Why AUKUS and not CAUKUS? It's a Potluck, not a Party

Abstract

In September 2021, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia announced a new security arrangement, dubbed AUKUS, focused on helping Australia acquire nuclear submarines. This caused anxiety in Canada, especially as it emerged that Canadian officials had been caught unaware. In this paper, we argue that AUKUS 1.0 (now increasingly referred to as the first pillar) is not a problem for Canada, despite this early concern: Canada may need to renew its aging submarine fleet, but it is unlikely to acquire nuclear submarines in the foreseeable future. That said, there are broader reasons for Canada to be worried: its exclusion from AUKUS is illustrative of its neglect of foreign, defence, and national security policy more generally. Moreover, as the pact evolves into AUKUS 2.0 (or the second pillar) and broadens its remit to cooperation on emerging defence technologies, Canada's absence from its proliferating working groups risks imposing serious costs.