The Canadian government has left the door open to participate in President Trump’s Golden Dome project. Not only does this make sense, Canada should lead in the development of essential capabilities for the Golden Dome.

Canadian’s distaste for Donald Trump aside, Golden Dome – or something like it – is the only way to protect the populations and critical infrastructure in the United States and Canada from overhead threats that can cause significant death and harm today, let alone in the foreseeable future.

The first duty of the Canadian government, like all governments around the world, is to protect the safety and security of its citizens. That protection is never absolute, but in a democracy, it needs to be sufficient to reassure the population that the government is providing a reasonable expectation of safety and that decisions on resource allocation are proportional to the risks. That balance is at the heart of the need for Golden Dome.

The ongoing arms race between the West and her principle enemies presents new and significant risks. The increase in global military spending is now in its 10th year and is accelerating faster than at any point since the end of the cold war.

Russia and China have developed long-range and very long-range conventional missiles. Russia has used variations of these weapons in both the Middle East and Ukraine and is capable of targeting critical infrastructure in both Canada and the United States.

READ MORE: PM Carney calls for heightened pressure on Russia after drone incursion into Poland

These weapons are conventional, in the sense that they are not nuclear armed, so their employment would not be subject to the same type of

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