As NATO leaders gather in Washington, D.C., for their annual summit that begins Tuesday, Canada’s involvement in major discussions may be complicated by how allies view its commitment to defence spending, analysts say. The defence alliance is marking its 75th anniversary by looking toward an uncertain future and growing global threat environment where both the … Read more
The head of NATO urged Canada to meet the alliance’s defence spending target while visiting the nation’s capital Wednesday, suggesting the billions of dollars in new investments — while notable — are not enough. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Canada’s updated defence policy, which commits $8 billion over five years and projects the defence budget’s … Read more
Defence Minister Bill Blair maintains Canada remains committed to reaching NATO‘s target of members spending two per cent of GDP on defence after the U.S. ambassador called Canada “the outlier” in the alliance due to not having a path to reach that target. In response to a question at the defence committee by Conservative defence … Read more
Defence Minister Bill Blair unveiled Monday $7.9 billion in new spending on the Canadian Armed Forces over the next five years in a long-promised update to Canada’s defence policy, but this will still not meet the country’s target under NATO. By the end of the new five-year plan in the 2029-30 fiscal year, Canada is … Read more
The Canadian Forces is facing “a death spiral” when it comes to recruitment, even as the government is “constrained” on more defence spending, Defence Minister Bill Blair says. Blair made those remarks after speaking to a crowd attending the Ottawa Conference on Security and Defence on Thursday, though stressed the government’s commitment to spend more … Read more
The parliamentary budget officer says the Defence Department is planning unprecedented capital spending in the coming years, raising concerns about the effect of inflation. In a new report, Yves Giroux assessed 20 years of planned capital spending under Canada’s 2017 defence policy, billed “Strong, Secure, Engaged.” He found planned spending is $51.5 billion more than … Read more
Finance Minister Chyrstia Freeland will not present the 2024 budget until early spring but as early as last July the federal government has been actively seeking input from Canadians on that budget’s major themes as early as July. Indeed, internal government polls obtained by Global News, from July through to the beginning of October, found … Read more
