Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan is dismissing strategies the federal authorities is planning to take an axe to army spending because it seeks to get the federal deficit beneath management throughout COVID-19.
Sajjan made the feedback in an interview with The Canadian Press amid fears the Liberals will look to the defence price range to rein in what’s now projected to be a $343-billion deficit as a result of pandemic.
The fears are based mostly on previous really feel: the Canadian Armed Forces was beforehand hit by deep cuts when Ottawa struggled to steadiness the books in each the 1990s and early 2010s.
However Sajjan says the federal government has no intention of abandoning its plan to spend tens of billions of {dollars} on new army tools and troops over the following 20 years.
Somewhat, he says the pandemic in addition to the rising variety of pure disasters in Canada and instability overseas underscore the necessity for a robust army.
On the identical time, he says each greenback spent on defence helps the nation’s economic system _ and that the federal government has truly been searching for methods to hurry up army spending in the course of the pandemic.
© 2020 The Canadian Press
