British Columbia's government is supporting a private bid to host a new international bank to finance military projects by democratic nations, with Premier David Eby calling Vancouver the "strategic choice" to host it.
The Defence, Security and Resilience Bank is intended to finance military projects for members of NATO and its allies.
Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto have also been pitched as possible headquarters for the bank, but Eby says that if Canada wins the international hosting competition, Vancouver is the "obvious" choice.
Eby said locating the bank in Eastern Canada close to New York and Washington, D.C. is the "old way of thinking" in Canada.
Addressing a news conference at the facilities of shipbuilder Seaspan, Eby said world has changed, with Canada looking to diversify and deepen relationships with countries other than the United States. Vancouver has become Canada's new centre, he said.
"We have to think about where those countries are located, and the centre of this new Canadian relationship with the world is obviously located in British Columbia and Vancouver," he said. "We are a Pacific nation. We face the fastest growing economies in the world across the Pacific Ocean. We can also maintain close ties with Europe."
Similar comments also came from Bridgitte Anderson, president and CEO of the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, who described the bank as something more than a financial institution, that it will be a "vital security instrument."
"Locating the bank in Vancouver would provide the institution with a strategic advantage, given that we serve as a tri-continental bridge connecting the Indo-Pacific Europe and the Arctic channel," she said.
She also pointed to Vancouver's role as a development hub for relevant security technologies, such as quantum computing and artificial intelligence.
"In addition, we also have Canada's Pacific fleet at CFB Esquimalt, which is also incredibly important," said Anderson, who also heads the bid committee for the bank. She said work on the bid started late last year before the Christmas holiday.
The Defence, Security and Resilience Bank is a new multilateral initiative by democratic countries, designed to provide "long-term, low-cost financing" for defence projects by "like-minded allies and partners."
This fall, representatives from 37 countries, including G7 and members, of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization met in London to discuss the initiative, the development group behind the bank said in a press release.
It said in the Dec. 10 release a "number of countries have now indicated their intention to begin the formal steps required to bring the (bank) into existence.".
Eby said a decision about which country will end up hosting the bank could come perhaps as soon as the end of March, and if Canada, were to win the bid, competing cities could know by the end of 2026.
B.C.'s job minister Ravi Kahlon and Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim also attended the news conference.
Kahlon said the bank is designed to support industries that are crucial to security, including defence, cybersecurity, advanced manufacturing and dual use technologies around the world.
"Governments are recognizing that economic security and national security are deeply connected," Kahlon said.
Sim touted Vancouver's "unmatched connectivity" through its port and airport, its labour supply and educational opportunities, and its quality of life.
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns
