Carney unveils Canada's first national security strategy in 22 years — and it starts with the economy

The plan

Prime Minister Mark Carney launched The Plan for a Stronger Canada on Thursday, Oct. 29, the country's first national security strategy in more than 20 years, the Prime Minister's Office said. The last comprehensive national security policy was published in 2004 under Paul Martin's government.

"Canada stands at a hinge moment in history," Carney said in his message in the strategy, adding that the belief that geography, interconnectedness and a rules-based international order could substitute for Canadian sovereign capacity "is no longer tenable." The strategy says the line between economic and national security has disappeared, and that national security depends not only on defence and resources but on economic strength, institutional resilience and partnerships with allies.

The five priorities

The plan sets out five priorities: strengthening Canada's economic security and resilience against threats; pursuing a disciplined foreign policy and broadening partnerships; rebuilding and strengthening the Canadian Armed Forces; enhancing public safety against crime and national security threats; and improving intelligence capabilities to anticipate and respond to emerging threats.

The economic plank comes first: securing Canada's sovereignty in key sectors — energy, critical minerals, advanced manufacturing and leading technologies — and delivering resources and expertise to the world will reinforce the country's position as an important player in the global economy, the strategy says. On defence, the government says it is changing how it invests, accelerating procurement and working with the Defence Investment Agency to build a defence industrial base capable of equipping and sustaining a stronger military, and to meet NORAD and NATO targets.

What comes next

The strategy is a framework, not the detailed policy: a new foreign policy is due in about a month, with new policies on defence, public safety, economic security and intelligence rolling out over coming months, the Canadian Press reported. The government will convene a First Ministers' Meeting on national security, likely next year, to strengthen coordination with the provinces and territories, and will bring forward proposals to modernize national security legislation within the next year — officials gave no specifics on what that might entail at Thursday's briefing.

The strategy will be updated at least every four years, the Prime Minister's Office said. Budget 2025 included $10.9 billion over five years to upgrade digital infrastructure across the Department of National Defence, the Canadian Armed Forces and the Communications Security Establishment Canada, cited in the plan.

Why now

The launch lands in the middle of a tense stretch for Canada: a trade fight with the United States that has seen tariffs of up to 50% on a broad range of Canadian imports, an EU summit under way in Montréal aimed at diversifying partnerships, and a defence build-up that includes Canada's first F-35 fighter jets arriving last week. The strategy's language about a "cooperative, clear-eyed relationship" with the United States, and about diversifying ties with new partners in the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere, speaks directly to that moment — without naming any single threat as the plan's target.