Voyageur 104
Canada Beat 39 Countries to Host the New NATO-Linked Defence Bank, and Russian Media Wrote 67 Articles About Alberta in Four Months.
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Canada Beat 39 Countries to Host the New NATO-Linked Defence Bank
Canada beat out 39 other countries to host the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank, a new multinational lender that is expected to channel low-cost financing into defence and security projects for NATO members and allies. The federal government announced the win on April 30, after negotiations wrapped up in Montréal the day before. About 3,500 jobs in defence finance, cybersecurity, and research should be coming along with the win.
Halifax, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and the National Capital Region are all now publicly campaigning to host the headquarters. B.C.'s government has gone so far as to put out a press release titled "B.C. the best spot for global defence bank." All six of Canada's biggest banks have backed the bid, and Ottawa is expected to put in more than $1 billion.
The bank was first proposed in 2025 by Rob Murray, who built NATO's Defence Innovation Fund. JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, ING and Commerzbank are among the international backers. National Defence Minister David McGuinty says the bank will help build "a resilient and responsive defence industrial base."
For a country routinely called a NATO laggard, it all seems like a noteworthy change. The Carney government's tilt to Europe is getting some muscle behind it (Voyageur 101).
Read more: Global News / The Conversation
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A photo from the old country:
Russian Media Wrote 67 Articles About Alberta in Four Months
Russian state-linked media wrote 67 articles about Alberta, Albertans, or "the fifty-first state" between December 24 and April 25. That's nearly five times what they wrote about Ontario. A new joint report from five Canadian research outfits says they aren't working alone. US right-wing influencers including Tucker Carlson, Steve Bannon, Benny Johnson and Tim Pool have been pushing separation or annexation narratives to audiences in the millions, and AI-generated content posing as Albertan voices has (so far) racked up more than 40 million YouTube views.
The report is called "Decision Making & National Unity Under Threat" and was put together by DisinfoWatch, the Global Centre for Democratic Resilience, the Canadian Digital Media Research Network, CASiLabs, and the Media Ecosystem Observatory.
The data side is grim too. A separatist organization called the Centurion Project got their hands on Elections Alberta's voter list through the Republican Party of Alberta, exposing 2.9 million voter records. Researchers had planted salted fake names in the list to try and trace the leak.
For Canadians watching national unity from a distance, this is the most detailed map so far of who is stoking the fire.
Read more: The Walrus / CBC News