Senator Carignan: Minister, the situation is even more embarrassing because a Wall Street Journal editorial referred to Canada as a “military free-rider in NATO” owing to its pathetic investments in defence.

Minister, you are the minister of the armed forces, but some wags are even referring to you as the “minister of the unarmed forces” because of the pathetic investments in our national defence. In addition to improving the efficiency of the procurement system, will you increase the defence budget?

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We have, for example, made a commitment of $38.6 billion to NORAD modernization. That’s a lot of money, senator. It’s important that it be spent well, but we’ve made that commitment. We’ve also made contracts for the fighter jets —

Hon. Claude Carignan: Minister, despite the fact that our soldiers have outdated equipment that does not guarantee their safety like it should, your department is leaving billions of dollars on the table every year by failing to streamline the procurement process.

In 2021, $1 billion of the $5 billion that was allocated to the Canadian military remained on the table. According to the Parliamentary Budget Officer, if that trend continues, National Defence will be leaving on the table at least $4 billion of the $10.8 billion that it was allocated to buy equipment during the 2023-24 fiscal year.

Even more embarrassingly, our soldiers sometimes have to buy their own equipment. Denmark has and uses state-of-the art equipment that is made in Canada that our own soldiers don’t even have access to.

Minister, what tangible measures have you taken to address this unacceptable situation?

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