Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and National Defence Minister Bill Blair announced a plan to renew Canada’s defence system and committed to spend $8.1 billion over five years and $73 billion over 20 years in defence spending as part of Budget 2024. Canada’s defence spending to GDP ratio is expected to rise to 1.76% by 2029-2030 — a major step towards reaching its NATO commitment of 2%. “Members of our Armed Forces serve our country with unwavering dedication,” said Trudeau in a Monday press release. “With today’s announcement, we’re strengthening the Canadian Armed Forces with transformative investments in equipment, capabilities and talent.”As Canada tackles evolving challenges, Trudeau said the spending will keep it safe, secure and prosperous. The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said it will spend $1.4 billion over 20 years to acquire specialized maritime sensors to conduct ocean surveillance. The PMO said the sensors will be used to monitor Canada’s maritime approaches, including in the Arctic and territories, and will be a critical component of the Canadian Armed Forces’ ability to defend it from a growing range and sophistication of underwater threats. To acquire a more modern, effective tactical helicopter capability, it will spend $18.4 billion over 20 years. To ensure Canadian sovereignty, it will spend $218 million over 20 years for Northern Operational Support Hubs to establish a greater annual presence across the Arctic and territories. It will allocate $307 million over 20 years for airborne early warning aircraft to improve Canada’s ability to detect, track and prioritize airborne threats sooner. To improve the sustainability of naval fleets, it will spend $9.9 billion over 20 years to improve the sustainability of its naval fleets. This will include extending the life of the Halifax-class frigates and preserving the Royal Canadian Navy’s interim at-sea replenishment capability. It will spend $5.5 billion over 20 years to acquire a comprehensive worldwide satellite communication capability. Working with its allies, it will develop updated access to the satellite constellations, enabling the CAF to operate with greater effectiveness around the world. To strengthen the joint Canadian cyber operations capability with the Communications Security Establishment, it will spend $2.8 billion over 20 years on integrating the unique strengths of each organization into a unified team. Another $2.7 billion over 20 years will go towards acquiring long-range missile capabilities to enable the CAF to deter threats to Canada from an appropriate distance and reach targets at greater ranges than its adversaries. To support soldiers, it said it will spend $295 million over 20 years to establish a CAF Housing Strategy, build more homes and rehabilitate existing ones so its members have safe, affordable places to live where they and their families are posted. Another $100 million over five years will improve childcare access for members on bases across Canada.An additional $497 million over 20 years will accelerate development of an electronic health record platform to improve the continuity of care as they move between provinces and territories.The PMO will dedicate $1.8 billion over 20 years to increase the number of civilian specialists in priority areas to accelerate and improve the purchase of new equipment, its capacity to recruit and train new soldiers and infrastructure upgrades.To enable future growth, the PMO said it must strengthen the foundations of defence and spend on building the Canadian Defence Industrial Base to better equip the CAF and create more jobs. It said its plan will support these objectives by spending $10.2 billion over 20 years to maintain and renew the Department of National Defence (DND) infrastructure to support the required tempo of training, operations, and daily military activities. This spending will range from asset maintenance and repair to other improvements to military facilities. Another $9.5 billion over 20 years will build a strategic reserve of ammunition and scale up the production of Canadian artillery ammunition in partnership with the defence industry to equip the CAF and create jobs. A separate $9 billion over 20 years will sustain military equipment under the National Procurement Program to ensure it can continue to receive the upgrades needed to preserve their ability to deploy during operations. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said CAF members “need cutting-edge equipment to protect Canadians and defend democracy.”“They help uphold the rules-based international order, which has enabled the decades of peace and prosperity that generations of Canadians have enjoyed,” said Freeland.“Our government is making transformative investments to secure our Arctic and ensure the Canadian Armed Forces can keep up with emerging threats today and in the years ahead.”Blair said the Canadian government is “committed to fulfilling our essential responsibility of protecting Canada and its people.”“Our world has evolved significantly in the past few years, and we need to do more to respond to new security threats,” said Blair. “Our North, Strong and Free outlines our plan to do more and is a significant step forward in meeting our commitments to our Allies.”The Canadian government looked into cutting almost $1 billion from the DND’s annual budget in September— a demand Canada’s top military commander said was prompting tough conversations within upper ranks. READ MORE: Liberals looking to cut $1 billion from defence budget“There's no way that you can take almost a billion dollars out of the defence budget and not have an impact,” said Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Wayne Eyre. “This is something that we're wrestling with now.