The Trudeau government is trying to assure NATO allies it’s moving in the direction of spending two per cent of Canada’s GDP on defence. Meanwhile, billions of dollars committed to new military equipment is being handed back, lapsed, re-profiled or simply not requested by the Department of National Defence.

“Government policy without money is basically rhetoric,” chides David Perry, the PhD in defence procurement heading up the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, a non-partisan think tank in Ottawa.