By Mark Sutcliffe, Mayor of Ottawa, and Maude Marquis-Bissonnette, Mayor of Gatineau
Canada has always been guided by a commitment to peace, both at home and on the global stage. We recognize that in an increasingly uncertain world, peace is not maintained by goodwill alone. We invest in defence not out of a desire for conflict, but out of a responsibility to protect our sovereignty, support our allies, and contribute to a more stable world.
As Prime Minister Carney outlined at Davos, the global order has ruptured and it is not returning. Canada must build strength at home and lead in partnerships abroad. The Defence, Security and Resilience Bank (DSRB) is a first-of-its-kind multilateral institution that will mobilize capital for defence, security, and resilience priorities across allied nations. It will allow Canada’s defence and dual-use companies to access the capital they need to build, commercialize, compete and, most importantly, support the men and women serving in the Canadian Armed Forces.
Where Canada chooses to locate the headquarters of this institution will speak to how seriously we take its mandate.
The DSRB is not a conventional financial institution; it is a defence institution with a banking mandate. Its effectiveness depends on daily proximity to Canada’s defence decision makers, integration with our allied diplomatic network, and access to the sovereign financial governance architecture that will regulate and backstop everything it does. Those conditions only exist in Canada’s National Capital Region.
Ottawa-Gatineau anchors the most concentrated defence innovation and industrial base in Canada, including over 330 defence and security companies. We have Canada’s only defence-focused venture capital platform, the only cluster of six NATO DIANA Test Centres in the country, and the highest concentration of tech talent in North America. This is not a region preparing to build a defence economy; it is a region that already has one.
The National Capital Region is at the heart of Canada’s financial and regulatory system; the Bank of Canada, Export Development Canada, FINTRAC, Finance Canada, and the Treasury Board Secretariat are all headquartered here. You cannot run a sovereign defence-finance institution from the periphery of sovereign financial authority.
Our region is also home to Canada’s entire national defence and security establishment: DND, CSE, CSIS, the RCMP, Defence Research and Development Canada, and Public Safety Canada are all headquartered here. Not regional offices, headquarters. This is where defence policy, intelligence, procurement, testing, and operations converge daily. You cannot govern defence finance from a remote distance of defence operations.
Ottawa-Gatineau is also Canada’s diplomatic and allied military nerve centre. Over 130 embassies and high commissions, along with military attachés from NATO and allied nations, are integrated with the institutions the DSRB needs to engage with daily. No other Canadian city offers that access.
Every serious allied nation locates its defence coordination infrastructure in its capital. Washington anchors U.S. defence finance. London anchors the UK’s. Brussels anchors NATO’s. This is not an accident, nor is it unique to defence. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund were both established in Washington, not New York. Multilateral financial institutions are purposely located close to the clients they serve governments. The same logic applies to the DSRB.
Allied member nations joining the DSRB will assess whether the host city allows effective engagement with Canada’s defence establishment, provides access to our diplomatic network, and inspires confidence that the institution is anchored at the centre of national decision-making. Ottawa-Gatineau is the only answer to every one of those questions.
Prime Minister Carney has committed to making Canada the strongest economy in the G7 and a global leader in defence innovation. The DSRB’s location will be a statement of that commitment.
We, along with the signatories below, are calling on the federal government to make the decision that Canada’s national security interests demand. Locate the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank in Ottawa-Gatineau, where defence decisions are made, where allied partners already engage, and where this institution can fulfil its mandate from the moment its doors open.
Canada’s National Capital Region is ready. The moment requires it.
Mark Sutcliffe is the Mayor of Ottawa. Maude Marquis-Bissonnette is the Mayor of Gatineau.
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