Canada closer to joining Golden Dome in secret talks
Canada is moving closer to joining Trump’s Golden Dome scheme, despite widespread opposition expressed by the public in a new poll.
Canada to join major European rearmament deal as early as June 23: sources
Prime minister expected to sign on to defence agreement at Brussels meeting. Prime Minister Mark Carney plans on joining a sweeping European plan in Belgium this month to rearm the continent and provide more military aid to Ukraine, CBC News has learned. Last month, Carney signalled to CBC's Power & Politics that he hopes to sign on to the new...
Canadians Embrace ReArm Europe, Eyeing Strategic Alignment
Nanos conducted an RDD dual frame (land- and cell-lines) hybrid telephone and online random survey of 1,120 Canadians, 18 years of age or older, between June 1st and June 3rd, 2025 as part of an omnibus survey. The margin of error for this survey is ±2.9 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. The statistical tabulations including the unweighted and...
Defence spending boost can only go so far to lessen U.S. reliance: experts
In early 2002, Glenn Cowan touched down in Kandahar province as part of the first wave of regular Canadian Army troops deployed to Afghanistan, serving in a U.S.-led brigade combat team. After joining Canada's elite special operations unit Joint Task Force 2 in 2003, he spent the next 13 years collaborating with American soldiers on raids, rescues and reconnaissance missions...
Enlisting Coast Guard to buoy defence spending expected to hit choppy waters, say analysts
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s plan to float Canada’s defence spending over its current two per cent of GDP NATO target with the help of the country’s Coast Guard may hit rough waters as it navigates between a resistant public service and service members opposed to becoming what they derisively view as a militarized “junior navy,” defence analysts say...
War and Peace, 2025: Canada, NATO and a Rogue America
In the garden of the United Nations headquarters in New York stands a sculpture depicting a man hammering a sword into a plowshare. It is the work of Soviet-era monumentalist Evgeny Vuchetich, creator of The Motherland Calls, the war memorial in Stalingrad (now Volgograd), site of the single deadliest battle in the history of war, and grave of more than...
Carney now has billions of reasons to buy fighter planes other than F-35s
The auditor general’s report is a reminder that they're part of the solution to air security, but Canada also needs a more practical option
Liberals finally making Canada's defence a priority
Damn the torpedoes! Canada’s Liberal government is taking aim at defence — and it’s about time. This week, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that Canada will hit the NATO benchmark of 2 per cent of GDP on defence spending this year, instead of waiting for 2032, deploying an additional $9 billion in 2025-2026. Ever the banker, he’s also deploying some...
Liberals considering arming the Coast Guard amid significant pivot towards new security mandate
The Liberal government is mulling arming the Canadian Coast Guard as it launches a significant reform of the civilian maritime agency to give it a bigger role in the country’s security apparatus. Article content The move is one of many significant changes that the Liberals are planning for the chronically underfunded Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) that Prime Minister Mark Carney...
Hitting the Mark? Two-thirds support 2% defence spending pledge; almost as many say 5% ‘too much’
It’ll cost approximately $20 billion more dollars, but Prime Minister Mark Carney announced Monday that Canada will reach the NATO defence spending target of two per cent of GDP for this fiscal year. That mark has not been hit since 1990. New data from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute finds Canadians largely supportive, two per cent of GDP or more...
Never mind the numbers, Carney's pledge to boost defence spending is welcome news
Don’t get me wrong, anything that moves Canada closer to its two-per-cent-of-GDP commitment for national defence spending is a good thing. I’m not sure we can instantly achieve the many good things Prime Minister Mark Carney promised Monday in a speech in Toronto. For instance, Carney promised to raise defence spending to two per cent from 1.7 per cent of...
Carney vows Canada will meet 2% NATO spending pledge this year
Canada will finally meet its NATO defence spending commitment this year as it confronts an alarming new world of threats, Prime Minister Mark Carney said in Toronto Monday morning. Carney said Canada will rapidly advance its military spending timeline to hit the NATO target of two per cent of national GDP. “Canada will achieve NATO’s two per cent target this...
Carney set to make defence announcement in Toronto as NATO eyes spending boost
Prime Minister Mark Carney's office says he will be in Toronto today to make an announcement related to "defence and security priorities." The announcement is slated for 10 a.m., after which he is set to tour a local military facility before holding a news conference at 1 p.m. Defence ministers from NATO countries met in Brussels last week to discuss...
Nearly 2 in 3 say Canada should not join Trump’s Golden Dome defence system: Nanos
A majority of surveyed Canadians are against joining U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Golden Dome” missile defence system, new polling from Nanos Research shows. Conducted earlier this month for CTV News, the randomized survey of 1,120 Canadian adults found that 63 per cent of respondents said Canada “should not be part of the American Golden Dome,” and should instead prioritize spending...
