HAMILTON, Canada

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday unveiled the first-ever Defense Industrial Strategy, outlining more than $500 billion in planned defense-related investments over the next decade, aimed at strengthening national security, expanding domestic industry, and creating high-paying jobs across the country.

"In total over the next decade, Canada will invest $180 billion directly in defense procurement, $290 billion in defense and security-related infrastructure, and create over $125 billion in additional downstream economic benefits," Carney said at a news conference in Montreal, detailing the scale of the initiative.

He highlighted the importance of leveraging Canada's existing defense sector, and said: "The Canadian defense industry is already employing more than 80,000 Canadians directly and many more indirectly."

"We must absolutely maximize the yield of such investment of more than $500 million in order to strengthen our security, improve our jobs, multiply jobs and protect our sovereignty," he added.

Noting that "this means more than just increasing the size of our military," Carney stated that "it also means the strength of our industries, the resilience of our economy and our capacity to act independently when it matters the most."

Carney also explained that the defense industrial strategy is "a bold plan to get our Armed Forces what they need when they need it. It's a bold plan to scale Canadian defense companies and to put hundreds of billions of dollars into strategic sectors of our economy, while creating over 125,000 high-paying jobs across Canada."

He said its framework is "simple: build, partner, buy," prioritizing Canadian firms and cooperation with allies.

"The centerpiece of our new approach is the Defence Investment Agency, or DIA," Carney said.