Canada presses G7 partners on new defence bank as Montreal bids for headquarters
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Canada is moving on two fronts to advance a new defence finance initiative: diplomatically within the G7 to win political and financial backing, and operationally in Montreal to shape the institution’s founding charter. Ottawa says the proposed bank is meant to close a persistent financing gap facing small and mid-sized defence firms, which it sees as critical to scaling production and strengthening military supply chains under pressure from the wars in Ukraine and Iran.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said Canada would urge G7 partners at this week’s foreign ministers’ meeting to join the initiative and contribute capital, as Ottawa tries to turn the project from a Canadian-led proposal into a broader multilateral platform. At the same time, Montreal is hosting in-person negotiations from March 23 to March 26 among representatives from 18 countries to draft the charter of the proposed Defence, Security and Resilience Bank and define how it would be governed and operated.
Ottawa argues that existing financing tools do not move quickly enough for smaller defence companies, even though those firms are often essential to expanding industrial capacity. Still, the initiative remains in a coalition-building phase. Some major European powers have not joined, while other countries are pursuing separate defence-financing tracks outside the Canadian framework. Montreal is also seeking to host the bank’s headquarters if the proposal matures into a fully established multilateral institution.
The push aligns with a wider Canadian effort to rearm and strengthen its defence industrial base. This week, the federal government said Budget 2025 includes more than C$80 billion in defence investments, alongside a new Defence Industrial Strategy focused on mobilizing capital, accelerating production, and reinforcing supply resilience.
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Tahani Elghazaly5258 Posts
