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OTTAWA — The federal government does not intend to arm the Canadian Coast Guard, the vice-chief of the defence staff told a committee of senators on Tuesday.
Lt-Gen. Stephen Kelsey said the Coast Guard will remain a separate entity as it’s moved from Fisheries and Oceans Canada to Defence Minister David McGuinty’s control. He also told the Senate finance committee the civilian maritime force will not be armed.
“It’s not our intention to integrate the Coast Guard into the Armed Forces. It is a separate agency from us,” he said in French.
“I read in the newspaper, or maybe I saw on television, that there is an intention to arm the Coast Guard, but that is not true. All we’re trying to do is leverage their capacity and improve their positioning in the North.”
There’s confusion within the Coast Guard itself over how its mandate may change as it takes on a new security role.
The National Post newspaper, citing a confidential senior source, reported last week that the Liberal government is considering arming the Coast Guard.
The Official Opposition has zeroed in on the Coast Guard’s status as it presses the government to explain how it will meet its NATO spending targets.
Conservative defence critic James Bezan has noted that to be fully counted as part of Canada’s NATO contributions, the Coast Guard would need to become far more focused on national security.
“There are still a lot of details that have to be fleshed out, including how the Canadian Coast Guard is going to be absorbed into National Defence,” Bezan told CPAC on June 9. “Are they going to be arming up our Coast Guard vessels? Are they going to be putting troops on board?”
Prime Minister Mark Carney announced new defence spending last week and vowed to integrate the Coast Guard into Canada’s NATO defence capabilities. He has not explained how he sees the Coast Guard’s role evolving.
Carney’s announcement included a boost of about $100 million to the Coast Guard’s budget.
Carney also announced that Canada will finally meet its NATO defence spending target this year. Canada has for years failed to meet its NATO spending commitments and has come under heavy pressure from allies to boost military spending to the NATO benchmark of two per cent of GDP.
Kelsey told the Senate committee Tuesday that Ottawa is only counting a little more of the Coast Guard’s $2.5 billion annual budget toward the NATO target.
“We have been counting a percentage of the Coast Guard toward our defence spending for some time,” he said. “The difference now will be that we’re counting a larger proportion, but it’s not a much larger proportion.”
Jonathan Moor, assistant deputy minister and chief financial officer for the Department of National Defence, told the senators Canada currently counts about 60 per cent of the Coast Guard’s budget in its NATO spending calculations.
He acknowledged Ottawa is looking at ways to increase the share of the Coast Guard’s budget that counts as defence spending.
“I think there is potentially an opportunity, as the Coast Guard moves across to defence, of having a look at that percentage to see whether further percentage can be added,” Moor told the committee.
Ottawa is planning to give the Coast Guard more detection and monitoring equipment for intelligence gathering.
Carney will be at the annual NATO summit next week, where member states are widely expected to commit to a new defence spending target for members of 5 per cent of GDP.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 17, 2025.
The Canadian Press
