(AFP) – Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday launched a multi-billion dollar plan to strengthen the Canadian military and rely less on the United States. Carney’s announcement of Canada’s first defence industrial strategy built on a theme he has emphasized throughout his 11-month tenure as President Donald Trump rips through traditional US alliances: Canada has not done nearly enough to defend itself in an increasingly dangerous world and counting on US protection is no longer viable.
“We’ve relied too heavily on our geography and others to protect us,” Carney said. “This has created vulnerabilities that we can no longer afford and dependencies that we can no longer sustain,” he added. Carney has become one of the most prominent global voices criticizing Trump’s administration, notably after his speech at the World Economic Forum last month where he said Trump had triggered a “rupture” in the rules-based global order.
On Tuesday, Carney also addressed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s speech last week to the Munich Security Conference, highlighting what the Canadian leader sees as the widening gap between US and Canadian values. Carney, addressing reporters after giving a speech on the defence plan, pivoted to Rubio’s speech without being asked about it. He cautioned that Trump’s top diplomat had spoken of Washington’s desire to defend “Christian nationalism.”
“Canadian nationalism is civic nationalism” and Ottawa’s mandate was to defend the rights of everyone in a vast and diverse country, Carney said. “There is a rivalry taking place between Canadian nationalism and other forms of nationalism,” he added, speaking French. In Munich, Rubio said “Western Civilization” was defined by “Christian faith, culture, heritage, language, ancestry, and the sacrifices of our forefathers.”
Carney’s office said the defence industrial strategy amounts to “over half a trillion dollars ($366 billion) in Canadian security, economic prosperity, and our sovereignty.” That includes CAN$180 billion in defence procurement opportunities and CAN$290 billion in defence-related public investments over the coming decade.
The plan calls for enhanced defence capacity on land, at sea and in the air, Carney said. “The world has changed and Canada must change with it,” he said. Carney re-emphasized the need to enforce Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic, where warming temperatures caused by climate change are thawing the ice, opening a new era of competition for critical minerals. bs/dw –
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