Ottawa has published its first national security strategy since 2004: a 13-page framework that names eight sectors Canada must control, puts economic security ahead of defence, and restates the path to defence spending of 5 per cent of GDP by 2035.
The Plan for a Stronger Canada: National Security for Canadians, issued by the Privy Council Office in October, argues that Canada can no longer count on geography and allies to keep it safe.
"The long-held belief that the combination of our geography, interconnectedness, and a rules-based international order could substitute for Canadian sovereign capacity to protect ourselves is no longer tenable," Prime Minister Mark Carney writes in the opening message.
Why it matters
It sets the frame for everything else. For the first time in two decades, one document ranks Canada's national interests, threats and priorities across economics, diplomacy, defence, public safety and intelligence.
Defence is pitched as an economic engine. The plan calls the Canadian Armed Forces "the bedrock of Canadian security and an engine of this Plan," and ties procurement directly to strategic autonomy.
Industry is written in. Buy Canadian, a domestic defence industrial base, and expanded intelligence sharing and security screening with the private sector all appear as stated goals.
The U.S. relationship is recast. Washington is described as a "cooperative, clear-eyed" partner, and Ottawa commits to diversifying security ties toward Europe, the Indo-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa.
Defence: one mission, "defence in depth"
Canada spent 2 per cent of GDP on defence in 2025-26, the plan says, and that share will keep rising toward NATO's 5 per cent pledge by 2035. Protecting Canada's geography, "including in the Arctic," is named the defining task for the CAF.
The government commits to a follow-on plan that will:
Give the CAF one central mission: the defence of Canada and Canadian interests
Make the CAF a leader in "defence in depth" by institutionalizing lessons from modern conflict, with Ukraine cited by name
Widen military options against hybrid warfare and threats in space and cyberspace
Meet NORAD and NATO commitments while showing reach into the Indo-Pacific and Middle East
Build a domestic industrial base able to equip and sustain the CAF, with the Defence Investment Agency delivering the Defence Industrial Strategy
On the economic side, the plan points to the Strategic Response Fund and the Canada Strong Diversification Fund to build industrial capacity, and pledges to make Canada a major player in commercializing AI, quantum computing and space technology.
Arctic, cyber and intelligence
Arctic: Canada will exercise sovereignty through "a robust, permanent presence" in the North. That presence, plus NORAD, is meant to anchor Canada's wider role in the hemisphere. Arctic Foreign Policy gets folded into one global, interest-based foreign policy alongside the Indo-Pacific and Africa strategies.
Cyber: The plan promises stronger digital capabilities for law enforcement and the Communications Security Establishment (CSE), implementation of the National Cyber Security Strategy, and an all-threats approach to critical infrastructure.
Intelligence: Ottawa pledges more sovereign collection and analysis, bigger contributions to Five Eyes, new partnerships beyond it, and investment in AI and secure cloud to speed up processing. CSE, CSIS and the defence intelligence enterprise all get stronger capacities, and intelligence authorities are to be modernized.
Foreign interference and crime: Commitments include implementing the Foreign Influence Transparency and Accountability Act, hiring new CBSA officers, a Financial Crimes Agency, and a national exercise and preparedness program.
Trade tools: Canada will lean on collective mechanisms such as the Critical Minerals Resilience and Production Alliance, and sharpen sanctions and import and export controls with better intelligence.
Between the lines
This is a framework, not a spending plan. Each of the five pillars (economic security, foreign policy, defence, public safety and intelligence) ends with a promise that "the Government will produce a plan," so at least five follow-on documents are still to come. Beyond the 2035 NATO target, the strategy attaches no new dollar figures or delivery dates.
Drones and autonomous systems are not named. Frontier AI appears as a threat, and AI as an intelligence tool and a commercial priority.
What's next
Carney will convene a First Ministers' Meeting on National Security, and national security becomes a standing item at future first ministers' meetings.
Proposals to modernize national security legislation are due within the plan's first year.
A review of the whole national security enterprise, including review and oversight bodies, will feed a first update in no more than four years.
After that, Ottawa says it will publish an updated plan every four years.
Bottom line
Ottawa has finally written down what it thinks national security means: sovereign capability first, with defence, industry and intelligence pulling in the same direction. For Canada's defence industrial base, the signal is clear. The test is whether the five promised plans arrive with money and deadlines attached.
