Investor interest in Ottawa’s defence plans is growing: official

A senior government official says the market is picking up on signals Ottawa is sending about rebuilding the military.

Stefanie Beck, deputy minister of National Defence, says she’s “never had so many banks” and pension plans come to see her.

Beck made the comments to an industry crowd gathered in Ottawa today for a Canadian Global Affairs Institute procurement conference.

The federal government is moving to boost defence spending to levels not seen since the Cold War.

The fall budget books $81.8 billion for 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 defence industry.

Doug Guzman also starts work today as head of the new Defence Investment Agency, a brand-new government office tasked with centralizing and speeding up major military purchasing decisions.

Kyle Duggan, The Canadian Press

Kyle Duggan is a reporter with The Canadian Press, a national news agency headquartered in Toronto and founded in 1917.