For eight decades, the United States of America was the architect and lynchpin of a rules-based international order that brought security, peace, and prosperity to its allies in the West. This made international relations more stable and predictable than at any other point in history, especially for small and medium powers like Canada.

The United States of America has changed. The international system it invested trillions of dollars designing and shedding blood for since the Second World War is also changing with it.

Though Washington’s values, interests, and alliances might fluctuate according to the emotional impulses of the occupant of the White House, geography doesn’t. In other words, Canada remains sandwiched between the dictator Vladimir Putin’s Russia to the north and the annexationist Donald Trump’s United States of America to the south.

This is not a drill or a joke. Canada’s territory and natural resources are the envy of the world. Any reasonable person who sees far enough into the future realizes that the great powers will eventually come for them. The only question is whether we, Canadians, will be able to assert our sovereignty, defend our independence, and maintain our country’s territorial integrity when they do. 

A security clearance is a non-partisan national security requirement. It enables the holder of the clearance to gain access to classified information. This may range from intelligence briefings related to foreign interference to knowledge of a pending invasion. 

A security clearance is not an “oath of secrecy” imposed by the government. Being briefed that Russian, American, or Chinese marines intend to land on Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic wouldn’t constitute “breadcrumbs of intel” either.

The world is a dangerous place. The Russian army is slowly marching westward in Ukraine toward Europe. Russia already occupies parts of Moldova and Georgia. The idea that Moscow might invade NATO allies like Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia – where Canadian soldiers are deployed – to build a land-bridge to Kaliningrad, is not far-fetched either.

China is increasingly aggressive too. In Canada, Beijing interferes in our elections and operates its own police stations. In China, the CCP executed at least 4 Canadians this year alone. In the Indo-Pacific, clashes between the PLA Navy and the Philippine Coast Guard at Second Thomas and Scarborough Shoals occur regularly, as do Chinese violations of Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone. 

India interferes in Canadian affairs as well. There are credible allegations that its agents raised money for the Conservative Party of Canada, while also providing support to Liberal Party backbenchers like former Nepean MP Chandra Arya. Even worse, New Delhi executed at least one contract killing of a Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in British Columbia in 2023. 

What happens once Iran, which previously hired Canadian members of the Hells Angels to target Iranian dissidents in the United States, does something similar here? What if Canada-based critics of Russia, or Russian dissidents and defectors, start winding up poisoned as Sergei and Yulia Skripal did – or assassinated like Alexander Litvinenko or Maxim Kuzminov?

This is only a fraction of what Canada is up against. Everything about Canadian popular, political, and strategic culture is going to change in the coming years. The sacrifices required, and the degree of rearmament and militarization that Canada must institute, to face these challenges is unlike anything most Canadians have experienced in their lifetimes. 

If Pierre Poilievre wants to lead Canada in this new international security environment, he must obtain a security clearance like the rest of our political leaders. Even Yves Francois Blanchet, a separatist who wants the province of Quebec to leave Canada, understands that having a security clearance is the bare minimum for protecting the people whose interests he represents in parliament.

Refusing to obtain a security clearance given Canada’s current predicament is irresponsible. It provides would-be voters, who are otherwise sympathetic to your policies, with reasons to doubt your integrity and seriousness. It also supplies your critics with unnecessary ammunition to use against you. So, kill three birds with one stone and obtain the security clearance. There is literally no downside for you.

At the end of the day, Canada doesn’t need a cheap retail politician to lead us in the coming years. It needs a statesman. 40 million Canadians at home, and another 4 million abroad, are depending on you to protect us. Do the right thing, get your security clearance, and meet this historic moment.

George Monastiriakos is a professor at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law.