As many people are aware, the Canadian government recently announced significant increases to the nation’s defence budget. In June 2025, Prime Minister Carney shared that his government would increase defence spending in such a way as to eventually hit 3.5% GDP for core military spending and 1.5% GDP for defence related infrastructure. This massive spending program includes a laundry list of expenditures that will undoubtedly help to not only modernize the CAF but improve much-needed morale amongst the CAF.
What marks this boost in spending as unique is that there have been few examples in Canadian history of such a dramatic increase in defence spending during peacetime. In fact, much of Canada’s most ambitious defence spending programs have come after the nation was already committed to a conflict while peacetime has generally seen little to no significant investment.
Canada’s involvement in the South African War from 1899-1902 highlighted how far the Canadian army truly was from being a self-sustaining modern professional force. In the aftermath of that conflict, several reform initiatives were launched, which saw the Canadian army expand, incorporating engineers, signals, an army service corps for logistics and a medical staff. Eventually, these reforms would culminate in the 1904 Militia Act, a significant piece of legislation that saw Canada’s army better prepared for war than it ever had been. It took war to highlight Canada’s military unreadiness.
Few people would have predicted the depth of Canada’s involvement in the First World War. Yet, by 1915, it was clear that both the Canadian army and Canadian war industry needed rapid overhauling to sustain what was slowly becoming Canada’s largest commitment to war to that date. While Canada’s coastlines were defended by the Imperial Japanese Navy and the Royal Navy, our own tin-pot navy having been incorporated into the RN, it was Canada’s army and industry that underwent dramatic expansion. What was a permanent force of 3,000 personnel expanded by 1917 to the incredible size of 650,000 men and women. This came with serious growing pains, including an embarrassing fall from grace by then Minister of Militia Sam Hughes. Our war industry expanded in an almost unbelievable manner, becoming one of the key munitions suppliers for Britain’s entire war effort. The Imperial Munitions Board, which had 675 factories in Canada, operated at a budget three times the size of the federal government.
The war to end all wars was supposed to be just that. Thus, the inter-war period saw continual cuts to defence spending. Factories were shut down, personnel were discharged, and the public largely lost interest in defence matters. This was further exacerbated by the Great Depression, which shockingly almost saw Canada’s navy completely mothballed.
The beginning of the Second World War posed similar 1914-esque challenges to the Canadian forces, except now all three branches were faced with the need for rapid expansion and modernization, especially after the fall of France in 1940. Much like 1914, the Canadian military was wholly unprepared for the war to come. It certainly found a way to rise to the challenge and did so bravely and with great success, but not without some panicked scrambling to get there.
Like the previous conflicts, the Korean War once again shone a spotlight on a depleted and atrophying military. Significant cuts to defence spending after 1945 had to be reversed when Canada committed to the UN action in 1950. It was that conflict, however, that kick-started a veritable golden age of defence spending under Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent and his Cold War successors.
But as the Cold War came to an end, so too did Canadian support for defence spending. In fact, this support was wavering long before, and the 1990s became the low point of defence support. Despite this, the country would once again have to scramble in the face of threats when Canada committed to supporting its NATO allies in Afghanistan in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
The point here is that Canadian defence spending ebbs and flows. We seem to be a nation that responds quickly to immediate threats, but also a nation that fails to look farther than our own noses when it comes to preparing for future threats ‘down the road’. Perhaps with Carney’s much-needed investment in the CAF, he is doing something that very few peacetime Canadian leaders have ever done, anticipating instead of playing catch-up, being proactive instead of reactive. Certainly, many critics could argue that we are in fact still operating in a reactive state, and there is certainly much to react against, but if these spending promises are fulfilled within a decade or two, the CAF will find itself a formidable middle power force with the kind of modern equipment that will allow it to be flexible in facing an uncertain geo-political order.
The key to all this, however, is continued public will. If at any point the Canadian public decides that defence spending is no longer an important issue, it won’t matter what promises have been made, the political leaders of that day will have to bend to the will of the people. For those of us in the defence community who see defence spending as an investment in a secure future and a fundamental asset to the Canadian nation let’s hope the public will continue to understand the necessity of this type of support for the CAF and will continue to elect politicians who understand the value of being prepared and anticipating threats as opposed to simply reacting to them. As Benjamin Franklin once said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” Canadians should take this to heart.
The views expressed in this op-ed are the author’s/authors’ own and do not necessarily represent those of the Institute or its staff.
David A. Borys is a Canadian military historian whose research focuses on Canada and the world wars with particular focus on the relationship between the military and civilian populations. His most recent book is titled Punching Above Our Weight: The Canadian Military at War Since 1867 and was published by Dundurn in 2024. David is also the producer, writer and host of the popular Canadian history podcast, Curious Canadian History. Now in its eleventh season the show continually ranks in the top 50 of all history podcasts in Canada. David is also the producer and host of his newest podcast The Conflict and Culture Podcast which explores anything and everything to do with military history beyond the battlefield.
