Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney under fire for defence spending claims and missed emissions targets

Prime Minister Mark Carney has said Canada will accelerate defence spending to reach four percent of GDP by 2030 and meet NATO’s five‑percent target by 2035. The Liberal finance minister’s office declined to provide data to back those claims, and the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s requests for details have gone unanswered. Analysts estimate the plan would require about $163 billion a year, adding roughly $63 billion to the deficit. Former associate deputy finance minister Don Drummond criticized the lack of transparency, saying, “I’ve never seen a case of less transparency over a budget thing.”

In a separate video released on Canada Day, Carney admitted the government will not meet its emissions targets, linking the failure to “costly” and “divisive” policies. A severe thunderstorm that hit Ottawa on the holiday caused historic flooding, damaging infrastructure and prompting warnings that extreme weather events are becoming “no longer ‘once in a hundred years’” but frequent. Carney asserted, “The climate crisis is still with us, and our commitment to fighting it is absolute,” as critics questioned the government’s climate strategy and its economic consequences.