Chrystia Freeland to set aggressive timeline for 2% defence spending by 2027 – National [Video]

Liberal leadership hopeful Chrystia Freeland is expected to outline an aggressive plan to reach Canada’s NATO defence spending targets by 2027.

The former finance minister and deputy prime minister is expected to lay out her plan to boost defence spending to two per cent of Canada’s GDP in just two years on Thursday.

A source close to Freeland told Global News Wednesday night that the rapid rollout of new defence spending is required due to the world becoming “increasingly volatile and dangerous,” and that Canada must move quickly to both meet international commitments and defend the country’s sovereignty.

No details were immediately available on how Freeland would accomplish that goal, which would amount to a massive reshaping of Canada’s spending priorities.

Successive Canadian governments – including the current government, for which Freeland held the purse strings until her resignation in December 2024 – have failed to reach NATO’s two per cent spending target.