Canada will reach NATO’s defence spending benchmark of 2 per cent of GDP this fiscal year – five years earlier than planned.
That’s according to an announcement on Monday by Prime Minister Mark Carney. The move is timely and necessary in an unstable world.
Ottawa is upping this year’s budget for the Department of National Defence by $9.3-billion. That and existing spending from other departments will push defence-related expenditure to $62.7-billion for 2025-26 – 2 per cent of GDP, as per the requirements of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
