Canada Is Getting Ready for WAR

The Military Show

Canada is signaling a historic shift in defense policy. As global tensions rise and Russia’s aggression reshapes NATO’s priorities, Prime Minister Mark Carney has unveiled plans to rebuild, rearm, and modernize Canada’s military. From record defense spending and new submarines to expanded recruitment and Arctic security, this video explores why Canada is preparing for an increasingly dangerous world, what it means for NATO, and how these changes could reshape North American and European security for years to come.  ⏱️ CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Canada shifts military policy to meet NATO targets 02:36 - Canada launches $81 billion Defense Industrial Strategy 05:17 - Canada military recruitment increases by 13% 07:02 - Canada buys 12 German submarines and 26 HIMARS 11:43 - Canada decouples military defense strategy from the US 14:01 - Is Canada preparing for war with Russia?  Support us directly as we bring you independent, up-to-date reporting on military news and global conflicts by clicking here: https://www.youtube.com/@TheMilitaryShow/join  #militarystrategy #militarydevelopments #militaryanalysis #themilitaryshow  SOURCES: https://pastebin.com/32b2z2R2

Transcript

00:00The message has gone out from Victoria to Quebec. Canada is making a major change.

00:06So often looked at, unfairly or otherwise, as the military also ran that relied on the US for

00:12protection so it could maintain a strange sort of pacifism, Canada is now preparing for the war

00:18that everybody fears. There can be no more budgetary restrictions. Canada must rearm,

00:24rebuild and make sure that it's ready for a fight against a Russian threat that is creeping closer

00:28to directly affecting NATO. A new military dawn has come to Canada and it's sending signals that

00:34indicate it's ready to fight. On July 6th, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney spoke ahead of the NATO

00:40summit where he met with dozens of other leaders of NATO member nations to discuss what the group

00:45should do about the difficult geopolitical situation that Putin's non-stop aggression has created.

00:52Carney had a clear message. In a more dangerous and divided world, Canada must do more to defend

00:57ourselves, secure our sovereignty and support our allies. Canada's Prime Minister declared,

01:03before adding, that the decades of foreign policy decisions that saw Canada's military shaped by

01:08the assumptions that it would always be backed by its most powerful partner are over. The assumptions

01:13that shape decades of Canadian defence and foreign policy have been upended. History is back with a

01:19vengeance. The last line is scarily true. Putin has brought the horrors of the Cold War era back

01:25into focus after three decades with his Ukraine invasion. And the fear now is that he will soon

01:30expand his aggression into a war that envelops Europe and perhaps the rest of the world.

01:35What we see here is a complete turnaround in Canadian policy being announced by Carney.

01:40For decades, Canada has been seen as one of NATO's weakest links, the Wall Street Journal reports.

01:45The outlet has a point. The nation has a long history of coming nowhere close to meeting

01:50NATO's defence spending target of 2% of a member's gross domestic product or GDP.

01:55As recently as 2025, Canada was only spending 1.37% of its GDP on defence and it has regularly

02:03fallen

02:03below the NATO target since it was created in 2006. That has changed in 2026 and we will be exploring

02:10how

02:11soon. But Carney's declaration is far more than bluster from a nation that has always had the potential to

02:16be a major military power. It's a statement of intent, a signal to any potential enemy who is

02:21listening that Canada is bringing an end to its days of coasting by and relying on its position in NATO

02:26and is getting ready to develop into a powerful fighting force of its own that is ready for any

02:31war that comes its way. Make no mistake about it, Carney wants Putin to know that Canada is waking up.

02:37He's signalling a new approach that AFCEA International describes with three phases.

02:42Rebuild, Rearm and Reduce Reliance

02:46Amidst an announcement that Canada is gearing up to commit $81 billion to modernise its army via a

02:52vehicle it has named the Defence Industry Strategy, Carney has said that the rules-based order of the past is

02:58fading away and Canada needs to be ready for whatever comes next. To ensure that it is, Canada has created

03:04the

03:04Defence Investment Agency, or DIA, to oversee its new strategy and that agency is focusing on five pillars

03:11that will result in Canada roaring back to prominence as a key member of NATO.

03:16Those pillars fall under the three phases that AFCEA mentions and they are renewing Canada's

03:21relationships with industry partners, prioritising the domestic production of weapons, investing in

03:26military innovation, working with domestic partners and securing supply chains to remove bottlenecks that

03:32could impact Canada's ability to defend itself. Those are the basics, but it goes so much deeper than that.

