DIS outlines a \u201cbuild-partner-buy\u201d framework and plans to name \u201cnational champions.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The Government of Canada has promised to prioritize buying Canadian, focusing on the country\u2019s existing strengths, and picking domestic champions in its new Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS).\u00a0<\/p>\n
The feds aim to hand 70 percent of defence contracts to domestic businesses and create 125,000 new jobs.<\/p>\n
The federal government intends to pour nearly $82 billion CAD<\/a> into defence over the next five years, and the DIS offers a roadmap for ensuring that Canada\u2019s defence industry reaps the rewards of that spending. The DIS was supposed to be released last week but was delayed due to the mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, BC. The announcement was rescheduled for this week, but media outlets have now published the details.<\/p>\n As Canada ramps up its defence spending in a big way after decades of neglect, the DIS\u00a0is a $6.6-billion plan of attack to ensure that domestic companies play a \u201ca central role\u201d in the country\u2019s push to rebuild its armed forces and bolster its sovereign defence capabilities.<\/p>\n This plan could have big benefits for Canadian tech, which spent 2025 embracing defence<\/a> and angling for a cut of the billions that the feds plan to pour into the sector over the coming years, and is well-positioned to provide some of the tech the Canadian Armed Forces requires.<\/p>\n The DIS indicates that the feds intend to prioritize developing and purchasing Canadian defence products and services, focus on areas where Canada already possesses deep strength (like AI and quantum), and help scale some of the country\u2019s promising defence small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) into \u201cnational champions.\u201d<\/p>\n With the DIS, the feds hope to not only ensure that Canada possesses the capacity to defend itself amid increasing geopolitical tensions, but position the country\u2019s defence sector \u201cas a powerful engine of growth, innovation, and long-term national resilience.\u201d<\/p>\n RELATED: The year Canadian tech embraced defence<\/a><\/p>\n The DIS lays out a number of clear targets for Canada over the next decade, including: building \u201cworld-leading\u201d Canadian defence firms in key verticals; increasing the share of defence contracts awarded to domestic businesses to 70 percent; and boosting federal investment in defence research and development (R&D) by 85 percent. The federal government hopes to more than triple total defence industry revenues, grow exports by 50 percent, and create 125,000 new quality defence jobs.<\/p>\n The DIS will be supported by Canada\u2019s recently-launched Defence Investment Agency<\/a> (DIA), which has been tasked with overhauling the country\u2019s approach to military procurement.<\/p>\n Initially housed within Public Services and Procurement Canada, the feds now plan to establish the DIA as a standalone entity, after realizing that putting defence procurement under the purview of multiple departments has made it too slow to respond to urgent needs. Once fully operational, the DIA will coordinate across the government.<\/p>\n Canada\u2019s defence ambitions take shape<\/p>\n Since 2000, Canada\u2019s annual defence spending has hovered<\/a> between one and 1.4 percent of its GDP, lagging behind its international peers. But last year, in response to economic threats and challenges to Canadian sovereignty, the feds set the country on pace to spend two percent of its GDP on defence this fiscal year as it targets five percent by 2035.<\/p>\n