative critic for immigration. “It probably could have been an email. I think it said five or six times we’re going to plan to plan. So, there aren’t any details.”
Source: www.cbc.ca
