By Richard Lawrence
The Canadian Defence Association Institute (CDAI) annually hosts its Conference on Security and Defence at the Chateau Laurier Hotel over two days which, this year – its 94th edition, was the 4th/5th of March, 2026. This year’s theme was the “Road to Five Percent” which references the NATO commitment to reach military spending of 5% of GDP to help Canada’s armed forces to expand in size, structure, and enhance its readiness. Topics included the need to change military procurement methods for faster turnarounds from assessing a need to equipment delivery, economic and social impacts of this investment, building Canada’s sovereign defence industry, and working more closely with allies in Europe than we have previously, both for battle readiness and sovereignty protection.
Pictures of all the speakers and panels can be found at:
https://www.richardlawrencephotography.ca/rlpgalleries/2026/cdai2026-d2/
Now, I was only able to attend the second day of the conference which, for me, was a little better as the first day panels dealt mostly with civilians, other than the panel on Mobilizing the CAF, and the panel on the Future of NATO. I’m sure they were interesting, as they have been in the past, but I like to hear the military leaders speak. The second day was certainly the day to be there for that as all three environmental commanders were on the first panel (Tom Lawson said that he could barely get all three Commanders together at one time when he was CDS so this was a treat). The following panel consisted of the commanders of the Canadian, Danish, and Swedish armies with commanders from CJOC, Special Ops, and Joint Forces appearing on others. Moderators consisted of CDAI Chairman Tom Lawson (ex-CDS), ex-Vice-CDS LGen. (ret’d) Frances Allen, LGen (ret’d) Guy Thibeault, and MGen. (ret’d) Sylvain Ménard. To finish the day, Tom Lawson hosted a chat with the CDS, Gen. Jenny Carignan, CDS to CDS. More stripes and maple leafs than you can count.
There are two observations that I would like to make with the first being that the Americans were conspicuous by their absence. I noted on the first day, last panel of the day, that the United States Ambassador to NATO did sit on the panel about “the Future of NATO” and I’m told that some of the American military showed up in support (or perhaps as body guards) but they were largely absent from the conference. I noted this as well for the second day as there were no American military on any panels and I think I only saw one American uniform in passing and that was only for an instant. I don’t know if they were afraid to show their faces over the mess they’re making of the world or they’d been ordered away in case they said something stupid or in support of the current U.S. Administration (also stupid). Either way, they were not a presence at this year’s conference, either as speakers, panel members, or participants. Cowards.
The second observation is that no one took the Americans to task for their recent disruptive behaviour. There were a couple of references to “traditional allies” and the “current state of affairs”, but other than that, no-one came out and said that the responsibility for “the current state of affairs” was the American Administration
For those who have seen the movie Love Actually, I point out the press conference between the British Prime Minister (Hugh Grant) and the U.S. President (Billy Bob Thornton) after negotiations which, to me, illustrates exactly how the world should react to the U.S., knowing that there will be consequences and that we should be prepared to live with them. It doesn’t mean to cut off relationships with the U.S. but to work with them from an equal/superior position rather than that of a subordinate. But I digress, here’s the quote.
“I fear that this has become a bad relationship. A relationship based on the President taking exactly what he wants and casually ignoring all those things that really matter to Britain. We may be a small country but we’re a great one too. A country of Shakespeare, Churchill …. A friend who bullies us is no longer a friend and since bullies only respond to strength … the President should be prepared for that”
Back to the conference. I have yet to see a CDAI conference this big and I’ve been covering it for maybe 12 years. It’s held in the Ballroom at the Chateau Laurier Hotel and this year’s seating covered front to back and side to side with only a small walkway around the edges for photographers and a center aisle. Usually it’s full for the morning keynote speaker and then it empties out somewhat for the panels. Not so this year as all panels, at least on the second day, were well attended. I was told that next year the event will be held at the Westin Hotel as their conference rooms can hold a larger crowd as there was a large waiting list this year for people who couldn’t get in.
The day started with the Honourable Steven Fuhr, Secretary of State for Procurement, speaking to Guy Thibeault about the new job, the Defence Investment Agency, and how the procurement process needs to change and become faster. This is interesting to me as last year there was a panel that was said the same thing – spend faster to get equipment into the hands of operators realizing that every t may not be crossed or every i may not be dotted . He did make mention that some of the latest procurements have been much faster and Tom Lawson commented on the fact that he never planned to see delivery of any capital equipment initiated when he was CDS.
The next panel had the Commanders of the RCN, RCAF, and the Army on a panel with ex-CDS Lawson debating the defence investments from the perspectives of the CAF commanders. This was a good panel and I’ll be doing a separate article on just this panel. Following the Commanders panel was another panel of Commanders, specifically the Canadian Army, Danish Army, and the Swedish Army about sovereignty, readiness, and inter-operability of forces. This panel will also rate a separate article of its own.
The other panels I cannot yet comment on as I’ve not re-listened to them but the one on “Defending Canada and North American from Crisis to Conflict”, and “Forces Integration and Pan-Domain Operations” (note how we’ve gone from joint to multi to pan-domains over the years), sounded good as I heard snippets that stuck in my mind as I was working the conference.
The conference ended with CDS Gen. Carignan in a one-to-one chat with Tom Lawson so I look forward to hearing that and sharing my impressions.
I will say that this conference is long but filled with lots of information. The CDAI does everything it can to keep things on schedule, provide breaks, and make one feel welcome. For their courtesies, I’d like to pass on my thanks and congratulations to the CDAI events and communications staff.
More to come as I review the panels.
