Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a national security strategy called "A Stronger Canada" on the 29th local time. This is the first national security strategy developed by Canada in over 20 years.
One of the core objectives of this national security strategy is to modernize the country’s intelligence capabilities, including the ability to collect and analyze intelligence related to various emerging threats to national sovereignty.
This strategy promises to strengthen Canada’s intelligence gathering capabilities and to ‘prepared for any emergency situations, including wars’.
Kanie said that, ultimately, this strategy will ensure that Canadians can "live according to their own wishes."
He also said that this strategy reflects the current world's new and risky realities.
"Simply achieving self-sufficiency in grain, energy independence, and national land defense is far from enough. Maintaining national sovereignty requires ensuring the ability to obtain semiconductor, critical minerals, payment systems, clean energy technology, vaccines, space communication, and artificial intelligence safely." Kane stated.
The Kanley government has already started to significantly increase the defense budget. It is expected that by the middle of the next decade, Canada's total military expenditure will exceed 163 billion Canadian dollars (approximately 776.5 billion RMB).
The government has also introduced a bill to establish a company dedicated to defense procurement.
The core of the new foreign policy will be to promote the ‘diversification’ of Canada’s trade partnerships. Although US President Trump has repeatedly suggested making Canada the 51st state of the United States, this new strategy does not identify any specific country as a threat.
However, this strategy promises to establish “pragmatic and clear cooperative relationships” with the United States.
U.S. President Donald Trump strongly criticized any potential trade alliance between Canada and the European Union, stating that if he deemed such an alliance to be "hostile behavior," he would impose new tariffs. Meanwhile, U.S. Democrats expressed understanding of Canada and advocated for the resumption of trade negotiations.
The National Security Strategy released by the Trump administration nearly a year ago aims to establish the United States as the leading power in the Western Hemisphere.
The Canadian plan proposes that Ottawa will “strive to maintain bilateral relations with the United States on the basis of mutual respect, respect for national sovereignty, and shared responsibility for North American security.”
Over the past few years, the Canadian federal government has been embroiled in various allegations and reports of interference by external forces. This new strategy does not mention this issue, but it promises to strengthen public security measures in order to deal with various criminal and national security threats.
One of the major highlights of the report that has attracted much attention from the outside world is whether Canada will use this as an opportunity to promote the establishment of its own foreign intelligence agency.
Currently, the statutory role of the Canadian Security Intelligence Agency is to collect intelligence on threats within Canada. Although the agency occasionally carries out operations overseas, it does not have the same clear and explicit authority for overseas operations as the CIA in the United States or the MI6 in the United Kingdom.
On Thursday, a senior Canadian federal official explained that the decision regarding the establishment of an external intelligence agency is still under consideration, and no decision has been made yet.
An anonymous senior official said, “We will not announce the establishment of an independent agency similar to the CIA or MI6 anytime soon. But at the same time, we are examining the capabilities of our domestic intelligence agencies to ensure they can adapt to their current roles and meet the challenges we face.”
Establishing an intelligence agency for foreign affairs requires the Canadian federal government to amend legislation and allocate financial resources.
Canadian scholars in the field of security intelligence, Wesley Walker, commented that this overall plan, along with the commitment to completing the review of national security-related legislation within a year, is a very ambitious goal.
This requires an investment of funds, even massive sums; it also demands a deep overhaul of the national security system's organizational structure and leadership model. It requires convincing allies and partners, as well as securing public support from our own nation. Wok said.
This is a arduous siege that requires years of continuous effort.
On Thursday, the Canadian Conservative Party of the Federal Government rejected this national security strategy, stating that its content was lacking.
