Defence minister insists $1B spending reduction is not a budget cut

The country's top soldier and outside experts say that finding almost $1 billion in savings in the Department of National Defence budget will affect the Armed Forces' capabilities, although the defence minister insisted Friday the budget is not being cut.

The country's top soldier and outside experts say that finding almost $1 billion in savings in the Department of National Defence budget will affect the Armed Forces' capabilities, although the defence minister insisted Friday the budget is not being cut.

Deputy minister Bill Matthews told MPs on the House of Commons defence committee that the department is identifying "proposals for spending reductions" that total more than $900 million over four years, while trying to minimize the impact on military readiness. 

"We have to prioritize those decisions so that there is the least amount of impact possible, acknowledging that there will be impact," Matthews said Thursday.

The chief of the defence staff, Gen. Wayne Eyre, said top military leaders were meeting to discuss what that will mean. 

"I had a very difficult session this afternoon with the commanders of the various services as we attempt to explain this to our people," Eyre said. 

"There's no way that you can take almost a billion dollars out of the defence budget and not have an impact."

Yet in a statement on Friday, Defence Minister Bill Blair's spokesman Daniel Minden said: "Any claim that Canada is 'cutting' defence spending is not accurate, because overall defence spending has increased and will continue to increase."