Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled Canada’s first-ever defence industrial strategy on Tuesday, promising that Canada would never again be held “hostage” by other nations over its own security.

The strategy looks to hike Canadian firms’ share of federal defence contracts to 70 per cent over the next decade, and boost Canadian defence exports by 50 per cent.

Carney said Canada has relied too heavily and for too long on geography and allies for protection.

Industry and policy stakeholders called the plan a significant statement, but say its success will depend on whether the government can deliver faster procurement.

The $6.6-billion strategy sets out what the government calls a “build, partner, buy” model to build military gear domestically, especially to cover “sovereign capabilities” critical to national defence or Canada’s commitments to allies.

It says Ottawa will seek to partner with other nations on procurement, or to buy off-the-shelf under conditions that feed back into the domestic industry.

While acknowledging the need for collaboration, the strategy also aims to ensure Canada has full access and control over the intellectual property and technology of its defence systems.

Dana O’Born, chief strategy officer of Council of Canadian Innovators, identified more than 400 Canadian dual-use technology companies with the capabilities to support Canada’s defence and security priorities.

O’Born called the announced strategy a “big lift,” but said it’s now up to the Canadian defence sector to get the “structural pieces” in place. She said it’s even more important now for Canada to scale up on IP development to protect where the capital goes to ensure major investments stay in the country.

“We need to put the backbone into that strategy to protect those ideas, so that it doesn’t risk leaving the country,” she said.

O’Born said much of these developments are still dependent on other reports set to release later in the month, like defining what “Canadian companies” mean in the strategy.

“We don’t have any major prime companies in Canada the way that other jurisdictions do, I think there are some nuanced aspects that are worth contemplating,” she said.

Even then, O’Born said while the strategy offers a “great suite of policies” in defence, Canada shouldn’t go in with any assumptions that allied countries don’t have their own “strategic plan” like the U.S.

“I think the Prime Minister has the right people around him to execute on these plans, but we really need to be very strategic so we’re not asking ourselves the same questions in ten years,” she said.

Nicolas Todd, vice president of government relations and communications at CASDI, called the announcement today a “landmark” transformation and an “essential” statement for Canada’s sovereign and defense technology sector.

“Prime Minister Carney has clearly placed Canada’s defense industry as the centerpiece of this government’s economic agenda,” Todd said.

He added that the Prime Minister’s move to create a defense advisory forum would act as a key accountability mechanism for industry and ministers to push through change within the procurement system.

Potential challenges

While the strategy outlines a plan for the next decade, Alexander Salt, a fellow at Canadian Global Affairs Institute, said implementing it will depend  adapting to inevitable mistakes and challenges — and that includes Ottawa changing its “work culture.”

“Ottawa, especially how the bureaucracy functions, in terms of government, military procurement has been very risk adverse,” Salt said.

He said it’s especially important now for Ottawa to scale up in speed because of the rapid change in technology the world is facing.

“If we don’t change the attitudes towards action and decision making in Ottawa, all of this will be for naught,” he said.

Salt added it’s important to note that the plan isn’t just solely a reaction to geopolitical tension, but also driven by the evolving nature of technology.

Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre expressed a similar sentiment on Tuesday. He said Canada’s current military procurement process is outdated.

“The reason we can’t get things built for our military is the same reason we can’t get homes… bureaucracy,” Poilievre said.

“It often takes seven, eight, ten years to approve purchases of equipment, equipment that goes out of date in a couple of years, that is not sustainable in the modern warfare environment,” he said.

He proposed allowing military personnel to make purchases directly to streamline the process.

With files from the Canadian Press