On April 8th, 2024, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a new federal investment plan in defence spending for the 2024 federal budget. The “Our North: Strong and Free” defence policy update proposed to raise Canada’s defence spending-to-GDP ratio to 1.76% by 2029-30, amounting to $8.1 billion over five years, and $73 billion over 20 years, in new Read More…
The question of whether Canada needs a foreign intelligence service is not a new one. It’s been bandied about almost as long as Canada has had a domestic intelligence service. Created by an Act of Parliament in 1984, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) was mandated only to include the collection of data and information Read More…
Despite the world being interconnected in a way it has never been, civilization finds itself torn apart by civil strife and disagreement. “Polarization” is the word of the day, and it has hit Canada hard. Recent years have seen the issue reflected in the rise of hate crimes, distrust of the government, and general violence. Read More…
On August 26, 2022, NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about Russia and China’s investments and intentions to build military, commercial, and industrial capacities in the Arctic. This is not new information. Russia and China made their Arctic strategies publicly available in 2009 and 2018, respectively. News articles frequently detail their interests and successes in the region. Despite this, Canada has Read More…
According to the 2018 expert panel report on Combatting Money Laundering in BC Real Estate, money laundering activity is a rapidly growing issue in Canada. The industry, estimated to be worth $41.3 billion in 2015, grew 11.6% in only three years to an astounding $46.7 billion in 2018. In 2020, the Criminal Intelligence Service of Canada estimated that money Read More…
Significant attention has been drawn to the adaptability of Russia’s defence industry and how it has diversified its supply chains, circumvented sanctions, and bolstered its ability to conduct its war of aggression on Ukraine. While scrutiny has been directed towards adversaries, such as Iran and North Korea, and intermediaries (e.g., China), including Western allies and Read More…
Many Venezuelans are eagerly hoping the election July 8, 2024 can be used to restart the rule of law and democratic norms in their country. Why should Canada actively support this process? Under socialist President Nicolas Maduro, during the 2010s, Venezuela became known internationally as the most left-wing country in Latin America, with the exception Read More…
Last year, a new buzzword gained significant traction across the international community. Referred to as the “polycrisis,” this key term started circulating across media publications and research institutes before finding its way to the Swiss Alps, where it took center stage. At the 53rd World Economic Forum Annual Meeting held in Davos—a flagship conference dedicated Read More…
As NATO’s seventy-fifth anniversary approaches, the alliance finds itself confronted by Russian revanchism and invasions in Eastern Europe, growing anti-Western alliances in Asia, and tenuous and uncertain political trends in many member nations. Yet to NATO, this is familiar territory – much of the same dynamics are occurring now as during the Cold War (1947-91), Read More…
Canada’s food crisis has been ongoing, with around 5.8 million Canadians experiencing some extent of food insecurity in 2021 alone. However, with the potential re-emergence of mad cow disease, this food insecurity could take another drastic turn. It was thought that we had seen the last of mad cow disease after the epidemic in the Read More…