Canadian military budget will grow by $8B as policy review seeks to reset defence vision

The budget lays out broke strokes of a plan to boost defence spending by $8 billion over five years -- but combined with planned increases, Canada still won't hit the NATO target.

The federal Liberals will boost the budget for the Canadian military by roughly $8 billion on top of billions in already scheduled increases, and launch a review of the country’s defence policy.

But even with that increase, Canada will not hit the two-per cent NATO spending target.

The spending boost comes as Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has repeatedly warned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine threatens the very foundations of the global order underlying Canada’s economy and foreign policy since the end of the Second World War.

“Uncertainty and turbulence” will be hallmarks of the coming years, one senior government official told journalists on Thursday morning, and the assessments made in 2017 when the Liberals last overhauled Canada’s defence policy are changing.

“Recent events require the government to reassess Canada’s role, priorities, and needs in the face of a changing world,” Freeland noted in her second budget.

The $8 billion in new spending will come over five years.

It comes in addition to increases promised in 2017 that were set to see Canada’s defence budget grow from $18.9 billion in 2016/2017 to $32.7 billion by 2026/2027.

The additional $8 billion will not bring Canada up to meet the target for military spending laid out by NATO members back in 2014. Under that pledge, members of the military alliance vowed to boost defence spending to represent two per cent of their GDPs.