McGuinty: Ottawa reviewing defence spending 'top to bottom' ahead of NATO summit
Ottawa is reviewing its defence spending plans "from top to bottom," Defence Minister David McGuinty said Thursday, as Canada comes under pressure from allies to ramp up spending to levels not seen since the height of the Cold War. McGuinty said the federal government will have more to say "very soon" about its alliance spending commitments and will be "making...
Peacekeeping not apace: feds’ spending plan for UN operations down 42 per cent from 2015-16
During the election campaign, Prime Minister Mark Carney and the Liberal Party vowed to support institutions like the United Nations that ensure global stability, but the Canadian foreign ministry’s spending plan shows Ottawa’s commitment to peacekeeping continues to flounder. It’s not just personnel that Canada is lacking in its commitment to UN peace operations, but also funding.
Defence expert shreds Trump’s Golden Dome scheme
It takes this National Defence expert only five minutes to utterly take apart Trump’s Golden Dome missile defence scheme. This interview features an analysis by Prof. Walter Dorn, a Defence Studies professor at the Royal Military College, discussing President Donald Trump’s ambitious “Golden Dome” missile defence initiative. Watch it here:
Why Canadian military's Cyclone helicopters were grounded for 27 days in May
The Canadian military’s Cyclone helicopters weren’t flying for 27 days in May due to a lack of spare parts, and only one of them is now able to take to the skies.
‘Secret’ memo reveals how Canada’s refusal to join missile system in 2005 hurt our reputation
A “secret” memo from the Department of National Defence last year said Canada’s 2005 decision not to join the U.S. ballistic missile defence system harmed the country’s reputation as a security partner and could make it harder to participate in the AUKUS military collaboration between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. The memo also raised Canada’s long-standing failure...
The time when foreign invasions were impossible is over, former diplomats tell defence conference
At the onset of the First World War, Britain's veritable foreign secretary, Sir Edward Grey, remarked that the lamps were going out all over Europe and "we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime." The metaphor has long been considered as the unofficial epitaph to what at the time was the longest run of peace and prosperity on...
Saab, CAE to work jointly on training for Royal Canadian Navy's new submarine fleet
Swedish defence manufacturer Saab and Canadian tech company CAE Inc. say they will work together to create training simulators for the Royal Canadian Navy's next submarine fleet. The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate on the initiative on Thursday, the last day of the CANSEC defence industry trade show in Ottawa.
Cabinet ministers watch their words as pressure builds on defence file
National defence is becoming an increasingly thorny topic for Prime Minister Mark Carney's government as Canada comes under heavy pressure from its allies to do more and spend more. But with just weeks to go until NATO member nations assemble in the Netherlands for a summit that could put Ottawa in the hot seat on defence spending, several of his...
Golden Dome means Trump can tell Carney to pay up or shut up
Trump’s latest blathering is just a plain statement of likely fact: only American territory will enjoy the protection of Star Wars II by right
The Five Percent Reckoning
Admiral Hyman Rickover, known as the father of the American nuclear navy, understood something that is true of most large systems: they rarely reward risk-takers. They tend to value process over outcomes. They remember mistakes, not initiative. And unless political leaders demand otherwise, the system rarely changes. In the 1950s, Rickover was handed a task no one had ever attempted...
Carney’s playing the long game by suggesting he’s open to Trump’s Golden Dome
Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans to begin work on his ambitious Golden Dome missile defence program. The “Big Beautiful Bill” Act, a whopping, multi-trillion deficit-busting spending law, appropriates US$25 billion initially for the White House’s signature military program. Perhaps even more surprising than the program itself is Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney signalling support for it and...
Axworthy: Carney joining Trump's Golden Dome a ‘betrayal’
Former Liberal Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy accused Prime Minister Mark Carney of betraying Canadians in a strongly worded opinion article published by The Globe and Mail. Axworthy was responding to the announcements this week, first by Donald Trump and then by Carney a day later, that Canada wants to join and help pay for Trump’s “Golden Dome” scheme that...
To Dome or Not to Dome?
The backlash to the news that Canada is in talks with Washington to participate in a space-based missile defence system designed to protect North America is an early warning to the Carney government on how difficult it will be to make substantive changes in a large number of areas promised in the recent election campaign. Prime Minister Mark Carney and...
