Canada’s new national security strategy puts tech front and centre – BetaKit

Canada’s new national security strategy puts tech front and centre  BetaKit

Prime minister promises Canadian tech will “contribute to a more secure and prosperous world.” Canada’s first national security strategy in more than two decades highlights the country’s technological strengths and vulnerabilities in an effort to sketch out a path to “true sovereignty.” The 13-page strategy, titled The Plan for a Stronger Canada, released on Thursday, contained a broad summary of the government’s national security intentions rather than detailed guidance. A foreword from Prime Minister Mark Carney promises that leading Canadian technologies will be part of the “bedrock” of relationships that “promote a sovereign Canada and contribute to a more secure and prosperous world.” The strategy lists frontier AI as a challenge that must be weathered, in the same way as “great power rivalries,” authoritarian aggression, climate change, and pandemics.

To withstand those challenges, the strategy places emerging technologies as the first on a list of eight critical sectors Canada needs to build on. It states that those emerging technologies include cloud and AI compute, quantum computing, space-based communications and navigation, semiconductors, and telecommunications. “Candidly, an investment like this today makes sure Canadians have control of our sovereign destiny, and sovereignty is a form of safety.” The strategy’s other strategic sectors are critical minerals, defence, energy, transportation, pharmaceuticals and biotech, food security, and financial systems. “Building these capabilities underpins our economic,