OTTAWA — Financial markets have picked up on the signals Ottawa is sending about rebuilding the military, a senior government official said Wednesday.
Stefanie Beck, deputy minister of National Defence, said she’s never fielded so many queries from potential large investors.
“This is what we really like about the big change in mindset lately. I’ve never had so many banks come to see me, or pension plans,” she told an industry crowd gathered in Ottawa Wednesday for a Canadian Global Affairs Institute procurement conference.
“Now with this market signal that’s underway, there is definitely more funding available, more appetite for risk than has been in the past.”
The federal government is moving to boost defence spending to levels not seen since the Cold War as it vows to consistently meet steep NATO military spending targets.
The recent fall budget books $81.8 billion for national defence by the end of the decade, and Ottawa is expected to release a new defence industrial strategy in the coming weeks that lays out its plans to build up the domestic industry.
Doug Guzman also started work Wednesday as head of the new Defence Investment Agency, a brand-new government office tasked with centralizing and speeding up major military purchasing decisions.
That new office is being run out of Public Services and Procurement Canada, one of several government departments involved with major military procurement projects.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2025.
Kyle Duggan, The Canadian Press
