Defence and security expenditures

in this country have been treated for decades as an unpopular cost centre by Canadian taxpayers and governments alike.

An unofficial policy of reluctant minimalism has been the primary contributor to the benign neglect that has gutted a national institution, undermined our station on the world stage and ultimately left our country — and our way of life — vulnerable. Notwithstanding the potential attraction of a forensic analysis of our troubled past, the more compelling story is the one of our unwritten future.

There is an awakening underway in Canada. In the midst of the myriad challenges facing us as a country, there seems to be an emerging recognition that defence and security are not simply necessary expenditures, but potential enablers of our broader success as a nation.

Security is the foundation upon which a healthy economic system builds national capacity and resilience, trades and invests in the basic social infrastructure that will allow us to achieve our full potential as a country.

For the first time in my memory, the substantive discussions about defence and security have transcended the usually shallow critiques of individual procurement projects, spending or deployment of forces. Instead, we are now openly discussing the essential nature of our security in the broader framework of our future as a nation.

In this context, why should we care about a relatively obscure — and historically unpopular — sector that accounts for only about $10 billion per year in direct benefit to the economy and that employs less than 100,000 Canadians?

Let’s start with the reality that the planned expenditures for defence and security will likely exceed $750 billion over the next decade. That’s huge by any measure and we need to start making better use of those funds.

As Prime Minister

Mark Carney

has said on several occasions in the past few months, the vast majority of the money that we spend to buy equipment, supplies and sustainment goes to United States suppliers.

This historical dependence — like that in other sectors of our economy — has become a vulnerability in the current circumstances. Efforts to try to untangle ourselves from these decades-long relationships are ongoing, but pivoting quickly won’t be easy no matter how badly we might want it to happen.

Recent announcements, including Canada’s intention to participate in the Re-Arm Europe initiative, are an encouraging indicator of the substantive efforts to enhance our economic sovereignty. The partnership is a bold step toward making Canada less dependent on our southern ally and more integrated into a broader network of like-minded democracies.

It recognizes that economic security and national security are inseparable, especially in a world where supply chains, technology and resources are increasingly strategic. By investing in our own industrial base and forging stronger ties with Europe, Canada is taking measures to safeguard our sovereignty and potentially create new opportunities for economic growth.

But this cannot happen overnight and we cannot assume that our southern neighbours will happily watch us move our defence spending elsewhere. We must also be careful to not simply substitute one dependency for another.

Among the many challenges the government is trying to manage are some key defence initiatives that will likely make the news in the coming weeks and months. Key among these will be a forthcoming decision on the F-35 jet fighter purchase and the acquisition of up to

12 new submarines

.

Although these new equipment programs garner much attention, the deeper issues behind these big shiny objects are more interesting and we should look beyond the headlines.

In both of these cases, the ongoing debates are no longer about the relative merits of one platform versus another; they are about economics and global geopolitics. This is a good thing, provided that our consideration of those loftier factors doesn’t detract from the timely delivery of the much-needed capabilities themselves.

Beyond specific equipment projects, there are also two key strategic initiatives that will be pivotal to the evolution of Canadian defence procurement.

The first is the looming publication of a Defence Industrial Strategy. This long-overdue document should articulate how the government intends to rebuild our defence industrial base and identify key areas of advantage (those things we can do already) and future investment priority where we should have a domestic capacity and resilience (those things that we should — and must — do).

The second important initiative is the impending creation of a Defence Procurement Agency. This is the most substantive effort in decades to remedy many of the long-standing problems associated with the procurement of military equipment. The creation of yet another government agency may not seem like the right answer to some, but anything is better than the dysfunction of the status quo.

Neither of these will be perfect solutions, but they had better be substantive and constructive measures to get us pointed in the right direction because we can’t get where we need to by doing things the way we have been.

The private sector in Canada should pay close attention to the developments and opportunities in the defence and security sector. Despite its relatively small stature, there is a vibrant domestic defence ecosystem that has the potential to grow into something significantly more robust and impactful.

Capital — political, financial and human — is the key ingredient to that potential growth. Given the world in which we live, sadly, there is no shortage of future demand for defence and security goods and services. The question is how prepared and willing are we as a country to help supply what we and our allies need?

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Mark Norman is a retired vice-admiral who commanded Canada’s Navy and was vice-chief of Defence. He advises several Canadian defence companies.