Canada is eyeing a defence spending boost. Here’s where experts say extra cash should go

The threats posed by Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine could ease the way for Canada on boosting defence spending in the upcoming federal budget, say experts.

The threats posed by Russia‘s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine could ease the way for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Defence Minister Anita Anand to boost defence spending in the upcoming federal budget, say experts.

And while it’s unclear right now what that might look like, defence analysts said targeting recruits with more advanced skills and modernizing equipment like submarines should be among the areas up for more funding.

“I absolutely think it makes it easier to say yes,” said Steve Saideman, who holds the Paterson Chair in International Affairs at Carleton University and is director of the Canadian Defence and Security Network.

“This full-out war certainly moves the needle quite a bit. There’s a lot of pressure and there’s going to be a desire to have larger deployments in Eastern Europe and to staff that, we’re going to need to have a larger army, navy — or at least, we’re not going to cut the army.

“That’s a real challenge given the recruitment challenges we’ve had, the retention challenges we’ve had.”

Trudeau and Anand have strongly suggested in recent weeks that the government is weighing an increase to defence spending, moving it closer to the NATO target, which aims to see all members of the military alliance spend at least two per cent of GDP on defence.

In an interview with the CBC on Wednesday, Anand said she plans to present “aggressive options” to the federal cabinet that could see defence spending hit or exceed that two-per-cent target.

Her office told Global News spending plans will target two key goals.