Prime minister commits more than $3 billion for defence projects in the Maritimes
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HALIFAX – Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced $3 billion in new infrastructure and defence spending for Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
The prime minister made the announcement Thursday during a news conference aboard a Royal Canadian Navy warship in Halifax harbour after confirming Canada is now spending roughly two per cent of its GDP on national defence — a key NATO alliance commitment.
“That’s the highest level of defence spending, relative to the size of our economy, since the fall of the Berlin Wall,” Carney told a news conference aboard HMCS Margaret Brooke, an Arctic and offshore patrol ship.
“We’re just getting started. We’ll continue with our efforts at the same speed and determination we’ve shown from the very beginning. In this century, the work of defending Canada is also the work of building Canada.”
Carney said his government had already committed $63 billion to reach that target and he repeated a pledge made in June to invest five per cent of annual GDP by 2035.
To get there, Carney announced Nova Scotia will receive more than $2 billion to modernize infrastructure, expand training and build facilities for new warships and aircraft.
Most of that money — $1.2 billion — will be used to modernize infrastructure at Canadian Forces Base Halifax, which includes HMC Dockyard and the land base known as HMCS Stadacona.
Another $648 million is for building two new aviation facilities at 14 Wing Greenwood, a Royal Canadian Air Force base in the Annapolis Valley. A new combat training centre for the navy’s new river-class destroyers will cost more then $180 million, and $82 million has been set aside to acquire Halifax Gate, a waterfront industrial site that will support navy operations.
In New Brunswick, more than $1 billion will be spent improving the massive army base known as the Gagetown Range and Training Area.
The sprawling base in southern New Brunswick will get new ground-based air defence systems. As well, another $20.2 million will be spent to upgrade transition centres that support military members as they transition to civilian life.
Carney said that over the next decade, Canada will spend half a trillion dollars on defence, which includes money for new submarines, aircraft, drones, sensors and radar systems.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 26, 2026.