Buying foreign weapons and rebuilding our defence industry are not mutually exclusive. Canada must do both.

"Yes, and" should be the guiding mindset for Canada as we rebuild our military. Avoiding false choices and ensuring we don't let the perfect become the enemy of the good are essential if we are to protect ourselves.

I recently reshared two articles on social media (one from March 10, 2025 and one from March 20, 2025) about the need for Canada to shift military procurement away from the United States and toward Europe and South Korea. These articles generated a welcome discussion, with positive feedback and constructive criticism. The criticism was based on the idea that, rather than purchase foreign weapons, Canada should be focused on rebuilding its own withered defence industrial base.

While I have often written about the need to rebuild our defence industry and produce more domestically using Canadian resources, Canadian workers, and Canadian ingenuity (The Case for Canadian-Made Weapons: What It Would Take to Build an Independent Arsenal), I wish to address this criticism in more detail.

Right now, Canada must have a dual-track military investment strategy. Given the imperatives of the moment and our deep defence investment hole, we must simultaneously recapitalize our force and build domestic military production capacity.