Mark Carney’s first budget has delivered the biggest increase in defence spending in decades, as the government seeks to rebuild the military at a time when the Prime Minister says Canada can no longer rely on the United States for protection.
The fiscal plan, tabled a week before Remembrance Day, includes $84-billion to the Department of National Defence over five years, believed to be the biggest short-term cash infusion for the military since the Korean War. The new spending will go to pay raises, precision-strike capabilities, upgrading aging infrastructure and cyberdefences, among other things.