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and National Defence Minister Bill Blair announced a plan to renew Canada’s defence system and committed to spend $8.1 billion over five years and $73 billion over 20 years in defence spending as part of Budget 2024. Canada’s defence spending to GDP ratio is expected to rise to 1.76% by 2029-2030 — a major step towards reaching its NATO commitment of 2%. “Members of our Armed Forces serve our country with unwavering dedication,” said Trudeau in a Monday press release. “With today’s announcement, we’re strengthening the Canadian Armed Forces with transformative investments in equipment, capabilities and talent.”As Canada tackles evolving challenges, Trudeau said the spending will keep it safe, secure and prosperous. The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said it will spend $1.4 billion over 20 years to acquire specialized maritime sensors to conduct ocean surveillance. The PMO said the sensors will be used to monitor Canada’s maritime approaches, including in the Arctic and territories, and will be a critical component of the Canadian Armed Forces’ ability to defend it from a growing range and sophistication of underwater threats. To acquire a more modern, effective tactical helicopter capability, it will spend $18.4 billion over 20 years. To ensure Canadian sovereignty, it will spend $218 million over 20 years for Northern Operational Support Hubs to establish a greater annual presence across the Arctic and territories. It will allocate $307 million over 20 years for airborne early warning aircraft to improve Canada’s ability to detect, track and prioritize airborne threats sooner. To improve the sustainability of naval fleets, it will spend $9.9 billion over 20 years to improve the sustainability of its naval fleets. This will include extending the life of the Halifax-class frigates and preserving the Royal Canadian Navy’s interim at-sea replenishment capability. It will spend $5.5 billion over 20 years to acquire a comprehensive worldwide satellite communication capability. Working with its allies, it will develop updated access to the satellite constellations, enabling the CAF to operate with greater effectiveness around the world. To strengthen the joint Canadian cyber operations capability with the Communications Security Establishment, it will spend $2.8 billion over 20 years on integrating the unique strengths of each organization into a unified team. Another $2.7 billion over 20 years will go towards acquiring long-range missile capabilities to enable the CAF to deter threats to Canada from an appropriate distance and reach targets at greater ranges than its adversaries. To support soldiers, it said it will spend $295 million over 20 years to establish a CAF Housing Strategy, build more homes and rehabilitate existing ones so its members have safe, affordable places to live where they and their families are posted. Another $100 million over five years will improve childcare access for members on bases across Canada.An additional $497 million over 20 years will accelerate development of an electronic health record platform to improve the continuity of care as they move between provinces and territories.The PMO will dedicate $1.8 billion over 20 years to increase the number of civilian specialists in priority areas to accelerate and improve the purchase of new equipment, its capacity to recruit and train new soldiers and infrastructure upgrades.To enable future growth, the PMO said it must strengthen the foundations of defence and spend on building the Canadian Defence Industrial Base to better equip the CAF and create more jobs. It said its plan will support these objectives by spending $10.2 billion over 20 years to maintain and renew the Department of National Defence (DND) infrastructure to support the required tempo of training, operations, and daily military activities. This spending will range from asset maintenance and repair to other improvements to military facilities. Another $9.5 billion over 20 years will build a strategic reserve of ammunition and scale up the production of Canadian artillery ammunition in partnership with the defence industry to equip the CAF and create jobs. A separate $9 billion over 20 years will sustain military equipment under the National Procurement Program to ensure it can continue to receive the upgrades needed to preserve their ability to deploy during operations. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said CAF members “need cutting-edge equipment to protect Canadians and defend democracy.”“They help uphold the rules-based international order, which has enabled the decades of peace and prosperity that generations of Canadians have enjoyed,” said Freeland.“Our government is making transformative investments to secure our Arctic and ensure the Canadian Armed Forces can keep up with emerging threats today and in the years ahead.”Blair said the Canadian government is “committed to fulfilling our essential responsibility of protecting Canada and its people.”“Our world has evolved significantly in the past few years, and we need to do more to respond to new security threats,” said Blair. “Our North, Strong and Free outlines our plan to do more and is a significant step forward in meeting our commitments to our Allies.”The Canadian government looked into cutting almost $1 billion from the DND’s annual budget in September— a demand Canada’s top military commander said was prompting tough conversations within upper ranks. READ MORE: Liberals looking to cut $1 billion from defence budget“There's no way that you can take almost a billion dollars out of the defence budget and not have an impact,” said Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Wayne Eyre. “This is something that we're wrestling with now.”
