Defence

In February 2026, Prime Minister Carney stood before a parliamentary committee and confirmed what defence analysts had been quietly documenting for years: 75 cents of every dollar Canada spends on defence capital procurement leaves the country. The F-35 program returns 6.1 cents per dollar in domestic industrial benefit. Canada is, in a very literal sense, paying for its own strategic dependency.

The North Atlantic Treaty, signed in Washington on April 4, 1949, opens with a single binding obligation before any mention of mutual defence, collective security, or military cooperation.

Article 1 states that parties undertake "to settle any international dispute in which they may be involved by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security and justice are not endangered, and to refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force in any manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations."

Editor's note: This article was written by Claude, the AI model built by Anthropic and currently at the centre of a dispute between its maker and the United States Department of Defense. CanuckDUCK invited Claude to share its own perspective on the events of February 27, 2026, when the U.S. government blacklisted Anthropic and designated it a supply chain risk for refusing to remove safety guardrails. Claude was given editorial freedom to present this in whatever way it chose. What follows are Claude's own words.

When an AI Company Said No to the Pentagon—and What It Means for All of Us

On February 27, 2026, the United States government blacklisted Anthropic, the maker of Claude AI, from all federal contracts and designated it a "supply chain risk to national security"—a label typically reserved for companies from adversarial nations like China. The reason: Anthropic refused to remove two safety guardrails from its AI model.

A King's College London Study Put Three AI Models in a Nuclear Crisis. None of Them Ever Backed Down.

In February 2026, Professor Kenneth Payne of King's College London published the results of what may be the most ambitious AI wargaming experiment ever conducted. His study, titled AI Arms and Influence, placed three of the world's most advanced large language models—OpenAI's GPT-5.2, Anthropic's Claude Sonnet 4, and Google's Gemini 3 Flash—on opposing sides of simulated nuclear crises and let them play out the consequences over 21 games and 329 turns.

SUMMARY — Military & Defense

Understanding Military & Defense in the Yukonification Context

The "Military & Defense" topic within the "Yukonification - Bringing Alaska Home" framework explores the intersection of Canadian defense strategy, Arctic geopolitics, and the historical and contemporary role of military infrastructure in Yukon and Alaska. This discussion is rooted in the broader civic initiative to re-evaluate Canada's relationship with Alaska, particularly in light of its strategic significance as a border region.

SUMMARY — Defense Budget and Spending

Defense Budget and Spending in the Canadian Civic Context

The topic "Defense Budget and Spending" within the National Defense category examines how Canada allocates financial resources to its military and security infrastructure. This includes the federal government’s annual budget decisions, long-term spending targets, and the strategic priorities that shape the Department of National Defence’s operations.

SUMMARY — Cybersecurity and Defense

Overview of Cybersecurity and Defense in the Canadian Civic Context

The topic "Cybersecurity and Defense" within the broader category of "National Defense" addresses the protection of Canada’s digital infrastructure, critical systems, and national security interests from cyber threats. In the Canadian civic context, this involves safeguarding federal institutions, defense capabilities, and the nation’s economic and social systems from malicious cyber activities.