About
The global threat environment is increasingly complex and unstable, with hostile states using all instruments of national power (diplomatic, information, military and economic, or DIME) to launch daily attacks on foreign governments, industries, research labs, civic groups and more. In the economic domain, they are using illicit, unfair and illegal economic practices to corrupt the global order that underpins stable interstate relations; weaponize economic interdependencies; and aggressively target the foreign assets and technologies essential to modern military power. In today’s 360-degree threat environment, economic attacks are the essential first phase of full-scale war.
Canada is not immune from the forces of conflict sweeping across the globe, and — like some other US allies — is being treated as a high-value, low-risk target by hostile states. To secure its national interests in a world where military allies and adversaries alike are jockeying for geo-economic advantage, Canada must adapt with urgency. The government cannot do it alone. All Canadians have a direct role to play in defending their country. Given, however, that without economic strength there is no industrial power, and without industrial power there is no military power, Canadian business and industry are especially indispensable partners in the defence of Canada.
The Canada at Economic War project, co-led by Raquel Garbers, visiting executive from the Department of National Defence, and Aaron Shull, managing director and general counsel at CIGI, will engage with experts from diverse sectors to inform the conversation on how best to defend Canada and the development of a Canadian Defence Industrial Strategy (CDIS) suited to the current threat environment. A policy brief series will build the analytical base to support proposals for a CDIS that is premised on the understanding that Canada is at economic war.
