"I'd say the most consequential difference in 2025 has been the volume, the simultaneous volume," Guillot said in an exclusive interview. That kind of activity, defence analysts say, is intended to test the reaction of the U.S. and Canadian militaries. "There's certainly Russian activity in the Arctic to the east of our continent," Guillot said. He said the questions the two countries are asking themselves include whether it makes sense to expand NORAD and include missile defence in the binational command, or allow each nation's operational commands to manage missile defence themselves, as U.S. NORTHCOM already does. Last summer, Defence Minister David McGuinty quietly removed the decades-old prohibition Canada had on participating in the U.S. ballistic missile defence program.

Source: CBC News January 12, 2026 13:32 UTC