‘Disgraceful and indefensible’: feds’ failure to release new Defence Industrial Strategy by deadline sparks backlash

'I can’t understand why a government can’t get down to business and operate rigorously,' says Alan Williams, a former assistant deputy minister of materiel at National Defence.

Defence Minister David McGuinty said last fall that the first Defence Industrial Strategy would be released before Christmas, but the government has failed to meet its own deadline. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

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BY IREM KOCA

January 8, 2026

The federal government missing its own deadline for the release of its highly anticipated Defence Industrial Strategy can hurt the industry, and signals to other countries that Canada is “inept and incompetent,” says a former assistant deputy minister in charge of defenc...

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