By Valley Girl News
Okay sooo, in late June, PM Mark Carney was like, “Let’s go BIG,” and babes, he meant it—he dropped the biggest defense spending promise since, like, WW2. That means Canada’s gonna start spending 5% of its entire GDP on defense by 2035. Like, triple shot espresso levels of policy shift, okay?
And girl, the vibes are money. Canadian private sector? Living. This isn’t just about tanks and jets—there’s opportunity in tech, infrastructure, and like, even drones that can slay in peace or war.
“This is a generational shift,” quoting Goran Pasek from Samuel Associates. $150 BILLION per year, babes. That’s not pocket change. That’s “we’re-serious-about-NATO-now” energy.
Okay but like, what are we buying? Literally everything. Ocean surveillance sensors. Aircraft. Training. Military bases. New jets. Whole vibe change. Even Poilievre was like, “Sure” and backed the budget.
But why now? Well, for decades, both Libs and Cons were like, “meh” on military. Diefenbaker cancelled the Avro Arrow (iconic jet vibes), Chretien axed helicopters in the ’90s, and Trudeau ghosted the F-35s in 2015. They were always like, “too expensive, not today.”
Fast forward to now: Trump said Canada was, like, mooching off the US military. And he wasn’t totally wrong. Nearly 40% of our defence industry is, like, Canadian branches of US companies—think Lockheed Martin. So now, we’re like, “omg we need our own glam squad.”
And babes, our Arctic? Literally popping off with traffic, but our icebreakers are like, vintage. We’re relying on the US for coverage up north. Not cute. The military’s like, “Let’s upgrade… everything.”
So what’s in Canada’s defence closet rn? We’ve got 600 companies—from simulation tech to icebreakers to satellites. Plus, a rising tech girl era—AI, drones, and dual-use products that slay in both business and battle.
And girl, these companies are salivating. Bombardier? CAE? They’re ready for contracts. And tech bros who used to ghost defence investing are suddenly sliding into its DMs. Mark Maybank from Maverix said dual-use tech gives him a legal way to invest in defence—even if his pension fund peeps say “no tanks pls.”
Even BDC (Canada’s business bank) is, like, “New year, new us,” and hiring staff just for military investing. BUT Canada’s big five banks? Still ghosting. RBC? TD? Scotiabank? Crickets.
Also, like, ethical investing? ESG? Sustainable vibes? Yeah, those are sooo 2022. Now it’s all “How can I ethically profit from missiles?” The defence girlies are IN.
Will it create jobs? TBD. But when we hit 2% GDP spending in the ‘80s, Canada’s manufacturing output was double what it is now. Like, bring back the industrial slay.
But how are we paying for this? Girl math alert: Carney told ministers to cut 7.5% in program spending starting in 2026. So, like, maybe higher taxes? Deficits? Who’s to say?
Canadians? Kinda split. Carney campaigned on 2%, not 5%. Angus Reid found that nearly HALF think 5% is too much—like, “pls fix housing first?” vibes. But both Libs and Cons weirdly agree we need to spend more.
The strategy? Still unclear. The government promised a “defence industrial strategy” but hasn’t dropped it yet. We’re like, waitingggg.
Will this change Canada’s rep? Like, we’ve always been the chill peacekeepers—but Sweden proves you can slay in defence and still be the cool neutral nation. And building up our own military isn’t “warmongering,” it’s like, “We can defend ourselves and still be cute.”
XOXO,
Valley Girl News
Not affiliated with Lockheed, but like, open to brand deals
