In this episode of On The Line, Matt Gurney speaks with Christian Leuprecht — professor at the Royal Military College and Queen’s University, editor of the Canadian Military Journal, senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, and visiting fellow at the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies in Brussels. His forthcoming book is The Military’s Response to Domestic Crises and Global Pandemics: Civil-Military Relations for Domestic Operations.
Their conversation follows Prime Minister Mark Carney’s major announcement earlier this week: a historic, immediate increase in Canadian defence spending to hit the NATO target of 2% of GDP. Some of that figure is, yes, a little creative from an accounting perspective. But much of it is real new money — and the scope is massive.
But this isn’t about expanding capabilities. It’s about finally repairing a military that’s been allowed to decay. The money won’t go as far as you might think.
Matt and Christian unpack the geopolitical pressures driving the decision — and the political complacency that’s defined Canada’s defence posture for nearly 75 years. They talk about the procurement bottlenecks that will make implementation painful, the civil-military dynamics that will determine who’s actually accountable, and whether allies in Washington and Europe will be impressed. And finally, they get into the hard questions: how do you sustain this level of spending when Canada is already running structural deficits and showing little economic growth? And for Carney — is this a bold strategic play, or a long-term political gamble? Will the Canadian public really want to spend the amount of money all of this is going to cost?
