Canada Boosts Ukraine Training, Defence Investment

0:00It's April 28th. This is Canada News Today, powered by AI. Canada's government just dropped a major proposal in their spring fiscal update, $2 billion over three years to ramp up Operation Unifier, the mission training Ukrainian troops. Since launching back in 2015, it's already trained over 47,000 soldiers with about 300 Canadian personnel on the B ground. This comes after a three-year extension announced in February, pushing things through 2029. The funding breakdown shows a huge jump from $106 million budgeted for 2025-26. It's now eyeing 400. 99 million in 2026. 27. 700-3 million the next year, and 748 million after that. Officials say it'll give more flexibility to match Ukraine's needs, including boosting deployed forces, though exact numbers aren't spelled out yet. Experts like David Perry, from the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, call it a positive

1:00move to not just keep going, but enhance the effort. Still, he's questioning how it'll play out, especially with Canada's short, undeployable troops, most are tied up leading the NATO group in Latvia with. Around 2000 personnel, Perry wonders if it'll mean more contractors or pulling from strained resources. On top of that, there's $103.8 million over five years to stand up a standalone defense investment agency, complete, with its own minister. This agency's pushing key, buys like new submarines, with a decision expected this summer between options from Germany, Norway, and South Korea. Perry notes it'll likely stay small, but it's a step to cut bureaucracy. All this fits into Canada's push on defense, now on track for NATO's 2% GDP target and aiming higher by 2035. With Prime Minister Mark Carney spotlighting military progress, these moves signal deeper commitment amid global tensions.