Poilievre says he wants to restore the military while cutting spending — how would that work?

Listen to Pierre Poilievre list his top priorities — cutting taxes, building homes, reducing the federal budget and fighting crime — and you won't hear a specific mention of Canada's military.

The Conservative leader has pledged to change the culture of the Canadian Armed Forces from what he calls a «woke» culture to a «warrior» one. He has suggested he's prepared to increase the military's resources. But what exactly would defence policy under a Poilievre government look like?

The current federal government is facing growing pressure to spend billions of dollars more to meet NATO's military spending target for member nations — two per cent of GDP. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is confronting that pressure as he meets with leaders of other NATO countries in Washington this week.

The Conservative leader faces a different kind of pressure. He has to square his vows to «bring home control of our country and our defence» and «work towards» NATO's spending target with his core pledge to cut government spending with an eye to balancing the budget.

«That's pretty tricky math to accomplish in a short time frame,» said Dave Perry, president and CEO of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute.

A $50 billion gap

A Conservative government would have to increase the defence budget by somewhere between $10 and $15 billion five years from now — above and beyond the commitments already made by the Liberals — in order to meet the NATO target, Perry said.

In the meantime, the Conservatives also would look to slash deficit spending — pegged at nearly $40 billion in the most recent Liberal budget.

Poilievre also has called for a cultural shift within the Armed Forces. «We're going to end the woke culture and we're going to bring back a warrior