03:37Let's start with the rebuilding aspect. To become the military force that it needs to be,

03:42to stand a chance of competing with Russia or any other enemy, Canada needs to strengthen its military.

03:48That starts with recruitment, and this is an area where Canada has started to shine. Politico says that

03:53there is a huge shift taking place inside Canada as the nation's people embrace Carney's call for a stronger

03:59military. That shift has resulted in a rising number of Canadians, particularly from the younger

04:04generations enrolling in the Canadian Army. The past year up to the summer of 2026 has seen a 13%

04:10increase in enrolments, fuelled in part by Canada offering 20% pay increases to its soldiers and

04:15promising better social services and military housing for those who enlist. Canada didn't necessarily have

04:21a weak military before. Global firepower ranks the country as the 28th most powerful among 145 that it

04:28assesses each year. However, for a nation of about 40 million, the 63,500 strong active military was

04:35always a bit of a sore point. But that simply isn't a large enough military from a manpower perspective,

04:41especially compared to the US, and Canadians are quickly realizing that. Politico reports that 63%

04:46of Canadians now believe that the country needs to spend more on its defense than it already does,

04:51especially in the wake of tensions rising with the US that will be getting to soon.

04:55The BBC adds that the rate of service members who are leaving the Canadian military is also on the

05:00decline to go along with the higher recruitment rate. All of this is vital for the rebuilding

05:05portion of Canada's transformation. To strengthen the military, you must first have the will of the

05:10people. Canada seems to have that, which gives it a strong foundation on which to build. And build

05:15is what Canada is doing. Canada has created a 58-page strategy document to outline its upcoming

05:21spending commitments from now until 2035. These commitments include $180 billion dedicated to

05:28procurement and $290 billion to be plunged into the country's defense infrastructure. In other words,

05:34the literal building of the weapons and defenses that Canada needs if it is going to stand a chance

05:39in any upcoming war. On top of that, Euromiden Press reports that Canada is launching new measures

05:44that will enable it to combat the hybrid warfare threat posed by nations like Russia.

05:47According to Canada's outgoing ambassador to Ukraine, Natalka Smots, Canada has created two

05:54programs alongside its partners to counter the hybrid threat. The first is an academy that will

05:59give Canada a flow of analysts and ensure that information sharing occurs between the nation and

06:03its defense partners. The second is a fund that will be used to support the victims of hybrid attacks,

06:09particularly organizations and individuals that may not have the capacity to resist the type of hybrid

06:14warfare tactics that Russia uses, such as hacking. Again, it's all foundational work that is critical

06:20to the rebuild. But alongside building, Canada must do the crucial thing that all militaries have to

06:25do if they are to be respected by the types of powers that wish to threaten them – rearm. More

06:30manpower

06:31and new programs are all well and good, but they don't mean much against the larger Russian military.

06:36What will grab Putin's attention, along with the attention of any other enemy of Canada, is weapons,

06:41weapons, and lots of them. But before we dig into the rearming aspect of Canada's new approach to

06:45defense, this is a reminder that you are watching The Military Show. We make videos that examine how

06:51power moves and the changing geopolitical dynamics that affect us all. If you're new here, hit subscribe

06:56and ring the notification bell to see more of our daily videos.

07:01Let's talk spending. We touched on how Canada has lagged behind NATO's other members with its spending for

07:06years and how 2026 is the first time in a long time that the nation has hit NATO's spending target.

07:13More is coming. The Wall Street Journal says that Canada's 2025 defense budget has promised $60

07:19billion of extra spending up to 2030 to strengthen the country's armed forces. Canada has also agreed to

07:25hit NATO's new target of 5% of GDP spending by 2035, which will be achieved by spending 3.5

07:31% of GDP on

07:32defense and another 1.5% on critical defense and security-related investments, such as the hybrid

07:39warfare counter programs we mentioned earlier. There are some who criticize a perceived lack of

07:43transparency in the Canadian government's defense spending plans, though Canada's finance minister,

07:48Francois-Philippe Champagne, has said that more details will be provided as Canada moves forward.

