Ontario Premier Doug Ford announces Toronto’s bid to house the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank (DSRB) for defence spending. The DSRB is a new multilateral institution aimed at financing defence, security and resilience projects for NATO members and allied nations.

The DSRB, modelled after the World Bank, will serve 40 member countries and will create approximately 3,500 skilled jobs, as well as many more secondary jobs, and strengthen Canada’s capacity to finance defence, security and resilience projects. Its mandate will require close proximity to capital, high-skill labour, dual-use industry, and global partners.

READ: Ontario – Defence Industry – Regional Report

With Toronto being a financial services hub that serves as home to all five major Canadian banks as well as 40 foreign banks, Toronto is the most globally credible platform to host the DSRB.

Premier Ford was joined by Ontario’s Minister of Finance, Peter Bethlenfalvy, Mayor of Toronto, Olivia Chow, Chair of the Federal Liberal Toronto Caucus, Julie Dzerowicz and industry partners to launch Toronto’s bid.

There was no mention of exactly how much the province and the city would contribute to establish the bank.

“Let’s first win the bid, and then we’ll talk about what investments we’re going to have here,” said Ford. “More than likely we’re going to invest in beautiful new headquarters that are going to attract companies from all over the world and over 40 nations.”