Mark Carney pledged to ramp up military spending by £17 billion to protect against “America’s threats to our very sovereignty” if he wins Canada’s general election.

Mr Carney, Canada’s prime minister, said Ottowa must “prepare” in light of Donald Trump’s repeated threats to annex the country and absorb it as the US’ 51st state.

“In this crisis we have to prepare for America’s threats to our very sovereignty. They want our land, our resources, they want our water, they want our country,” Mr Carney said as he released the Liberal Party manifesto.

His party is topping the polls and projected to win the election to be held on April 28 after a surprise boost in support that many have attributed to threats from the US president.

Mr Carney added: “President Trump is trying to break us so that America can own us, and that will never happen. Canada is not America, and it never will be, but we need to do more to just recognise that. We need a plan to deal with this new reality.”