By The Canadian Press

Liberals plan to spend extra $14B on defence, with most starting after election

Jun 7, 2017 | 10:54 AM

OTTAWA — Canada will increase defence spending by $13.9 billion over the next decade, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said Wednesday as he unveiled the Liberal government’s long-awaited vision for expanding the Canadian Armed Forces.

The money will be used to put another 5,000 troops in uniform and add new modern capabilities, such as letting the military conduct cyberattacks and to buy armed drones for unmanned airstrikes.

It will also go towards offsetting the skyrocketing financial — and political — cost of buying new warships and fighter jets.

The government will also commit a large amount of money to better support Canada’s military personnel, particularly the ill and injured, as well as family members, Sajjan said.

Still, while some of the money will start flowing right away, the long-awaited defence policy document shows the taps aren’t expected to open all the way until after the next election.

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Officials say the delay is necessary to make sure money is available for when it’s needed.

But the delay in major new funding is expected to raise concerns among those who wanted to see immediate spending increases as a hedge against future cost-cutting efforts aimed at fighting the deficit.

That is what happened with the last such vision, unveiled by the previous Conservative government in 2008 but quickly rendered unaffordable and subjected to billions of dollars in spending cuts.

The Liberals’ much-anticipated defence policy has been a year in the making and represents the first comprehensive vision for Canada’s military in more than a decade.

The policy makes the case for a major expansion of Canada’s military capabilities by three trends: growing tension between global powers; the changing nature of conflict; and rapid technological advancements.

The plan also comes as Canada and other NATO allies have faced pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to dramatically increase defence spending to reach two per cent of GDP.

Canada currently spends about one per cent of GDP on defence, which puts it at the back of the pack among NATO members.

But the policy document says Canada has been underreporting its defence spending for years by not including the money spent by other departments on such items as peacekeeping and veterans’ benefits.

As a result, it says defence spending is actually closer to around 1.19 per cent this fiscal year, and that it will increase to 1.4 per cent of GDP by 2026-27.

In real terms, that will mean an increase in cash spending from about $18.9 billion this year to $32.7 billion in 2026-27, with the biggest jump — at least in the short term — in 2020-21.

That increase, officials said, lines up with when the government plans to begin spending in earnest on 15 new warships, which are now expected to cost up to $60 billion to build instead of the previous estimate of $26 billion.

The government also plans to buy 88 new fighter jets at a cost of between $15 billion and $19 billion, which is significantly more than the $9 billion the Conservatives budgeted for 65 F-35s.

But the defence policy also puts off much of the spending until after the next election in 2019.

— Follow @leeberthiaume on Twitter

Lee Berthiaume, The Canadian Press