The Plan for a Stronger Canada: First National Security Strategy in Over 20 Years Names Cyberattacks and Critical Infrastructure

The Government of Canada has published a national security strategy, The Plan for a Stronger Canada, for the first time in more than two decades. It organizes the government's work around five priorities: economic security, foreign policy, defence, public safety and intelligence. Cyberattacks are listed among the threats the strategy answers, the Minister of National Defence points to investment in critical infrastructure and other essential national capabilities, and the Quick Facts cite Budget 2025 funding to strengthen Canada's cyber defence capabilities and to upgrade digital infrastructure across the Department of National Defence. The strategy will be refreshed at least every four years.

The document does not mention quantum or post-quantum cryptography. It does, for the first time at the national strategy level, put critical infrastructure protection, accelerated defence procurement and cyber defence in one frame, which is the frame Bill C-8, the TBS cyber readiness direction and the CPCSC defence supplier certification already operate inside.

Our take

Strategies set direction; the obligations arrive in the regulations and procurement clauses underneath them, and for Canadian infrastructure operators those are already here: Bill C-8 for designated operators, the TBS direction for federal critical services, CPCSC for defence suppliers, and ITSM.40.001 for the cryptography inside all of it. Sovereignty is control you can verify. An inventory an auditor will accept is where that control starts. Book a briefing, or start your Discovery Program.