Canada has anchored its foreign policy in collective action since the early Cold War. As Joel Sokolsky has argued, alliance relationships “constitute nearly the sum total of Canada’s defence policy.” Yet for years under the previous government, Canada struggled to maintain those relationships, largely because of persistent underinvestment in defence. The spending shortfall drew sharp criticism — one commentator argued Trudeau posed a greater threat to the alliance than Trump did.

Prime Minister Carney has moved to correct that. In June 2025, he pledged to hit the NATO two percent of GDP defence spending target by March 2026, with quantum S&T positioned as a centerpiece of Canada’s defence agenda. The federal government’s Quantum 2030 implementation plan has laid out how the Department of National Defence (DND) and the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) intend to integrate quantum S&T into defence operations. Across all three documents, collaboration with North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), and Five Eyes partners is framed not as optional but as a precondition for success.

Canada wants to become a world leader in quantum science and technology. The policy ambition is there, but not the historical memory. If policy makers want to understand how alliance collaboration can drive S&T innovation, they should look at the nuclear reactor site in Chalk River, Ontario.

A wartime reactor with Cold War consequences

Chalk River’s story begins during the Second World War. In August 1943, Prime Minister Mackenzie King hosted........

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