MONTRÉAL, Que. - Prime Minister Mark Carney has launched The Plan for a Stronger Canada, the country’s first national security strategy in over 20 years, a whole-of-government framework meant to protect Canadian sovereignty, build prosperity and strengthen strategic autonomy in a more dangerous and divided world.
The plan, launched on Thursday, October 29, 2026, argues that the line between economic security and national security has disappeared. It says it is no longer enough for a country to feed, fuel and defend itself, and that Canada’s security now depends on the strength of its economy, the resilience of its institutions and the partnerships it builds with allies.
The strategy is built around five priorities. The first is strengthening Canada’s economic security and resilience, by transforming strategic industries, securing supply chains, maximizing energy security and investing in Canadian innovation. The second is a disciplined foreign policy that diversifies partnerships and builds strategic capabilities with like-minded partners.
The third priority is rebuilding and strengthening the Canadian Armed Forces, including a stronger defence industrial base, faster procurement and work through the Defence Investment Agency on the Defence Industrial Strategy, alongside stronger Arctic security and contributions to stability in the Indo-Pacific, the Middle East and beyond.
The fourth priority is protecting Canadians and strengthening public safety against criminal and national security threats, working with all levels of government, Indigenous Peoples and northern communities. The plan names foreign interference, espionage, violent extremism and transnational organized crime, including sabotage, extortion, fraud, online exploitation, financial crime, money laundering and sanctions evasion, as well as foreign information manipulation.
The fifth priority is modernizing Canada’s intelligence capabilities to anticipate and counter emerging threats, deepening and diversifying intelligence partnerships and updating authorities to reflect evolving threats while safeguarding Canadians’ rights.
Among the concrete commitments in the announcement, the Prime Minister will convene a First Ministers’ Meeting on national security to strengthen coordination among federal, provincial and territorial governments. Within the first year of the plan, the government will bring forward proposals to modernize national security legislation, and the plan itself will be updated at least every four years. The announcement also points to Budget 2025 funding of $10.9 billion over five years to upgrade digital infrastructure across the Department of National Defence, the Canadian Armed Forces and the Communications Security Establishment Canada, aimed at secure, resilient platforms and stronger cyber defence.
For Surrey readers, the fourth priority is the most direct. Extortion targeting South Asian businesses has been one of the city’s most serious public safety problems, and fraud, online exploitation and financial crime touch households across the region. A national strategy that names extortion and fraud explicitly, and promises coordination with provinces, territories and municipalities, matters here, even though the strategy document itself is a framework, not a Surrey-specific enforcement announcement. Readers should not expect a local task force or funding line from this release alone; those details, if they come, will arrive in later announcements.
The plan is deliberately broad. It sets direction across the economy, foreign policy, defence, public safety and intelligence, rather than announcing a single new program. Its test will be the follow-through: the First Ministers’ Meeting, the legislation proposals promised within a year, and the four-year update cycle the government has set for itself.
(Source: Prime Minister of Canada news release, October 29, 2026)
