Canada hired an ex-Goldman Sachs banker to revive its military. Investors are excited (ca.finance.yahoo.com)

submitted 3 days ago by yogthos@lemmy.ml to c/canada@lemmy.ca

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[-] Scotty@scribe.disroot.org 0 points 3 days ago

With annual defense spending set to more than double by 2035, investors say they’re turning bullish on a sector that has historically flown under the radar.

Given the changing security landscape and Canadian defense investments flew under the radar, it comes with no surprise that the industry is now bullish on the sector I would say.

Other countries' military spending has been bullish for a long time. China, for example, has been heavily investing in its military complex for 30 years. In Russia, the defense minister is an economist which apparently means that the Kremlin is not up to stop its war games anytime soon.

It would certainly be better if the world spent money for something else than weapons, but the problem here is not Canada. It comes from threats brought about by foreign malign actors.

[-] yogthos@lemmy.ml 4 points 3 days ago

Does anybody seriously think that Canada would be taking on Russia or China? The biggest danger to Canada is obviously the US, and the way US would capture Canada wouldn't be by military force, but by leveraging social instability that will result from the austerity policies to feed this massive increase in the military budget. You appear to have a one dimensional view of security focused on the military. The reality is that security starts with having social stability and a functional economy that serves the interests of the public. Undermining that to focus on the military is the height of idiocy.

[-] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Was gonna say, we fight China, Russia and the US (just reusing the framing) with production. With an economy that is (socially) stable and productive enough to make the various commodities that we currently can only import. You can't have security while external players could disrupt your economy with a few keystrokes.

Production of defense commodities is downstream from that since those outputs are used in defense production. Even if you use defense production as a demand driver. If the economomy isn't stable and productive we can't sustain any sort of hot war, should we need to.

[-] yogthos@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 days ago

Exactly, the best way to ensure security of Canada is by investing in self reliance. We should be building out domestic industries to build infrastructure, housing, provide healthcare, education, and so on. That's what makes the country strong, what leads to social cohesion, and genuine sovereignty.

[-] Threeskittiesinatrenchcoat@lemmy.ca 2 points 3 days ago

I certainly agree with you, I wish we did not have to invest in weapons.

All this money only really flows to the top and helps protect the interests of those at the top.

Instability in the world is tough to see. I think if we do need to build weapons we should be making investment to build them here in Canada. After all, should anything happen, having the technical skills at home becomes a vital asset.

[-] yogthos@lemmy.ml 5 points 3 days ago

We don't have to invest in weapons. Nobody aside from the US is threatening Canada, and it's pretty clear that sending billions to the US military industries isn't going to make Canada more secure.