Gen. Jennie Carignan will present strategies to drastically expand CAF, but current targets remain elusive. The Liberal government will soon be asked to consider options to drastically increase the size of the Canadian military, says the country’s top military commander. Gen. Jennie Carignan, the chief of the defence staff, told CBC News in a recent interview that she’s finalizing a...
Contract notice shows Canada is included in $1.1B artillery system deal. The Pentagon announced this week that it has secured a $1.1-billion contract with U.S. defence giant Lockheed Martin to manufacture M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) for several allied countries including Canada. The notice was posted Wednesday by the U.S. Department of War on its contracting website. It...
The success rate for basic training in the Canadian military has dropped to 77 per cent over the past fiscal year as the Canadian Armed Forces grapple with the impact of recruiting changes designed to boost enrolment, according to a leaked internal report. That compares with a historical average of 85 per cent, according to an internal January, 2026, report...
Canada has been selected to host a multinational bank to provide "long-term, low-cost financing" for defence projects by NATO members and allies, the federal government said Wednesday. The Globe and Mail newspaper first reported the decision following the end of multinational negotiations earlier Wednesday that were hosted in Montreal. A news release issued late Wednesday says the defence bank will...
Canada has been selected as the host nation of a new multinational defence bank as negotiations among the founding countries ended in Montreal on Wednesday, according to two sources. The decision was made after the final of three rounds of negotiations hosted by Canada and involving the 19 founding countries of the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank.
Eliot Pence of Dominion Dynamics is using venture capital to build military equipment he hopes the government will one day buy. When Eliot Pence needed a name for the high-tech drone factory he has established in an Ottawa industrial park, he turned to what some might consider an unlikely inspiration: the swashbuckling coureur des bois of Canada’s past.
Canada’s aerospace industry could be in for windfall with news that NATO has selected a new fleet of airborne warning planes based on Canadian aircraft outfitted with Swedish technology. The French defence publication La Lettre and the German press agency DPA are reporting NATO’s Support and Procurement Agency selected Sweden’s Saab and Canada’s Bombardier to replace the alliance’s current fleet...
Under pressure to increase economic benefits to Canadians, South Korea’s Hanwha is committing to manufacturing armoured battle vehicles in Canada if it’s awarded the lucrative contract to build the Royal Canadian Navy’s next fleet of submarines. CTV News has learned that Hanwha has signed a partnership agreement with members of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association (APMA) build its K9 vehicles...
'We are going to navigate through all of this,' Gen. Jennie Carignan tells CBC News. Canada’s top military commander attempted to deliver a message of reassurance to Ukrainians on Thursday that NATO remains a stable, vital force despite turmoil and criticism — most of it from the Trump administration. Gen. Jennie Carignan spoke on a panel at the Kyiv Security...
The Canadian Forces will go to the defence industry sometime this year to gather information on what domestic firms can offer in the building of a new $5 billion fleet of warships. Industry representatives were told at an April 9 briefing in Ottawa that a request for information or RFI will be issued for what is being called the Continental...
Defence Minister David McGuinty is still without a timeline for the now-yearlong review into the purchase of dozens of F-35 fighter jets, telling reporters in Ottawa Monday that it’s ongoing. “What it says, I hope, for Canadians, is that we’re being very responsible,” McGuinty said, when asked whether the review is being delayed because the Canadian government is worried about...
The Canadian military just had a banner year for recruitment -- but not enough for the defence minister to declare an end to what his predecessor called a personnel "death spiral." Military recruitment hit a three-decade high when the Canadian Armed Forces brought in 7,310 new members over the past year, Defence Minister David McGuinty said Monday. That's roughly 60...
Congratulations to Prime Minister Mark Carney and the Liberals on securing their majority. Now, please, please, pick a fighter jet already. No one can stop you! This isn’t the first time I’ve made this exact plea in these very pages. It was just last September that I begged the prime minister to get around to picking a jet to replace...
After more than a decade of involvement, Canada’s special forces are dropping out of a U.S.-sponsored military exercise in Africa, with Ottawa saying it needs to reconsider where to deploy its resources. The decision to stop participating in the annual Flintlock exercise, a key Pentagon priority in Africa, could be a sign that the Department of National Defence is stretched...
Canada ordered 88 F-35s in 2023, but began reassessing its options after Trump took office. Senior executives from Lockheed Martin will be in Quebec on Tuesday to confirm that they plan to service Canada's F-35 aircraft at the L3Harris facilities in Mirabel, which are currently used to maintain Canada's CF-18 fleet. The announcement will be their first major outing on...
The Canadian government says it has extended its bidding process to pick a submarine builder so the two entrants vying for the prize – among the largest defence contracts in this country’s history – can sweeten their bids. It’s an acknowledgment that Ottawa wasn’t satisfied with the economic and industrial benefits promised in the bids, submitted ahead of a March...
The Canadian government has given the two submarine builders vying for a massive defence contract an opportunity to revise their filed bids – a move that also provides the companies an opportunity to enrich the industrial benefits they would provide to Canada. Both South Korea’s Hanwha Ocean and Germany’s TKMS already submitted their bids weeks ago to meet an early...
Swedish firm pitches centre as means to keep mission-critical data out of U.S. hands. As part of its pitch to lure Canada to buy Gripen-E fighter jets, Saab has offered to establish a secure, sovereign data centre in Montreal to house critical, top-secret mission data and intelligence, CBC News has learned. The company is framing it as a "unique advantage"...
Formed in 1949, in the wake of a world war which cost tens of millions of lives, 12 countries signed the NATO charter in Washington, D.C. The aims were to deter Soviet expansionism, to prevent the rise of nationalistic militarism in Europe, and to promote European integration. A lot has changed, in Trump’s America.
