By The Canadian Press

Quebec political, business leaders backing Montreal’s bid to host NATO defence bank

Feb 13, 2026 | 1:13 PM

MONTREAL — Montreal has become the latest Canadian city to put its name forward to become the global headquarters for the proposed International Defence, Security and Resilience Bank (DSRB).

Quebec Premier François Legault and other government officials joined with Montreal business and political leaders on Friday to bolster the city’s candidacy to become the bank’s new home.

“We shouldn’t be ashamed to say: Montreal is the place, the destination,” Legault said Friday, adding the Quebec government is ready to invest in such a project. “We are ready to calculate a contribution based on the economic benefits. We obviously expect (Prime Minister) Mark Carney to do the same.”

The Defence, Security and Resilience Bank says it will be a multilateral bank owned exclusively by nation-states and designed to help “like-minded allies and partners finance their capabilities for the defence, security, and resilience of the democratic world.”

Spearheaded by NATO countries, the bank is meant to reduce borrowing costs for military spending by pooling credit strength.

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The founding countries must first decide on which country will end up hosting the bank before a city will be chosen. In Canada, Toronto and Vancouver are also actively lobbying to host the bank’s headquarters and Ottawa has also been mentioned as a potential landing spot.

“The world has become uncertain,” Legault said. “It’s not for nothing that countries are investing heavily in defence because they feel that perhaps American protection is less certain than it once was.”

There are also several international contenders for the bank’s headquarters, which is expected to generate an estimated 3,500 well-paying jobs.

In December, Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced his support for Toronto’s bid, touting it as the financial capital of the country.

On Monday, British Columbia’s government announced it was supporting a private bid to host the bank, with Premier David Eby calling Vancouver the “strategic choice” to host it and saying proximity to major eastern cities such as New York and Washington are an outdated way of thinking.

On Friday, Legault was joined by Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada and National Bank president Laurent Ferreira, describing Montreal as the perfect city to host the new bank given that it is already an aerospace and artificial intelligence hub, along with being a host for 70 international organizations.

“The big difference between all Canadian cities … is that there’s a combination that Montreal has that no other city in Canada has: this diplomatic and economic combination,” said Martinez-Ferrada.

With a provincial election on the horizon and the Parti Québécois high in the polls, there are concerns that the spectre of a sovereignty referendum will be used to counter Montreal’s bid. Legault and others downplayed the referendum issue raised on Friday.

“What we do know is that a large majority of Quebecers don’t want sovereignty, and an even larger majority don’t want a referendum on sovereignty,” Legault said.

Stéphane Paquet, president and CEO of Montréal International, the economic development arm of the city, suggested the province lived through a pair of sovereignty referendums between 1980 and 1995 and it didn’t lead to any international organizations departing the city.

Legault called on federal ministers from Quebec, François-Philippe Champagne and Mélanie Joly, as well as Mark Carney’s chief of staff, Marc-André Blanchard, and Isabelle Hudon, the president and CEO of the Business Development Bank of Canada, to support the Montreal candidacy.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 13, 2026.

Pierre Saint-Arnaud, The Canadian Press