New NATO Spending Target Would Mean $150 Billion Defence Budget for Canada: Carney

Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks to the media on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on March 27, 2025. Dave Chan/AFP via Getty Images

Prime Minister Mark Carney says NATO’s new defence spending target of 5 percent of the GDP would add up to around $150 billion per year for Canada.

Speaking in an interview with CNN ahead of the NATO leaders’ summit at The Hague, Netherlands, on June 24, Carney said that Canada could meet this price tag in part with expanded development of the country’s critical minerals, which he described as “one of the biggest and most varied.”