Defence minister insists $1B spending reduction is not a budget cutDeputy minister Bill Matthews told MPs on the House of Commons defence committee that the department is
identifying "proposals for
spending reductions" that total more than
$900 million over four years, while trying to minimize the impact on military readiness.
The chief of the defence staff, Gen. Wayne Eyre, said top military leaders were meeting to discuss what that will mean.
"There's no way that you can take almost a billion dollars out of the defence budget and not have an impact," Eyre said
Yet in a statement on Friday, Defence Minister Bill Blair's spokesman Daniel Minden said:
"Any claim that Canada is 'cutting' defence spending is not accurate, because overall defence spending has increased and will continue to increase." The most recent federal budget projects that the department's budget will be $39.7 billion in 2026-27, up from $26.5 billion in the current fiscal year.
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