Formed in 1949, in the wake of a world war which cost tens of millions of lives, 12 countries signed the NATO charter in Washington, D.C. The aims were to deter Soviet expansionism, to prevent the rise of nationalistic militarism in Europe, and to promote European integration. A lot has changed, in Trump’s America.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Thursday he understands U.S. President Donald Trump’s “disappointment” in the alliance for not immediately helping him with his war with Iran, but also backed Trump’s decision to not inform allies ahead of time. Speaking at the Ronald Reagan Institute in Washington a day after meeting with Trump privately to discuss the president’s criticisms, Rutte expressed...
Canada is talking to Britain, Japan and Italy about obtaining observer status in their joint program to develop a next-generation fighter aircraft. Ottawa is sending letters to all three countries formally requesting this, a senior Canadian government official said. The Globe is not identifying the source because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
The Canadian military is studying what kind of tanks and armoured troop carriers it will need in the future and how quickly those projects can and will be advanced, says the commander of the army. An internal presentation, delivered to a closed-door audience in the United Kingdom last winter, suggested the timelines for buying new armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs) and...
'It was a nonsensical operation from beginning to end,' national security expert says. Canadian Armed Forces members used their own personal social media accounts, computers and networks at home during the COVID-19 pandemic and gathered information about Canadians, violating intelligence-gathering rules, according to a newly released report. The internal military report obtained by CBC News provides a new look behind...
The research gauged the opinions among Canadians on their general impression of the Canadian Armed Forces, their views on whether a career in the CAF is a good option for young people today, whether the CAF makes them feel proud to be Canadian, whether they would be willing to serve in the CAF in either a full time or part...
An increasing percentage of Canadians say that they would be willing to serve in the Armed Forces if Canada were involved in a major conflict, suggests a new poll. The public opinion survey, conducted by Nanos Research for The Globe and Mail, also shows that a majority of respondents said they have a positive view of the military and would...
President Donald Trump's comments to a British newspaper this week revived speculation about whether he is ready to pull the U.S. out of the NATO defensive pact, of which Canada is a member. Venting his frustration over what he claimed is the failure of allies to help America in its war against Iran, Trump told the Daily Telegraph NATO is...
The federal government should consider a one-to-two-point increase in the GST and slower growth in non-defence spending to finance a massive jump Canada’s military budget, according to a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute. “Some combination of tax increases, spending cuts, or taking on more debt is required,” wrote authors Colin Busby and Nicholas Dahir. The analysis warns that...
The federal government has set aside about $1.5 billion to maintain and service the Royal Canadian Air Force's new fleet of Husky aircraft. Canada is acquiring nine CC-330 Husky tanker and transport aircraft -- four brand-new, five used -- to replace the aging CC-150 Polaris. The Defence Investment Agency announced three new contracts to support the tankers' continuous operations --...
Imagine a Canada ruled by a “mini-Trump.” It’s not so implausible, lawyer Frédéric Bérard told the Supreme Court last week. Western nations are teeming with clones of the American president these days. If such an illiberal leader were to come here, Bérard argued, we would simply have to hope that our politicians do the right thing...
The CEO of the Swedish manufacturing company Saab says there are still “intensive” talks underway with the Canadian government around the potential purchase of Gripen fighter jets, but that he has no timeline for when Canada will finish its review of the American-made F-35s. The federal government launched a review a year ago of its plan to purchase dozens of...
Army commander warns current force structure isn't fit for rising threats. 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...
For the first time since the end of the Cold War, Canada is spending roughly two per cent of its GDP on national defence — a key NATO alliance benchmark Ottawa previously failed to meet. NATO's annual report, released Thursday, contains estimates stating Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government met the key spending benchmark for 2025 by shelling out just over...
Impressive ambition. A needed boost for Canadian sovereignty. Some hope for industrial transition. But when you get down to the math, there is only half the equation. The figures are big. After touring a Royal Canadian Navy ship on Thursday, and boasting that Canada has finally met the NATO target for defence spending, Prime Minister Mark Carney made a point...
After more than a decade of plodding progress, Canada has officially hit the NATO spending target of two per cent of GDP set during the Wales Summit of 2014. According to data in the NATO Secretary-General’s annual report released this morning, Canada spent more than $60 billion on defence in 2025 – an amount that adds up to two per...
Canadian troops may be only days away from deploying to the Middle East to aid the U.S.’s and Israel’s war on Iran. The latest indication is a joint statement expressing concern about Iran’s restriction of oil tankers through the narrow Strait of Hormuz signed by Prime Minister Mark Carney and NATO allies late in the week.
French deterrence in North America would risk inflaming tensions with Washington. 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...
The federal government has outlined criteria under which Canada would help partners in the Middle East endangered by the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. Ottawa has said it is looking at helping Gulf nations and might contribute to efforts to unblock fuel shipments -- but it hasn't explained what this might involve, beyond stressing that it has no intention of joining...
U.S. President Donald Trump is widening the cracks between the United States and European NATO members with his calls for allies to help him finish the war he started with Iran. Many NATO member countries were already grappling with the future of the alliance after a key member -- the United States -- threatened to take over Greenland, an ally's...
Defence Minister David McGuinty has walked back his remarks about when and how he learned about an Iranian airstrike that may have hit Canadian assets in Kuwait earlier this month. In prepared remarks Thursday -- which he described as a "clarifying statement" -- McGuinty said he first learned about the airstrike in a briefing with government officials, not by reading...
Canada is ready to “contribute to appropriate efforts” to resume safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, a significant artery in international shipping undergoing a “de facto closure” amid the war in Iran. That’s according to a joint statement released Thursday, co-signed by Canada, the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Japan. The countries demanded that Iran halt its...
