Private companies in Canada are vulnerable to foreign state enterprises, cyberattacks, industrial espionage, weaponized trade restrictions and interference in democracy, the Business Council of Canada warned in a new report Thursday. Private and public actors need to overcome decades of neglect to bolster defences and become less dependent on strategic rivals that don’t play by our rules, the group said. (The Logic)

Talking point: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine cast a bright light on Western Europe’s reliance on Russian-supplied gas, the BCC said—a warning to Canada about its reliance on countries such as China for critical goods. To defend ourselves, we need “a latticework of new and interconnected laws, policies, and programs” that will deepen links to friendly countries, warn Canadians about rapacious foreign competitors—including having the Canadian Security Intelligence Service tell companies if they’re specifically threatened—and raise shields to protect key infrastructure and innovations from theft and unfair competition, it said.