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Wednesday, October 29, 2025

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Alex Wilner

Alex Wilner is an assistant professor at NPSIA, Carleton University, and a fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, a public policy think tank in Ottawa.

Drone warfare is here. Canada must prepare

  • As this technology evolves at breakneck speed, Canada risks being caught flat-footed.
Opinion | BY JEAN-FRANçOIS BéLANGER, ALEX WILNER | October 29, 2025
Defence Minister David McGuinty. Drones have proven to be deadly additions to contemporary warfare. It’s too late to slow the technology’s proliferation. We need to prepare accordingly and adapt faster, write Jean-François Bélanger and Alex Wilner. Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Drone warfare is here. Canada must prepare

Opinion | BY JEAN-FRANçOIS BéLANGER, ALEX WILNER | October 29, 2025
  • As this technology evolves at breakneck speed, Canada risks being caught flat-footed.

Drone warfare is here. Canada must prepare

Opinion | BY JEAN-FRANçOIS BéLANGER, ALEX WILNER | October 29, 2025
  • As this technology evolves at breakneck speed, Canada risks being caught flat-footed.
Defence Minister David McGuinty. Drones have proven to be deadly additions to contemporary warfare. It’s too late to slow the technology’s proliferation. We need to prepare accordingly and adapt faster, write Jean-François Bélanger and Alex Wilner. Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Red Sea crisis a wake-up call for Western naval forces

  • Mass air attacks, where defence systems must shoot down hundreds of hostile threats in a short amount of time, is now a reality. 
Opinion | BY ALEXANDER SALT, ALEX WILNER | May 8, 2024
Canada’s recent defence policy update, unveiled on April 8 by Defence Minister Bill Blair, has openly acknowledged the growing threat and danger facing air defences as well as the need for new investments in that area, write Alexander Salt and Alex Wilner. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Red Sea crisis a wake-up call for Western naval forces

Opinion | BY ALEXANDER SALT, ALEX WILNER | May 8, 2024
  • Mass air attacks, where defence systems must shoot down hundreds of hostile threats in a short amount of time, is now a reality. 

Red Sea crisis a wake-up call for Western naval forces

Opinion | BY ALEXANDER SALT, ALEX WILNER | May 8, 2024
  • Mass air attacks, where defence systems must shoot down hundreds of hostile threats in a short amount of time, is now a reality. 
Canada’s recent defence policy update, unveiled on April 8 by Defence Minister Bill Blair, has openly acknowledged the growing threat and danger facing air defences as well as the need for new investments in that area, write Alexander Salt and Alex Wilner. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Canada owes it to the world to become an innovative ally

  • New defence policy network aims to shift old ways of thinking about warfare and security.
Opinion | BY GUILLAUME CôTé, DAVID PERRY, ALEX WILNER | July 17, 2023
Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne tests out an F-35 fighter jet simulator at the CANSEC trade show in Ottawa on June 1. Triple Helix will aim to challenge Canada’s traditional defence paradigm and pursue innovation, write Guillaume Côté, David Perry, and Alex Wilner. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Canada owes it to the world to become an innovative ally

Opinion | BY GUILLAUME CôTé, DAVID PERRY, ALEX WILNER | July 17, 2023
  • New defence policy network aims to shift old ways of thinking about warfare and security.

Canada owes it to the world to become an innovative ally

Opinion | BY GUILLAUME CôTé, DAVID PERRY, ALEX WILNER | July 17, 2023
  • New defence policy network aims to shift old ways of thinking about warfare and security.
Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne tests out an F-35 fighter jet simulator at the CANSEC trade show in Ottawa on June 1. Triple Helix will aim to challenge Canada’s traditional defence paradigm and pursue innovation, write Guillaume Côté, David Perry, and Alex Wilner. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

The many shades of deterrence in Ukraine 

  • OTTAWA—Deterrence entails the use of threats to manipulate an adversary’s behaviour. The concept has been around a long while. Even the Romans understood that
Opinion | BY ALEX WILNER | March 14, 2022
American ambassador to Canada David Cohen, pictured on Feb. 24, 2022, leaving the Ukrainian embassy in Ottawa after a meeting with other G7 ambassadors. That Vladimir Putin felt comfortable upending the global order by launching Europe’s greatest war in more than 70 years suggests a deterrence failure of epic proportions, writes Alex Wilner. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

The many shades of deterrence in Ukraine 

Opinion | BY ALEX WILNER | March 14, 2022
  • OTTAWA—Deterrence entails the use of threats to manipulate an adversary’s behaviour. The concept has been around a long while. Even the Romans understood that

The many shades of deterrence in Ukraine 

Opinion | BY ALEX WILNER | March 14, 2022
  • OTTAWA—Deterrence entails the use of threats to manipulate an adversary’s behaviour. The concept has been around a long while. Even the Romans understood that
American ambassador to Canada David Cohen, pictured on Feb. 24, 2022, leaving the Ukrainian embassy in Ottawa after a meeting with other G7 ambassadors. That Vladimir Putin felt comfortable upending the global order by launching Europe’s greatest war in more than 70 years suggests a deterrence failure of epic proportions, writes Alex Wilner. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

We’re losing the long war on ISIS

  • OTTAWA—The war on ISIS in Syria and Iraq is being won, slowly but surely. The U.S. and its coalition partners—Canada included—have destroyed ISIS’s ability
Opinion | BY ALEX WILNER | May 23, 2016
Widespread destruction in residential neighbourhoods near Attan, April 21, 2015. The war in Syria and Iraq has left a trail of devastation. A massive reconstruction effort, on the scale of the post-1945 Marshall Plan in Western Europe, awaits. If the conflict in Syria were to end today, the World Bank estimates that U.S. $170-billion would be needed to rebuild the country. By comparison, since 2014, the U.S. has spent roughly U.S. $7-billion on its war with ISIS. Photograph courtesy of Ibrahem Qasim

We’re losing the long war on ISIS

Opinion | BY ALEX WILNER | May 23, 2016
  • OTTAWA—The war on ISIS in Syria and Iraq is being won, slowly but surely. The U.S. and its coalition partners—Canada included—have destroyed ISIS’s ability

We’re losing the long war on ISIS

Opinion | BY ALEX WILNER | May 23, 2016
  • OTTAWA—The war on ISIS in Syria and Iraq is being won, slowly but surely. The U.S. and its coalition partners—Canada included—have destroyed ISIS’s ability
Widespread destruction in residential neighbourhoods near Attan, April 21, 2015. The war in Syria and Iraq has left a trail of devastation. A massive reconstruction effort, on the scale of the post-1945 Marshall Plan in Western Europe, awaits. If the conflict in Syria were to end today, the World Bank estimates that U.S. $170-billion would be needed to rebuild the country. By comparison, since 2014, the U.S. has spent roughly U.S. $7-billion on its war with ISIS. Photograph courtesy of Ibrahem Qasim
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