Military mobilization and nation-building: Aligning defence investment with economic development

Canada faces pressing challenges that threaten its economic stability, national security, and military readiness. Growing American nationalism and isolationism heighten the dangers of Canada's over-dependence on the United States, while economic reconstruction, a housing crisis, and increasing geopolitical threats in the North and Arctic demand urgent attention. Despite mounting international pressure, Canada's military investment remains insufficient even for its most basic necessities. Canada's Auditor General recently reported that the military itself is facing its own housing crisis, with aging and deteriorating facilities and thousands of military members without residential housing. Can there be an integrated national strategy that aligns military expansion with economic development? At critical moments in history, military mobilization has driven economic transformation in Canada, and this study proposes leveraging Canada's military to address the national housing crisis.