Budget 2025 Includes $81B in Funding Aiming to Bolster the Canadian Military

Prime Minister Mark Carney checks out an Orion-H9 Counter-UAS, a directional drone disruptor, as he visits a vehicle display at the Adazi Military base in Adazi, Latvia, on Aug. 27, 2025. The Canadian Press/Christinne Muschi

The Liberal government’s 2025 budget is proposing to provide more than $81 billion over five years to build up the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), as Canada works toward meeting NATO’s defence spending target of 5 percent of GDP by 2035.

Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne tabled the Carney government’s first budget on Nov. 4, projecting a $78.3 billion deficit this fiscal year and a debt-to-GDP ratio that is expected to climb before stabilizing in the years ahead, falling to a projected $56.6 billion in 2029–30.