Defending Prosperity: Defence Industrial Policy in the Age of AI

CIGI Paper No. 352

March 30, 2026

Canada’s strategy for its commitment to substantially increasing defence spending over the period to 2035 will face challenges; its ability to have its defence industrial base to fill that demand is impacted by Canada’s existing capacity; in an innovation-intensive era defined by machine knowledge capital, Canada's need to prioritize digital sovereignty programs; and with major categories of Canada’s manufactured products facing new barriers to entry into the US, Canada’s need to pivot spending on traditional defence assets to help fill the emerging economic security gaps. Dan Ciuriak presents a proposal for Canada to not only to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity but its prosperity as well.

About the Author

Dan Ciuriak is a senior fellow at CIGI, where he is exploring the interface between Canada’s domestic innovation and international trade and investment. He is the director and principal of Ciuriak Consulting, Inc.