07:53We have no reason to doubt Champagne. And we also have plenty of indications of where Canada is going to

07:59be spending much of its money when it comes to the rearming portion of the plan. For one thing,

08:03Canada is looking to tie itself strongly into Europe's defense plans. In December 2025,

08:09Canada managed to reach a final agreement to join the European Union's Security Action for Europe,

08:13or SAFE, program. That $171 billion program is described by Politico as a loan-for-weapons scheme,

08:20and it will give Canada access to jointly-financed projects and allow Canadian companies to bid for

08:26work under the SAFE program. In other words, the program feeds into several of the pillars of

08:30Canada's new defense plan, including the strengthening of relationships with existing partners

08:35and the development of Canada's internal defense manufacturing sector.

08:39But that's just the start. When it comes to outright spending on new weapons,

08:43Canada has been on a bit of a spree as of late. The headline so far came on July 6th.

08:49That's when the

08:49news broke that Canada has agreed to purchase 12 submarines from Germany in what the BBC calls the

08:55largest ever deal of its kind. This deal sees Canada confront a key naval problem,

09:00which is that only one in four existing submarines is actually seaworthy, and it will also feed into

09:05that all-important pillar of Canada building up its own defense manufacturing capacity. The deal,

09:10which has been agreed but not yet formalized, has seen Canada choose TKMS as its supplier of the

09:16submarines. That company specializes in building non-nuclear submarines, so Canada won't be investing in

09:21absolutely top-of-the-line submersibles. But that's not what matters. What does matter is that Canada

09:27is investing at all after years of letting its navy struggle along with inadequate submarines.

09:32Once completed, these 12 submarines will give Canada the ability to have three subs operating at any

09:38given time, affording room for maintenance and upkeep of the other submarines. Oh, and the subs will have

09:43under-ice capabilities. For a country that expects conflict with Russia in the Arctic region, that is

09:50vital. The deal is still in the early stages, and we don't yet know how much Canada is going to

09:54spend

09:55or when it will receive the submarines. But 12 subs don't come cheap, and continuing with the spending

10:00spree, there are other deals that show us how Canada is actively rearming its military. The Wall

10:06Street Journal says that June saw Canada sign a $1.76 billion deal with Australia to buy an over-the

10:12-horizon

10:12radar system that is also likely to become key to the nation's plans for defending its interests in the

10:18Arctic region. There are also suggestions that Canada may be considering purchasing Gripen fighter

10:23jets from Sweden, following a visit to Canada by Sweden's royal family. That rumor comes in the wake

10:28of Canada putting a deal to buy 88 F-35s from the US on ice in 2025 due to those

10:34political tensions

10:35that we've been mentioning. There's more. In March, it was reported that Canada has agreed to a $307

10:41million deal with Colt to purchase 30,000 new army rifles, all of which will be made in Canada.

10:47That deal comes with the option of buying 35,000 more rifles, and it will see Canada

10:52replace rifles that it's been using for 35 years. Out with the old and in with the new,

10:57and all with the side helping of boosting Canada's domestic manufacturing once more.

11:01On top of all of this, and despite the tensions with the US, Canada confirmed in June that it will

11:06be purchasing 26 HIMARS rocket launchers in a $2.6 billion deal, which also includes munitions,

11:13training, support, and spare parts. What we're seeing here is Canada following

11:17through on its investment talk, and this is just the beginning. 2026 is the year that Canada finally

11:23started to meet its NATO obligations, and it will only be spending more from here. New subs, fighter

11:29jets, rifles, radars, and rocket launchers are all going to bolster and modernize a military that has been

11:34stagnant for too long. Over the next few months and years, we expect to hear a lot more about Canada

11:40spending billions of dollars on new weapons. With that, we come to the last of Canada's three R's,

11:45Reliance. Specifically, this is all about something that we've touched on several times already.

11:50Canada is trying to decouple its defense from the US as much as it can, so that it can stand

11:55on its

11:55own two feet. This doesn't mean there will be an outright break in US-Canada relations. Canada wouldn't

12:01be buying HIMARS launchers if there was. However, nobody can deny that the diplomatic situation between

12:07the two North American nations has been a bit of a rollercoaster since US President Donald Trump came

12:12to office, and that shakeup has shown Canada that it can't always assume that the US will be ready

12:17and willing to fight to defend its neighbor to the north should the need arise. The relationship that

12:21once seemed rock solid was shown to be more fragile than anybody expected mere days after

12:26Trump became president. The Trump administration imposed tariffs on Canada in February 2025, claiming

12:32that Canada needs to do more to combat illegal immigration and fentanyl getting over the border.

12:37The following months saw Trump start talking about annexing Canada. Jokingly or otherwise,

12:43Trump's statements had plenty of people worried. Carney has spoken about a geopolitical rupture,

12:48and even with its increased spending, Canada has come under criticism from the Pentagon.

