The drumbeats of war grow louder by the day. Humanity stands at a perilous crossroads, and Canada, rather than acting as an independent voice for peace, diplomacy and de-escalation, barrels headlong into militarism – latching itself to the reckless geopolitical objectives of Washington’s global military apparatus.

News and social media weave a story where Canada’s deteriorating trade relations with the U.S. is an indication of Canada’s opposition to U.S. Imperialism. This is a false narrative. As Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney has repeatedly relented to U.S. imperialism. Most egregiously, he agreed to U.S. demands to increase Canada’s contribution towards bolstering NATO — the U.S.-led imperialist military alliance — to the obscenely high 5% of Canada’s GDP: equivalent to $150-billion per year!

This is not a new development. Canadian sovereignty has often been voluntarily surrendered at least since the signing of NAFTA in 1992 (what is known today as “CUSMA”), with each successive federal government capitulating to the economic and military demands of the United States. Today, the obvious result of this bowing to “free trade” is revealed in the perpetual threats against Canada’s political independence and, moreover, of its total annexation, as the barriers of even free trade become too restrictive for the United States in its pursuit for more control over Canadian resources to serve its military expansion.

The response to threats against Canadian sovereignty ought to be of an independent, peaceful, and non-aligned basis to counterpose demands for subordination, increased support for international aggression, and compliance. Instead, the Carney government further entrenches Canada’s support for imperialist expansion by aligning with the E.U. under the guise of “independence,” “defence,” and “collective security.” An alliance between Canada and the EU will not deter the United States; it will only serve to strengthen NATO! And NATO’s strengthening will come at the cost of further economic subservience and integrated supply chains, with simultaneous gutting of critical social programs and safety nets, all to accelerate expansions of NATO militaries, NORAD and the so-called “Golden Dome,” as well as the purchasing of F-35 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin, submarines from ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, and investments in drone manufacturing and procurement. 

We are not engaging in alliances and acquisitions that propose peace, but rather those which guarantee war, and represent Canada’s support for and dependence on major imperialist powers, while also demonstrating Canada’s pursuit and protection of its own imperialist interests.

The wars that are raging, and the wars that will inevitably ensue because of these military alliances, will only accelerate the environmental and ecological destruction of our planet. In Canada, rapid militarization boosts demand for critical minerals and construction of supply chains. Our federal government barely blinks before it partners with monopolies to trample over indigenous land and treaty rights. The Pacific Link pipeline, meant to transport Alberta tar sands across BC to the West Coast and touted as a project of major national economic interest, is only one of the latest to be fast-tracked. Leaders of the Assembly of First Nations and the Union of BC Indian Chiefs have strongly opposed the project, pointing out the lack of prior and proper consent and the unacceptable risks to the environment and ecosystems. The land, water, and air, all necessary for life, are poisoned only so that the imperialist war machine can grow. Ecosystems beg for immediate restoration and conservation while the downstream effects of imperialism set forests ablaze and blanks of smoke across the continent.

Compounding this ecological devastation in new and terrifying ways is the breakneck rush to integrate artificial intelligence into both civil governance and the military. Across the country in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and Québec massive data centers are constructed or being proposed with reckless abandon, each set to cannibalize municipal water supplies and overload electrical grids to power algorithms of violence and control. In Saskatchewan, northern fires burn and water supplies dwindle while a data centre outside of Regina will expand from a 300-megawatt facility to 1.3 gigawatts, equal to the power needed for 1.2-1.4 million – the population of Saskatchewan is only 1.2 million, essentially doubling the energy supply. Working-class communities in nearby Alberta face infrastructure decay and rising utility bills, ranging from an extra 270-460/year; while 26 First Nations communities in Ontario remain on active boil water advisories. Tech monopolies and defense contractors are handed blank cheques and guarantees on public power to expand digital machinery designed to wage war and police populations. Constantly hyped by tech monopolies as an unstoppable innovation necessary to combat the threat of Chinese artificial intelligence, the militarization and expansion of  AI is the arms race of the modern era, and will lead to mass surveillance and uncontrollable autonomous warfare, all for the sake of corporate profiteering.

At the behest of these tech monopolies and the so-called “defence” industry, the Carney government is ramming through a battery of corporate-friendly trade and deregulation pacts, spearheaded by the omnibus Bill C-39 and Bill C-5 framework, that systematically strip away hard-fought and hard-won regulatory oversights and public protections. Major energy and pipeline reviews are carved out of environmental assessment agencies and handed to industry-backed regulators while ministers are given sweeping discretion to authorize land-clearance before environmental impacts are determined. Worse still, these pieces of legislation amend Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code and grant the government unprecedented, unilateral authority to break legal strikes — keeping corporations smiling. Taken together, it is clear to see that the era of austerity is in full swing and its consequences are being felt in every community.

Essential public services, health care facilities, public education, and affordable housing are starved of funding and pushed toward privatization. Working people across both the public and private sectors are thrown into unemployment, have their wages suppressed, or forced back to work when a strike becomes necessary to try to prevent the further destruction of good union jobs. These job losses due to cuts are funneling workers towards jobs in the military, border control, or police, which are not only promoted en masse, but seeing increased funding and support from the government. The state’s aggression has unleashed an era of union-busting, anti-worker rulings, and strike-breaking legislation aimed to defang the labour movement and discipline the working class – the only force capable of fighting against the Carney government and the corporate elite, who seek to militarize, deregulate, and control Canada.

Neither subordination to foreign empires and imperialist alliances, whether they be US or EU led, nor the sacrificing of people’s living standards and democratic rights will ever lead to real security for people. We need well-funded and robust healthcare, dignified and affordable housing, good union jobs, environmental stewardship, decarbonization, genuine respect for Indigenous sovereignty, and an independent foreign policy of peace and solidarity.

The Canadian Peace Congress calls on all progressive forces, workers, trade unions, Indigenous land defenders, environmental movements, and the student and youth movements to mobilize against the war drive. Together, we must direct these non-negotiable demands to the Carney government, local MPs, and Parliament:

1. Immediate and comprehensive rollbacks of military expenditures and the redirection of these billions of dollars into critical social needs.
2. Canada’s immediate withdrawal from NATO and NORAD and a realignment and independence of our foreign policy away from the dictates of the US, and rather one based on principles of peace, solidarity, and respect for sovereignty.
3. Full recognition and defence of Indigenous sovereignty and respect of Treaty rights.
4. Strict public and environmental limits on the construction and operation of data centers, and ending the corporate-military monopolization of power and water.
5. Putting an end to the anti-democratic union-busting, the assault on the right to strike, and the deregulation of industries, so we can finally increase living standards, protect our workplaces, and enhance the democratic rights of all people.

Executive Committee, Canadian Peace Congress
October 9, 2026