“CAF – Canadian Armed Forces”

Canadian military police are now involved in investigating the leak of a document used to undercut the Liberal government’s consideration of an alternative to the American-made F-35.

The Ottawa Citizen reported Dec. 15, 2025, that the Department of National Defence had launched an initial investigation into the leak of the four-year-old document. At the time the DND refused to say whether police would be involved.

Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada landed in Japan on Friday as part of a 10-day tour that also included Australia. All three countries share at least one major concern: how to adapt now that President Trump has made it clear that they will need to look after their own security.

After Mr. Carney met with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi of Japan, the two leaders provided something of an answer — try to do more together.

“First, most importantly and fundamentally, we are enhancing our security and defense cooperation,” Mr. Carney said after a brief signing ceremony.

In recent months, the discussion that Canada may look abroad to supplement the ranks of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) has stirred unease. Canada has long prided itself on a citizen military — professional, volunteer-based, and rooted in a shared civic identity. Any significant move to recruit non-citizens at scale would represent more than a staffing adjustment. It would be a strategic signal with political, social, and reputational consequences.

Canadian anger toward U.S. President Donald Trump is understandable, but there is a real risk that this leads to poor policy choices. A case in point is the growing pressure to revisit the decision to buy a fleet of American F-35 fighter jets.

In economics, we think that governments should set policy goals, then decide how many workers to employ and how much capital equipment to use in order to achieve those goals at as low a cost as possible. A key goal underlying the decision to buy fighter jets is to protect Canada from military intervention by hostile countries. Swedish Gripen fighter jets are less costly, but also less militarily effective than the F-35s. Given this cost difference, the key question is whether the policy goal of keeping Canada safe from foreign aggression can be achieved using Gripens instead of F-35s.