Ottawa, ON – James Bezan, Conservative Shadow Minister for National Defence, and Jeff Kibble, Conservative Shadow Minister for Defence Procurement, released the following statement on reports of spending cuts at the Department of National Defence:
“Recent reports that the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) face ‘another round of internal belt-tightening’ are more evidence that Prime Minister Mark Carney and the Liberals are not serious about defence.
“Despite a string of largely symbolic announcements, the government plans to once again cut the CAF’s operating expenses by 10 per cent, leaving our sailors, soldiers and aviators underfunded and unprepared for the threats they face today.
“Unfortunately, this is par for the course for a Liberal government that has looked to creative accounting as a substitute for real action: lumping the Coast Guard and expenditures from other departments under defence spending to claim they are meeting NATO targets.
“To add insult to injury, after the Liberals announced raises for our troops, they clawed their pay back with higher rents for housing on base and lower post-living differentials. Meanwhile, just this past May, some CAF personnel were asked to hand in equipment as basic as rucksacks and tactical vests to help cover for ‘critical equipment shortages’.
“As recently as 2024-2025, over 40 per cent of maritime key fleets were not serviceable for training and operations: a figure that reached nearly 50 per cent for key army vehicles and over 57 per cent for aircraft.
“This state of affairs is unacceptable, and it cannot go on. Canada faces an increasingly dangerous world and Conservatives have fought relentlessly for a CAF that is prepared and equipped to handle any threat. It is time for the Liberals to end their accounting games and reverse these unnecessary operational budget cuts.”