Cost of Canada joining Trump's Golden Dome missile defence project still unknown
If Prime Minister Mark Carney signs on to U.S. President Donald Trump's proposed "Golden Dome" missile defence shield, he could be committing Canada to a project with a ballooning price tag, an anti-weapons proliferation groups said on Thursday. Jessica West -- a senior researcher at Project Ploughshares, a Canadian peace research institute based in Waterloo, Ont. -- warned during an...
Canada should firmly reject Trump’s ludicrous Golden Dome plan
You have to be kidding – Canada considering involvement in Donald Trump‘s Golden Dome space defence initiative? Is this for real? Is Canada seriously contemplating joining Mr. Trump’s latest cockamamie idea? After winning an election on a clear promise to assert a more independent foreign and defence policy – including a move away from reliance on U.S. weaponry, military strategy...
Carney says Canada in talks with U.S. on 'Golden Dome' missile defence
Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada is looking at participating in U.S. President Donald Trump's new Golden Dome missile defence program. Carney says high-level discussions are underway, but he did not provide a figure on how much Canada might contribute to the project.
Carney needs to make a quick decision on Trump's missile defence project: expert
A defence expert says that if Canada wants to fully join U.S. President Donald Trump's "golden dome" missile defence project, it should make a decision soon. David Perry, president of the Canada Global Affairs Institute think tank, says Ottawa has a tendency to punt politically sensitive decisions on ballistic missile defence.
New defence minister, same old woes
On April 28, Canadians went to the polls to cast their votes in the federal election. When the dust had settled and the ballots were tallied, Prime Minister Mark Carney emerged victorious, albeit with yet another Liberal minority government. However, Carney’s stunning victory marks one of the most outstanding political comebacks in Canadian history. Just weeks earlier, oddsmakers had Pierre...
Trump says Canada has asked to join his Golden Dome missile defence program
U.S. President Donald Trump announced Tuesday aspects of his plan for a "Golden Dome" missile defence shield and said "it automatically makes sense" for Canada to be involved. "Canada has called us and they want to be a part of it," Trump said. "So we'll be talking to them. They want to have protection also, so as usual we help...
Canadian military’s new recruitment tool faces rollout problems
The Canadian military has launched a new online recruitment portal to try to modernize the application process and address a personnel crisis. But technical glitches emerged during the launch, prompting concerns that frustrated applicants may be discouraged from joining at a time when the ranks are short more than 14,000 troops and U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened Canadian sovereignty.
Leaked Canadian military report shows many new recruits are quickly leaving
Attrition rate for new recruits more than double the average across Forces. The Canadian military insists it's getting a handle on its recruiting crisis, but a new leaked internal report obtained by CBC News suggests many of those who come through the door quickly leave in frustration over the inability to get trained and into the job they want.
Canada's military plans to be in the Arctic 'on a near permanent basis,' says commander
Canada intends to expand its military training regime in the Arctic, deploying a variety of forces in the region for up to 10 months a year, starting this year, the military's operations commander says. Lt.-Gen. Steve Boivin says the military's signature Far North exercise — Operation Nanook — will see additional elements created, resulting in a greater, consistent presence in...
This Isn't Top Gun: Air Combat Is About Stealth, Not Swagger
That exchange in Top Gun: Maverick wasn’t just a nod to Tom Cruise’s enduring appeal as fighter pilot. It was an admission from the screenwriters that modern air combat has moved on. Modern fifth-generation fighters like the F-35 are not built for close-range dogfights. They are designed to detect threats from long distances, strike first, and vanish before the enemy...
The End of the Peace Dividend. The Start of the Defence Dividend
Across the Western world, a generational shift in defence and security policy is underway. The so-called “peace dividend” that followed the Cold War, when countries reduced military spending to invest in domestic priorities, is now history. In the words of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, we now need to prepare for the defence dividend. This week, Starmer committed the United...
Canada and Europe are collaborating on defence. What that might look like.
As U.S. President Donald Trump continues to cast doubt on the future of the NATO military alliance, Canada is looking to partner with the European Union on defence. Here's a closer look at what's driving this major shift in transatlantic relations.
Is the promise of military icebreakers political theatre or sensible policy?
A former top naval commander and several defence experts have been left scratching their heads following the governing Liberals and Opposition Conservatives' recent embrace of the notion of giving the Royal Canadian Navy heavy, armed icebreakers to defend the Arctic.
Canada's allies are wondering if they can still shelter under the U.S. nuclear umbrella
Gone, it seems, are the days when the phrase "going nuclear" was meant figuratively. Since the beginning of the year and the inauguration of the second Trump administration, an increasing number of Washington's closest allies have begun to throw quiet — and sometimes not so quiet — fits about whether they can still count on the decades-old nuclear deterrent capability...