Stronger alone? Canadian homeland defence amid great power competition

Canada faces an unprecedented convergence of threats from Russia, China, and the US, including coercive annexation attempts, Arctic competition, and the aggressive pursuit of critical natural resources. The Canadian Armed Forces is incapable of independently defending its territory against this confluence of threats. This article evaluates three plausible deterrence pathways available to Ottawa: reconfigured alliances, Total Defence, and nuclear weapons acquisition. This article contends that there is only one option that is both feasible and effective: a citizen-centred whole-of-society model that leverages Canada's geography and societal resilience to impose prohibitive costs on any prospective aggressor. A Total Defence strategy is the most realistic pathway to safeguard Canadian sovereignty in an era of renewed great power conquest.