Carney's "Buy Canadian" Policy Doesn't Require Companies to Be Canadian | The Walrus

"Those operations tend to reveal the same fragility: specialized equipment dependent on foreign manufacturers and logistics chains stretched across borders and oceans. The flag may be Canadian. The infrastructure, often, is not. Prime Minister Mark Carney has said repeatedly that the future of national defence depends on building domestic capability and diversifying our defence partnerships. We have made commitments to meeting our NATO defence spending targets,"

"The first problem with "Buy Canadian" is definitional. Around the world, national sourcing regimes are rooted in three core principles: ownership, control, and intellectual property (IP). That is the standard used in the United States and Europe to ensure that equity value, talent, and strategic know-how stay within national systems. Yet Canada proposes to depart from these norms. The new policy means Canada will allow foreign-controlled multinationals to qualify as "Canadian" simply by running revenue and some employment through a local subsidiary."

Arctic operations expose dependence on foreign-manufactured specialized equipment and transnational logistics, revealing infrastructure weaknesses despite Canadian sovereignty assertions. Government commitments include meeting NATO defence spending targets and joining European initiatives aimed at reducing reliance on U.S. suppliers. The Buy Canadian policy departs from common sourcing principles of ownership, control, and intellectual property by letting foreign-controlled multinationals qualify through local revenue and employment. General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems exemplifies foreign firms dominating domestic production despite foreign ownership. The policy risks encouraging corporate “gaming,” privileging mailing addresses over true domestic ownership, and binding supply chains to foreign allies. A second issue identified is financial signalling.

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