Canada intends to allocate a larger portion of its growing defense budget to domestic companies, as part of a new defense industry strategy that aims to invest more than 500 billion Canadian dollars (“US$369 billion”) over the next ten years.
Through this strategy, the Canadian government aims to triple the revenues of the Canadian defense industry, increase its defense exports by 50%, in addition to creating 125,000 job opportunities over the next decade.
Among the key elements of the policy is a goal to increase the proportion of defense contracts awarded to Canadian companies to 70%, a major shift for a country that has long relied on American military contractors for much of its equipment, according to the German news agency DPA.
Carney was scheduled to unveil this strategy last week, but the announcement was postponed after one of the worst mass shootings in Canadian history occurred in British Columbia.
