Liberals refuse to provide proof of Carney’s NATO defence spending claims

Canada's Finance Minister's office is stonewalling requests for data to substantiate Prime Minister Mark Carney's assertions that the nation will significantly boost its defense expenditures. Carney had previously stated at the CANSEC Defence conference and a subsequent press conference that Canada's fiscal framework already allocates funds to achieve 4% of GDP in total defense spending by the end of this decade, surpassing NATO's timeline.

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Our fiscal framework has already provisioned to achieve four per cent of GDP in total defence spending by the end of this decade, ahead of NATO’s timetable.

Global News sought supporting data from Finance Minister Francois-Phillipe Champagne's office, referencing Budget 2025 and the Spring Economic Statement. However, the office declined, citing that they were "not in a position to scoop forthcoming announcements" and offered no further details beyond the Prime Minister's remarks.

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They’re very good at waving their hands. They wave them very, very vigorously. It’s hard to keep track of what they’re saying.

Carney had committed Canada to NATO's new goal of spending 5% of GDP on defense by 2035 at the previous year's NATO Summit in the Netherlands. This spending is divided into core defense (3.5% of GDP) and critical defense infrastructure (1.5% of GDP). Carney's claim that Canada was already meeting the infrastructure threshold was also not supported by data from the finance minister's office.

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I’ve never seen a case of less transparency over a budget thing, and it seems to be pretty simple. Just show us the number.

Don Drummond, former associate deputy finance minister and now a public policy professor at Queen's University, expressed strong disapproval of the government's lack of transparency. He described it as the "worst he has seen in his 49 years as an economist," lamenting the difficulty in understanding the government's financial pronouncements and urging for simple disclosure of the numbers.

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not in a position to scoop forthcoming announcements