Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2666 actions· ✨ 89 recent

On 17 February 2026, Prime Minister Mark Carney launched Canada's first standalone Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS), introducing the "Build–Partner–Buy" framework as the central guiding principle of Canadian defence procurement. The strategy mobilises over half a trillion CAD across the next decade — including ~CAD 180 bn in defence procurement opportunities, ~CAD 290 bn in defence-related capital investment, and ~CAD 125 bn in anticipated downstream economic benefit by 2035 — and targets 125,000 new high-paying jobs. Operationally, the DIS introduces Canadian Content Value (CCV) requirements with a proposed Canadian Company Boost for firms meeting 70–100% domestic-content thresholds, sets a 10-year goal of awarding 70% of defence procurements to Canadian firms, and signals willingness to invoke the national security exception to set aside trade-agreement obligations and exclude foreign bidders for "sovereign capability" contracts. It is the first standalone industrial-strategy document covering the Canadian defence-industrial base, distinct from prior DPA-narrow filings.

On 15 December 2025, Canada's Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation, Evan Solomon, announced Phase 1 of the Canadian Quantum Champions Program (CQCP), awarding CAD 92 million (up to CAD 23 million each) to four domestic quantum-computing developers — Anyon Systems, Nord Quantique, Photonic, and Xanadu Quantum Technologies — to accelerate progress toward fault-tolerant quantum computers with industrial and defence applications. The program is designed to anchor quantum companies, talent and intellectual property inside Canada, moving systems beyond academic prototypes toward real-world testing and practical workloads, and sits within a broader ~CAD 334.3 million, five-year federal quantum-ecosystem commitment tied to Budget 2025 and Canada's National Quantum Strategy.

Canada made SOR/2025-143, Regulations Amending the Special Economic Measures (Russia) Regulations, registered 2025-06-13. The regulations add 14 new items (743-756) to Part 2 of Schedule 1, designating Russian quantum-technology institutions and firms — including the Moscow State University Quantum Technology Centre, the National University of Science and Technology's Centre for Quantum Communications, QRate, and Rusnano — triggering a dealings ban and asset freeze. The same instrument adds a new import prohibition on coal products (Schedule 5.01) and a new export prohibition on jet fuel and additives (Schedule 5.02) and on chemical/ biological-weapons-related items (Schedule 10.1), and extends the existing metals import ban (Schedule 11) to further product lines — all coming into force 60 days after registration (~2025-08-12), with a 120-day grace period for pre-existing contracts.

Bill C-34, the National Security Review of Investments Modernization Act, received Royal Assent on 22 March 2024 — the first major overhaul of the Investment Canada Act (ICA) national-security review regime since 2009. Non-regulatory provisions came into force on 3 September 2024 by Order Fixing P.C. 2024-826 (SI/TR-32, Canada Gazette Part II). The Act creates a pre-implementation filing obligation for investments in prescribed "sensitive sectors" (final list set by regulation), gives the Minister of Innovation new authority to extend reviews and impose interim conditions or accept undertakings without a Governor-in-Council order, raises monetary penalties, and establishes information-sharing authorities with allied screening regimes. ISED's updated NSR Guidelines (5 March 2025) elevate "economic security" to a standalone factor and align the prescribed-sector list with the Sensitive Technology List (STL).

Canada amended the Special Economic Measures (Belarus) Regulations via SOR/2022-167, registered and in force 25 June 2022, adding four new schedules targeting Belarus over its support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Schedule 3 bans export of advanced technologies (quantum computers, advanced manufacturing and cryogenic equipment); Schedule 4 bans export of luxury goods (Part 1) and import of luxury goods from Belarus (Part 2); Schedule 5 bans export of goods usable in weapons manufacturing, including raw materials such as tungsten, aluminium and titanium, engines, industrial machinery, vehicles, aircraft and maritime vessels. The same instrument added 13 Belarusian officials and 2 state entities to the asset-freeze list.