Canada’s military and spy agency are getting spending boosts in Budget 2026

The Canadian government has announced significant increases in defence and security spending in Budget 2026, aiming to strengthen the country's capabilities in an increasingly hostile geopolitical climate. The Liberal party has set aside $451 billion for core military spending, nearly doubling the budget of Canada's domestic spy agency, the Canada Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), at $6 billion over 10 years.

This comes amid concerns over the U.S.'s growing hostility towards allies and their decreasing reliability as partners. While Canada has met NATO's goal of spending two percent of GDP on defence, the government is now targeting five percent of GDP by 2035. Approximately $2.3 billion will be allocated to the Defence Drone Initiative, which will see the acquisition and development of unmanned aerial systems for both the Canadian Armed Forces and the Canadian Coast Guard.

Moreover, an additional $7.6 billion will be invested over five years to extend Operation Reassurance, a large deployment of Canadian Armed Forces personnel to Latvia on NATO's eastern flank. This represents a significant shift in Canada's defence strategy, reducing reliance on foreign partners and bolstering the nation's ability to protect itself in an increasingly uncertain world.