The Torch
Illuminating Security and Defence Issues
Canada
Canada’s $150-billion challenge: How to build a homegrown defence sector and fast
8 April 2026
Ottawa aims to prioritize domestic companies for military spending, if capacity and procurement hurdles can be overcome....
A Steep Climb: Financing Canada’s NATO Commitment while Maintaining Fiscal Discipline
8 April 2026
...This Commentary investigates the fiscal implications of meeting the NATO defence target by 2035 and outlines the challenges higher defence spending poses to federal finances. It also looks at the federal government’s options to meet the target while maintaining a sustainable fiscal regime....
Cold front: Inside NATO’s race to secure the Arctic
8 April 2026
Canada is learning how to defend its vast, frigid Far North....
Canada Is Already at War with the US—We Just Don’t Know It Yet
10 March 2026
IN HISTORY’S LONG arc, Canada is but a glimmer of a nation. And whereas there was a time when the accident of our favourable geography led us to believe that our existence would be eternal, regardless of how much or how little we invested in the trappings of self-reliance, that is decidedly no longer the case....
Canada seals deal on EU defence procurement as Munich summit tests transatlantic ties
10 March 2026
Canada has officially signed onto the European defence procurement program it announced it would join last summer, as Washington’s upending of geopolitics overshadows the world’s top security conference....
Canada’s Defence Industrial Strategy
10 March 2026
As the Ministers responsible for Canada’s national defence; research, innovation and industrial development; and defence acquisitions, we are honoured to present Canada’s Defence Industrial Strategy....
Canada’s New Defence Strategy Is Bold and Unprecedented. Will It Work?
10 March 2026
Eight experts break down the plan’s strengths and weaknesses....
Canada Facing Trump’s US: Vassal or Sovereign?
2 February 2026
Canada is preparing to release its first National Security Strategy since 2004. Twenty-two years. A strategic eternity. Since then, the world has tipped over—and with it our mental comfort. The international order that protected Canada while asking little in return has fractured. That threat does not come only from Moscow or Beijing. It also comes—and increasingly clearly—from Washington....
From brutal blitz to guerrilla warfare: Imagining what a U.S. invasion of Canada might look like
2 February 2026
There’s “effectively zero” chance the U.S. would invade Canada — but we must prepare for that contingency anyway, experts say....
Should the Canadian Coast Guard be armed? The jury is still out, but the navy says no
2 February 2026
The commander of the navy says there's no reason — in circumstances outside of war — to arm Canada's fleet of coast guard ships. And Vice-Admiral Angus Topshee tells CBC News that in the event of a conflict, there are potential ways the civilian vessels can be quickly given the equipment they need to defend themselves....
Transport Canada’s aviation wing moving to DND with little explanation
4 January 2026
Transport Canada will be surrendering most — if not all — of its aviation wing to the Department of Defence in a plan that’s shrouded in secrecy. The move of the federal department’s “core aviation services” was flagged in the recent federal budget. It has the potential to affect the long-standing National Aerial Surveillance Program (NASP), which monitors the country’s three coastlines for pollution and marine wildlife....
Canada’s new Defence Investment Agency
4 January 2026
The Canadian government’s creation of a new defence-procurement body represents an acknowledgement that its existing defence-procurement system cannot keep pace with current international challenges and the rate of defence-relevant technological change. It also represents a gamble: that a new institutional design can succeed where decades of incremental reform have failed....
The F-35 Isn’t Just a Fighter Jet. It’s a Pledge of Allegiance
4 January 2026
THE STAKES ARE high in what will be one of the most expensive and consequential defence purchases in Canadian history, as the Canadian government reviews its decision to purchase the United States F-35 fighter jet and has a second look at its competitor, the Swedish JAS Gripen....
Canada at the defence crossroads: The challenges of thinking long-term
13 December 2025
Witnessing the ongoing public debate about fighter jets and submarines this fall has felt a lot like watching people argue over baseball, hockey or some other team sport. Naturally, it has been particularly uncompromising online where the characteristics and quirks of each aircraft and boat have been analyzed to the nth degree with the kind of fan worship usually reserved for pro franchises....
Pan-Domain Command & Control (PDC2) Concept Paper
13 December 2025
The global security environment is complex and dangerous, characterized by the re-emergence of strategic competition, proliferation of advanced technologies, and evolving multi-domain threats. Traditional domain-centric approaches to command and control (C2) are inadequate to address these evolving challenges. The Pan-Domain Command and Control (PDC2) concept establishes a transformative framework for how the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) conducts C2 across complex operating environments....
DND scrambles to figure out how to mobilize and equip a citizens’ army: documents
13 December 2025
The Department of National Defence is scrambling to figure out how it will clothe, equip and train hundreds of thousands of new reservists envisioned under an ambitious mobilization proposal that Canada’s top military commander describes as a work in progress....
Canada and Philippines sign a defense pact to deter China’s aggression
12 November 2025
Canada and the Philippines, both staunch critics of China's increasingly coercive actions in the disputed South China Sea, signed a key defense agreement on Sunday to boost combat drills and expand security alliances to deter aggression, officials said.
Canada’s Defence Industrial Strategy will include sovereign space capabilities
12 November 2025
Parliament’s Standing Committee on Industry and Technology (INDU) is currently holding meetings to discuss the forthcoming Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS), a key pillar of Prime Minister Carney’s new budget. The new Defence Industrial Strategy is championed by both Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) and the Department of National Defence (DND), and seeks to align defence procurement, industrial growth, and technological innovation under a single strategic vision.
Canadian Army to “Flood the Zone” with Drones, Commander Says
12 November 2025
In a candid interview, Lieutenant General Wright outlines plans to dramatically overhaul how the military fights
As China explores the Arctic, Canada’s military is preparing for confrontation
13 October 2025
Beijing wants critical minerals. The North is rich in them....