Mr. Speaker, National Defence remains committed to maintaining the defence budget increases set out in Canada’s defence policy, “Strong, Secure, Engaged”. These investments will increase the total National Defence budget from $18.9 billion in 2016-17 to $32.7 billion by 2026-27, an increase of more than 70%.
This is an ongoing process and figures on planned spending continue to be refined. Indeed, at any given time, projected calculations can fluctuate based on changes in defence investments, capabilities and needs. Further, Canada’s defence spending and procurement will be based on threat analyses and assessments of needs.
Annual reports on defence expenditures of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO, countries, including Canada, are published in March of each year, and can be found at the following link: NATO - News: Defence expenditure of NATO countries (2014-2022), 21-Mar.-2023.
Finally, as announced in budget 2022, National Defence is undertaking a review of its defence policy, which will include considerations for defence spending.