Canada

Writing tip: the first time you use an acronym, you're supposed to write out the whole term and put the acronym in brackets, then you can use the acronym freely after that.

And I fail to see why it would be obvious that Canada would suddenly start a nuclear weapons program when we never have before.

If they're doing it intentionally, then they're just intentionally writing badly and making me read them less.

But they do it constantly across a wide variety of topics. They write an article and provide some fact or stat but almost always fail to provide the context, or the full statistics that would make that a meaningful stat to compare. Or they provide a stat that doesn't actually tell you anything about the question at hand.

I honestly just think that they have either crappy writers, crappy editors, or some combination of them just fundamentally lacking scientific / logical thinking skills.

Like the USA under the current administration / trends? Do allies attempt to annex allies via economic warfare and separatist influence campaigns? And if the states can 'flip' from ally to adversary, why not others?

The current global situation means that self-reliance for critical sectors is of paramount importance -- trade and globalism is fine for non-critical things, and for general collaboration on broader initiatives such as global warming/climate change (for countries that agree on it). Ferries, as civilian infrastructure, are not individually critical - if they fail for some reason, it's "bad", but it isn't military failure levels of bad. Today we may think of Germany as an ally, for example, but the AFD and far right have significant support there, and it's entirely plausible that within the span of the sub contract Germany will trend more like the USA is today. It's also plausible, although still relatively unlikely, that China could expand its borders and push for SK to be absorbed by NK as part of a regional conflict wherein the USA doesn't bother to support its traditional allies / values.

Additionally, I have far more confidence in Canada's ability to take on civilian ferries, and their maintenance in the face of global uncertainties, than I do in Canada's ability to maintain foreign made military vessels with far more complex systems. Ergo such specialties should be built up and maintained in country, by purchasing assets from internal companies.