Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question. As I have mentioned in this chamber, I think as recently as yesterday — and the Minister of National Defence, Minister Anand, has announced this — Canada is evaluating and considering what changes or what measures are to be included in the budget with regard to defence spending.

I’m going to take this opportunity to remind this chamber that nothing in the supply and confidence agreement that was entered into between the Liberal Party and the New Democratic Party either undermines or compromises the government’s commitment or the vision it set out in Strong, Secure, Engaged, Canada’s defence policy, which was widely applauded as a major step forward. At the top of the minister’s mandate letter is making sure that the Canadian Armed Forces have the capability and culture needed to meet current and emerging threats.

I remark that when it comes to defence spending, the government is on an upwards trajectory, reversing years of cuts. Canada is notably now the sixth-largest contributor to NATO’s commonly funded budget. The government has been making critical, smart investments into our forces in addition to increasing spending by 70% between 2017 and 2026 to ensure that the Canadian Armed Forces have the right people, equipment, training and culture to do the difficult tasks that we ask of them.

As I said at the beginning, and I’ll conclude on this, the government continues in a responsible manner to evaluate a number of options to ensure that Canada continues to have a robust and effective response to Canada’s defence needs both at home and abroad.