Strong, Secure, Engaged Planned Capital Expenditures

Progress - Strong, Secure, Engaged Commitments

Why is the government not making progress on capital expenditures related to Strong, Secure, Engaged?

Since 2017, National Defence has made significant progress in advancing capital projects and initiatives in Strong, Secure, Engaged.
In fact, 73% of the policy’s projects are in the implementation phase, near completion, or completed.
We continue to deliver on major procurement projects, including new ships, new aircraft, and new vehicles for the Canadian Armed Forces.
And as we grow, we remain committed to ensuring that our members and their families are well- supported and receive the right care.
Taken together, progress on SSE represents an important investment in the Canadian economy and the creation of jobs for Canadians.

If pressed on un-spent capital funds

Strong, Secure, Engaged fundamentally changed the way National Defence manages its budget.
National Defence only requests the resources we need to manage our budget each year.
These transactions are reviewed by Parliamentarians through the estimates process, and capital resources that we do not request are available to the department in future years.
This allows us to effectively manage resources when delivering procurements over multiple years, and ensures requirements are as accurate as possible before requesting additional funds.
It also allows the flexibility to re-allocate Capital funding between existing projects or move funds forward to support needs in future years.
Finally, we “carry forward” as many unused operating funds as possible as a planned lapse.
We will continue to ensure that funds requested by National Defence have a meaningful impact on Defence priorities.

Through Strong, Secure, Engaged, National Defence committed to increasing defence spending by 70% over ten years.
Canada’s defence spending for 2019-20 was 1.28% of GDP.

Resource Management

National Defence’s flexible model allows National Defence to manage changes in project development such as:
- lower contracts amounts;
- changes in required capabilities;
- additional time needed to analyse options; and,
- delays in the delivery of goods and/or services by industry

Regional Economic Benefits

Progress on SSE represents an important investment in the Canadian economy and the creation of jobs for Canadians from cross to coast to coast.
Major procurement Initiatives such as the National Shipbuilding Strategy has directly benefited Canadians by contributing $17 billion to the economy since 2012.
Shipbuilding contracts will also have created or maintained over 15,500 Canadian jobs annually between 2012 and 2022.

Responsible Principal: Assistant Deputy Minister (Finance)

January 15, 2021