In an increasingly uncertain world, Canada is focused on what we can control: rebuilding, rearming, and reinvesting in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) to safeguard that they have the capabilities needed to secure our sovereignty. The Defence Industrial Strategy builds up Canada's defence industrial base by prioritizing Canadian suppliers and materials, investing in Canadian innovation and commercialization, and streamlining procurement to give businesses consistent and predictable demand.
Today, the Honourable David J. McGuinty, Minister of National Defence concluded a series of engagements in Toronto with pension fund leaders and Canadian defence industry representatives to advance Canada's Defence Industrial Strategy and strengthen Canada's defence industrial base.
Minister McGuinty and representatives from the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), Export Development Canada (EDC), and Canada's defence industry to discuss progress under Canada's Defence Industrial Strategy. Minister McGuinty highlighted the significant progress already being made under the Defence Industrial Strategy. Six months after launching its $6 billion Defence Platform, the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) has supported 130 Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises, doubling the value of loans and investments on its books and quickly closing in on nearly $1 billion. The rapid deployment of a dedicated team of top-level CAF leaders and experts, coupled with deep engagement across the defence ecosystem, has helped accelerate this work. Since expanding its support for the defence and security sector in 2025, Export Development Canada (EDC) has provided approximately $2 billion in financing and insurance-related support to defence and security companies, including $1.1 billion to more than 60 companies in 2026 alone.
The Minister and representatives from BDC and EDC discussed how early investments under the Defence Industrial Strategy are already helping Canadian companies grow, innovate, and compete globally. These engagements build on the Ministers previous roundtable discussions with industry and stakeholders demonstrating Canada's commitment to strengthening its defence industrial base by bringing together government, industry and financial partners to support national security and long-term economic prosperity. These discussions also support Canada's broader efforts to attract global investment ahead of the first-ever Canada Investment Summit, which will bring together the world's leading investors, CEOs, entrepreneurs and business leaders to explore opportunities that will help advance nation-building projects, create good jobs and grow Canada's economy.
Minister McGuinty also hosted a roundtable discussion with senior representatives from Canada's largest pension funds and federal partners focused on Canada's defence priorities and opportunities to support strategic defence and dual-use projects, including large-scale infrastructure initiatives. Participants had a productive discussion on opportunities to strengthen collaboration between government and Canada's pension funds in support of Canada's Defence Industrial Strategy.
