Prime Minister Carney announced on Thursday that Canada has officially achieved the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's two percent defence spending target, reaching the milestone five years ahead of schedule.
Speaking at Canadian Forces Base Halifax alongside Minister McGuinty, the Prime Minister stated that Ottawa spent over $60 billion on defence and security over the past ten months. This follows a decades-long period where Canadian defence spending had fallen to just one percent of Gross Domestic Product by 2014, leaving military infrastructure and equipment aged and readiness hindered.
NATO confirmed the milestone on Thursday morning at alliance headquarters in Brussels, where Secretary General Mark Rutte presented his annual report detailing significant increases in defence investment across Europe and Canada. At the 2025 summit in The Hague, allies agreed to raise defence investment to five percent of GDP, encompassing core defence expenditure and critical infrastructure. Prime Minister Carney noted that applications to join the Canadian Armed Forces have risen thirteen percent since last year, while the government pursues a broader target of 3.5 percent for defence and 1.5 percent for critical infrastructure.
The abrupt acceleration in military spending upends assumptions that shaped decades of Canadian defence policy amid growing threats ranging from Arctic incursions to cyberspace attacks and the proliferation of drones and autonomous systems.
NATO confirmed the spending figures in Brussels on Thursday morning.