Canadians want defence dollars spent on Canadian-owned firms, not U.S. companies or their subsidiaries

>The national poll conducted by Pollara Strategic Insights found that 82 per cent of Canadians believed Canada should “defend itself without relying too heavily on other countries.” The same number supported the Canadian government’s Defence Industrial Strategy to accomplish that goal.
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>Prime Minister Mark Carney announced his government’s defence industrial strategy on Feb. 17, 2026, promising to pump billions of dollars into small- and medium-sized Canadian businesses. Carney has also vowed to make sure Canadian firms get the lion’s share of defence contracts let by the federal government. The prime minister complained that currently up to 75 per cent of Canada’s defence capital had been used to purchase U.S.-built equipment.
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>“What we’re seeing is that defence procurement is a Canadian sovereignty issue,” Paul Ziadé of ACDC said in a statement with the release of the poll. “Whether you’re in Atlantic Canada or Alberta, whether you’re 25 or 65, Canadians are saying the same thing everywhere. We need to build defence equipment here to ensure Canada is not dependent on foreign suppliers and that taxpayer dollars support skilled jobs and manufacturing across the country.”

Build manufacturing facilities here in Canada and utilize auto worker sectors. Build our own advanced drone systems here in Canada using Ukranian tech and know how, (maybe even set up an agreement whereby if we are attacked Ukranians come in to help us because we have each others backs).

Build a southern wall, now. Use Canadian steel and Canadian resources for it. 

Make Canada a world leader in advanced design and manufacturing. 

We have no tanks, no planes, no artillery production in canada.

Canadian companies can’t survive from one military order once every 50 years

It’s kind of been shown in the last few years that once you are in a conflict and have expended your munitions stockpiles, you’re very exposed to the political whims of foreign suppliers. It may costs us more but without local production capacity, there’s no guarantee of resupply.

As long as there’s no replication of a purchase of a product like the LSVW fiasco.

The real goal of the US demands to spend 5% is to send them more of our money and get more dependent on their military equipment. None of which is in our interest. The biggest threat to our country right now is from the south. They don’t care about us defending against Russia, Trump loves Putin and would never offend Russia enough to risk a conflict. We need to show a credible defence of our territory, but do so using sovereign means and supplied by countries who don’t threaten us. Supplying from countries who threaten us is self defeating, you’re just asking for a supply chain disruption. If our gear costs more but is produced domestically, or at least from friendly countries who also buy from us, that’s aligned with our interests. Don’t kid yourself, the US military procurement is for corporate interests, not for defence. And we will never please this administration, they are pillaging their own country and they will pillage us if we let them.