The military’s operations command is currently drawing up an “all arms defence of Canada” plan which will lead to a major reorganization of the army this fall, says the country’s top army commander.
Lt.-Gen. Mike Wright, speaking at a land forces conference at the University of Calgary on Thursday, said the army’s existing four-division structure, which is largely administrative, is being torn down and replaced.
“The army we have is not the army we need,” Wright said.
Few policy choices shape a country more profoundly than decisions about sovereignty, security and military might.
Those questions are now at the centre of a debate triggered by Prime Minister Mark Carney’s pledge to meet a NATO defence spending target of five per cent of GDP by 2035 and the government’s new defence strategy.
Oh Oh! – US president considers blocking members of military alliance from decision-making unless 5 per cent spending target hit
OTTAWA — The North Atlantic Treaty Organization confirmed on Thursday that Canada’s defence spending has reached the target of two per cent of gross domestic product, a commitment that has been 20 years in the making.
“We control our destiny,” Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters in Halifax. “I am pleased to announce today that we have kept that ambitious promise.”
Canada crossed the politically significant threshold of meeting NATO’s defence spending benchmark of two per cent of gross domestic product, according to the Western alliance’s annual secretary general’s report and compilation of statistics released on Thursday.
It is the first time since the late 1980s — toward the end of the Cold War — that the country has met the target, which has in recent years taken on enormous political and symbolic significance.
To listen to a senior Government of Canada bureaucrat speaking before a parliamentary committee is to gain a fresh appreciation for the phrase: “The triumph of hope over experience.”
Wendy Hadwen is the assistant deputy minister of policy-industry at the Department of National Defence, and Isabella Chan is senior assistant deputy minister, lands and minerals, at the Department of Natural Resources. They both testified on Monday before the defence committee on the “nexus between national defence, national security and Canada’s critical minerals sector.”
Liberals Abuse Military Again
Related…
They were injured in military service. Canada promised better rehab. Here’s why these veterans are still in pain
Though his tours in Afghanistan and Ukraine left their mark on his body and brain, Tristan Barkwell hoped to live a normal life beyond the base.
After his medical release last year, the 37-year-old sergeant enrolled in the military’s rehabilitation program with the goal of becoming a radiology technician.
“I was very motivated to heal,” he told the Star from his home in Edmonton.
But the publicly-funded program that was supposed to help demoralized him.
A very quiet queue has formed in Europe where some of Canada’s long-standing, closest allies are seeking shelter under France’s small but robust nuclear umbrella.
The initiative of French President Emmanuel Macron, who declared the next 50 years to be the “era of nuclear weapons,” is — on paper — intended to add another layer of deterrence to NATO’s American-backed security guarantees.
Once again — on paper — Russia is the adversary that needs deterring.
OTTAWA — Intelligence and cybersecurity experts are warning the Liberal government about national security risks posed by allowing Chinese electric vehicles onto Canadian military bases.
Critics and some experts are even calling on Ottawa to ban the cars from Canadian Armed Forces bases and other sensitive sites due to onboard sensors they say could collect and transmit sensitive information to the Chinese government.
TORONTO — The federal government announced a major investment in Canada’s defence sector Thursday, awarding a contract to Ontario-based Colt Canada to supply new assault rifles to the Canadian Armed Forces, as part of a broader push to modernize military equipment and expand domestic production.
Speed is now the true measure of sovereignty in Canada’s North.
Ottawa can publish strategies and announce billions in investments, but if we can’t move people, ships and aircraft into our own Arctic quickly, and keep them there, our claims are only as strong as our press releases.
In AD 9, a young Roman hostage from the Germanic Cherusci tribe was leading an auxiliary military group deep into the Teutoburg Forest. With him were the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth Legions of the Roman Imperial Army led by Publius Quinctilius Varus. Varus mistook the Latin-speaking Arminius for a Roman patriot, and he died ruing that mistake. Arminius, raised in Rome and kept as a hostage to maintain peace with his father’s tribe, hated the Romans and led the legions deep into the German forest, where they were ambushed and left to die in the swamp that prevented their escape.
OTTAWA — Canada’s $35-billion plan to strengthen defence along its northern frontier is getting mixed reviews.
While Canada has a history of making lofty plans — especially when it comes to its underfunded and under-equipped military — the devil always ends up showing itself in the details.
The Liberal government has unveiled a detailed, multibillion-dollar proposal to modernize and expand Canada’s military footprint in the country’s Far North.
The comprehensive $35-billion plan, which also includes improvements to civilian infrastructure, is expected to see northern base upgrades, including runway improvements and expansions, as well as hangar and road construction, in a number of locations across the Arctic.
Most of the investment — approximately $32 billion — is being drawn from a pool of money set aside almost four years ago by former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s government to modernize NORAD, the binational North American air defence command shared with the United States.
So Carney the liar is announcing spending already announced 4 years ago.
OTTAWA — The Opposition Conservatives are demanding to know why the public was kept in the dark for nearly two weeks after an Iranian missile slammed into a Canadian airbase in Kuwait on March 1.
Conservative defence critic James Bezan said on Thursday that it was a “failure” of government communications and transparency for this information to be withheld for more than 11 days, pointing the finger directly at Prime Minister Mark Carney.
James Bezan on Mark Carney withholding the information that Canadians came under attack in Kuwait
"Canadian Armed Forces members were attacked on March 1 in Kuwait during the very early hours of the first parts of the war in Iran."
"We are extremely well, first and foremost,… pic.twitter.com/0vloMPb7Ys
— cbcwatcher (@cbcwatcher) March 12, 2026
BREAKING
REPORTER: "If this attack happened [in Kuwait on March 1], why didn't you inform Canadians before?"
PM CARNEY: "Well, I'm not the only spokesperson for the government, but, I'll confirm… the members of the Canadian Forces are all safe and sound." pic.twitter.com/mbK40qViTI
— Juno News (@junonewscom) March 12, 2026
More than 30 soldiers based in Petawawa suffered frostbite injuries during a recent exercise in Alaska, prompting concerns about the quality of equipment military personnel are issued.
Soldiers contacted the Ottawa Citizen to complain that the Canadian Army was trying to cover up details about frostbite injuries to more than 60 troops who took part in “Exercise Global Resolve” in February. A number of frostbite cases were extremely serious, the soldiers added.
Geezuz. 😬😠@fancypants_s https://t.co/XmagBe29TD
— Auntie Polly (@auntie_polly) March 12, 2026
h/t Auntie Polly
