Canada's Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan said cyber security is the new "arms race" as the government fights to protect its information systems from nefarious threats around the world.

Van Loan was speaking Wednesday at a joint news conference with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano in Ottawa.

He was asked by CTV's Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife about the threat of cyber crime from countries such as China and Russia.

"The countries you mentioned are ones that have proven to be adept operators in that area and they're not the only ones, there are a lot of private individuals and other interests that are threatening our security in that regard," he said.

"I really look at this area almost as the new arms race."

Van Loan said cyber threats are ever-evolving, and as quickly as new security measures are put in place, people are working on ways to get around them.

"There isn't a day that goes by without someone somewhere trying to breach the Government of Canada's information systems," he said.

"We continue to put up good defences and we continue to be fairly successful at it but it is like an arms race, we get better at it, they get better at it."

Napolitano agreed that efforts to combat cyber security are never static but are always being strengthened and improved, and said both countries are working on strategies to combat the threat.

Stronger relations under Obama

Earlier Wednesday, Van Loan told CTV's Canada AM that border and trade relations are stronger under U.S. President Barack Obama than under the previous administration.

"We're moving in a much more positive direction than in the past, where we are working co-operatively, we are making gains that are in Canada's interest and in the Americans' interest," Van Loan said.

In the past, Van Loan said, there was a perception that U.S. security concerns trumped all other issues, including the cross-border trade that is vital to the economies of both nations.

"We of course have one of the most important economic borders in the world, close to $2 billion a day trades across that border and that's one reason that it's very important we keep that open," he said.