Good morning. Canadian businesses stand to benefit from Prime Minister Mark Carney’s augmented defence budget. For some, their role is clear and established. For others, it’s the beginning of a steep – but exciting – learning curve. We’ll outline who falls into each bucket of opportunity.
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In the news
Retail: Alimentation Couche-Tard looking for other targets after pulling Seven & i bid
Cryptocurrency: Trump’s new laws for stablecoins will only reinforce U.S. dollar dominance
Mining: Canada’s only graphite miner faces uncertain future as it holds out hope of government financing
On our radar
- Yesterday: A divergence of views were on display among First Nations leaders after meeting with Carney on his plan to fast-track major national projects.
- Today: We’ll see data on construction investment for May as well as Canadian household and mortgage credit.
- Ending tomorrow: G20 finance chiefs meet under a tariff cloud in South Africa.
France Hébert, the division president of defence and security Canada at CAE and a former CAF officer and engineer, outside a flight simulator in Montreal on July 10.Alex Lysakowski/The Globe and Mail
In focus
Canada navigates a changing world of warfare
Hey. I’m Pippa Norman, The Globe’s innovation reporter. Alongside my colleague Nicolas Van Praet, I’ve been busy speaking with entrepreneurs, CEOs, investors, bankers, analysts and government to understand the opportunities for Canadian businesses in this new era of defence.
Neither of us regularly cover defence as part of our beats. But throughout my reporting, I realized this relative newness to the topic was something I shared with many of those around me.
At the end of June, I found myself in a room full of people interested in defence as part of an event for Toronto Tech Week. And that’s precisely the point: everybody was interested, but nobody knew quite yet what to make of it. There were investors learning what already exists in the space and CEOs learning how to pivot their technology to become dual use, meaning it has both commercial and defence applications.
But to everyone, the opportunity is clear. From spending an estimated $41-billion on its defence-related budget this past fiscal year, the federal government has promised to spend between $110-billion and $150-billion by 2035, depending on how much the economy grows.
John Molberg, vice-president of drone and radar company Canadian UAVs in Calgary.Chris MacArthur - Freelance/The Globe and Mail
For my part of our story, I focused mostly on the emerging technologies and startups that will play a critical role in Canada’s defence capabilities as the world of warfare rapidly evolves. It’s no longer about who has the biggest tank, but who has the most advanced computing power.
The hunger for a piece of Carney’s defence spending pie is strong in this innovation ecosystem. It was tangible in the room that day in June and further examples continue to crop up.
Matthew Lombardi, co-founder of the Canadian defence newsletter The Icebreaker, recently told me they had already garnered 275 responses to a survey mapping dual-use technology companies, only six days after launching.
At the survey’s close, he said they’ll be sharing the data with the federal government to help it identify the capacity within its own backyard. But that’s just one side of it.
As the designated 'non-combat' constructor under the NSS, Seaspan is building up to 16 new icebreakers for the Canadian Coast Guard as well as support ships, and eyeing new contract mandates to further expand its capabilities.The Globe and Mail
The other key beneficiary of Carney’s spending boost will be the stalwarts of Canada’s defence sector. For years, they’ve been humming along in the background of the country’s economy despite both Liberal and Conservative governments placing defence near the bottom of their priority lists.
To understand what they hope to gain from this moment in time, Nicolas spoke to executives at CAE, Bombardier, MDA Space, Seaspan and Patriot Forge.
Most of them emphasized they’re still light on details about how, specifically, this spending will translate into opportunity. Ottawa’s Defence Industrial Strategy will help with this by identifying sovereign capabilities, but the timeline for its publication has yet to be announced.
To prepare, however, each company is working hard to position itself as a key strategic partner when it comes to defence – if it’s not already.
For example, Bombardier chief executive Eric Martel told Nicolas the company has only just begun to realize sales possibilities for its Global 6500 business jet as a defence platform. The company is aiming to grow its revenue in this segment to $1.5-billion in sales by 2030, and Martel said he doesn’t intend to stop there.
No matter where opportunity emerges – and for whom – it’s clear fundamental change needs to occur both at a governmental and cultural level if Carney’s plan is to succeed. Canada hasn’t taken defence seriously for some time, and if the spending plan is executed as promised, it stands to create ripples that will reverberate through the lives of generations to come.
During my interviews, I often asked for the pulse of the moment across industry. As John Risley, chairman of the Arctic Economic Development Corporation put it:
“We’re starting with a new chapter in the military book and Canada can write itself into that chapter, and we need to seize that opportunity.”
Charted
Struggles remain
Shares in the Japanese owner of the 7-Eleven convenience store chain fell yesterday after Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. said it had abandoned its bid for Seven & i Holdings. But for Canadian companies trying to figure how to break out of the domestic market onto a world stage, Couche-Tard’s executive chair is a role model, writes Andrew Willis. Even if he couldn’t close the Seven & i takeover.
Bookmarked
On our reading list
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Morning update
Global shares were mixed as robust U.S. economic data and corporate earnings this week tempered tariff concerns for now. Wall Street futures and TSX futures were in positive territory after some North American markets closed at record highs yesterday.
Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.1 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 inched lower 0.01 per cent, Germany’s DAX slipped 0.03 per cent and France’s CAC 40 advanced 0.2 per cent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.21 per cent lower, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.33 per cent.
The Canadian dollar traded at 72.90 U.S. cents.