12:53In May, Elbridge Colby, who is the Pentagon's Under Secretary of Defense for Policy,

12:58delivered a scathing indictment of Canada, claiming that the nation has,

13:02failed to make credible progress on its defense commitments. Based on everything that we've

13:06talked about in this video, that is demonstrably false, and that doesn't help relations either.

13:11The US has also announced that it's pausing its participation in the Permanent Joint Board on

13:16Defense so it can reassess how this forum benefits shared North American defense. It seems that the word

13:22permanent was just a suggestion. This advisory board on continental security has existed since 1940,

13:28and the US pausing, albeit not pulling out, is another signal that Canada has taken very seriously.

13:35Canada isn't just getting ready for war, it's preparing for a potential future where the

13:39partnership it has shared with the US for so long may not be enough if Canada ever comes under attack.

13:45So what we see in all of this is Canada sending out signals of its own. Despite the criticisms,

13:50Canada is investing. Its military is becoming stronger by the month, as Canada gears up for a

13:55war that it hopes will never come, but for which it needs to be ready. But who would that war

14:00be with?

14:00Do we even need to ask the question? The debate in Canada is turning from if a war with Russia

14:06might

14:06start to when. Let's be clear here, Putin isn't likely to send soldiers storming into Canada. At

14:11least not for a long time. Whatever war is coming beyond Ukraine will be fought in Europe at least

14:16first. But Canada is a member of NATO, just like many of the European nations that are in Putin's

14:21crosshairs. The odds are that if Putin invades a country like Poland and acts aggressively on the

14:27territory of the Baltic or Nordic states, Canada will be called upon to offer its support. Plus,

14:32there's the Arctic factor that we mentioned earlier. As northern shipping routes start to open up,

14:37Russia and Canada both want to stake their claims. That's going to create points of friction,

14:42and Canada needs to be ready to hold its own so that Russia doesn't run all over the nation.

14:47It's also worth noting that Canada has deployed around 2,000 soldiers under Operation Reassurance in

14:52Latvia, and any attack on those soldiers would be considered an attack on Canada itself.

14:57Russia has also been loud in its condemnations of Canada in recent weeks,

15:02only adding to the geopolitical tension that worries Carney and company.

15:06On June 10th, Russia called Canada a warmonger and threatened an appropriate response after Canada

15:12signed a drone production deal with Ukraine. These types of Russian threats are par for the course

15:17when any nation does something that Putin doesn't like. But the fact that Putin is willing to

15:21threaten Canada so directly shows that Russia's leader isn't worried about the US response that

15:26would have typically followed such an attempt to intimidate.

15:29The full base nature of a state far from being peace-loving has been revealed, but rather a

15:34warmonger seeking by any means necessary to further fuel this bloody conflict. We reserve the right to

15:39provide an appropriate response, blared Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova after the

15:45deal was made. In short, Canada is right to be getting ready for a fight. Russia seems to be intent

15:50on

15:50starting one. Coming back to the NATO issue, Canada also needs to be prepared to throw its weight

15:55around if Putin invades a NATO member in Europe. Russia has been provoking the Baltic and Nordic

16:01states along with Poland in late June and early July. Poland has even received a warning from the US

16:06that Russia is planning something big from a drone attack to a ground incursion in the coming weeks.

16:12Some inside NATO, including Germany's Army Chief Christian Freuding, also believe that Russia will be

16:18ready to attack a NATO member by the end of the decade, not before. If that happens, Article 5 will

16:23be triggered and Canada will be compelled to come to the aid of the invaded state. In the past,

16:29Canada wouldn't have been ready, but that's changing. Canada is now preparing to play its

16:33part in the war that everybody fears is coming, and those preparations have only just begun. As spending

16:39ramps up, Canada will transform from a relative military minnow into a power to be reckoned with,

16:44and Canada will do it with or without the special relationship that it has had with the US for

16:49decades. For Ukraine, a stronger Canada means a stronger NATO, and that can only ever be a good

16:54thing as it defends itself against Russia's invasion. And speaking of good NATO things,

16:59the alliance has done something massive that may just guarantee that Ukraine can fight on for years

17:03to come. If you want to find out what that is, then check out our video. And if you enjoyed

17:08this video,

17:08be sure to subscribe and ring the notification bell so you never miss what the military show has in

17:13store next. And thank you as always for watching.

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