Politico reports:

Liberal Leader Mark Carney released his election platform on Saturday, touting an emphasis on new military spending and bolstering Canada against Donald Trump’s expansionist vision.

“In this crisis we have to prepare for America’s threats to our very sovereignty. They want our land, our resources, they want our water, they want our country,” Carney said Saturday morning in a suburb east of Toronto.

“President Trump is trying to break us so that America can own us, and that will never happen. Canada is not America, and it never will be, but we need to do more to just recognize that. We need a plan to deal with this new reality.”

If the Liberals win a fourth mandate, Carney says his government would spend C$30.9 billion on defense over the next four years and meet Canada’s NATO defense spending target of 2 percent of GDP by 2030 — two years ahead of its current pledge.

In 2024, Canada spent 1.37 per cent of GDP on defense, well below the target.

Much of the new spending will be used to bolster Canada’s North, to deter the influence of China, which has been attempting to make inroads with Indigenous communities in the Arctic.

“The North faces existential threats as countries try to take advantage of new shipping routes opened by climate change, exploit our critical minerals, and encroach on our borders,” the plan says. “We will keep Canada strong, free, and sovereign.” [Continue reading…]