Why This Matters
We call on the federal government to cut military spending and cancel the defence industrial strategy. We want the federal government to adequately invest in housing, health care, education, the Calls to Action of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission and the MMWIG Inquiry, public transit, international aid, supporting those with disabilities, and increasing the budget for WAGE. These resources should be invested in communities and systems that support women, gender-diverse individuals, 2SLGBTQIA+ people, people with disabilities, and Indigenous communities.
This is about building a future rooted in care, equity, and collective well-being—where those most impacted are centred in both leadership and solutions.
About “Women+” in This Campaign
This campaign is led by women and gender-diverse people. We invite people of all genders to show up in solidarity and support this work.
When we say women+, we are intentionally including gender-diverse individuals—such as non-binary, Two-Spirit, Indigiqueer, agender, and gender non-conforming people. The “+” is not an afterthought or add-on; it reflects a deliberate commitment to collective leadership and shared struggle.
OPEN LETTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER AND MINISTER OF WOMEN & GENDER EQUALITY
Dear Prime Minister Carney and Minister Valdez,
We are writing to you to express our firm opposition to the federal government increasing military spending, because it will prevent adequate funding to critical social and environmental programs for Canadians. In the past decade, Canada’s military spending has doubled from $20 billion in 2014 to $44 billion in 2024. This year, military spending has increased to $62 billion to reach NATO’s 2% GDP target, which has led to mass layoffs and deep cuts to many federal departments including Environment and Climate Change Canada, Crown and Indigenous Relations, Fisheries and Oceans, Global Affairs, Immigration, Refugees, & Citizenship Canada, etc. To reach 5% of GDP, Canada’s military spending will shamefully rise to $150 billion per year by 2035, which will cause further drastic cuts to essential services.
According to the Women and Gender Equality Canada’s (WAGE) 2026–27 Departmental Plan, the federal government will slash WAGE’s budget from $407 million this year to $76 million by 2027. These cuts will greatly harm women, Indigenous, people with disabilities and 2SLGBTQIA+ people depriving them of crucial services and programs to advance equality and prevent gender-based violence. The federal government is planning to cut millions of dollars from WAGE’s budget in the next two years while it boosts the budget of the male-dominated Department of National Defence by tens of billions of dollars. This misallocation of public funds to the military from WAGE and other departments will make Canadian women’s, gender diverse, Indigenous, and 2SLGBTQIA+ people’s lives more insecure–impacting more than half of the population.
As the United Nations’ confirmed in its report, The Security We Need: Re-Balancing Military Spending for a Peaceful and Sustainable Future, higher military spending takes away funding from social welfare, environmental protection and humanitarian aid. Similarly, the IMF has warned in their April report that “scaling up defense spending can weaken fiscal and external sustainability and risk crowding out social spending.” According to Campaign 2000‘s 2025 report card, poverty in Canada is getting much worse. Nearly 1.4 million Canadian children are now living in poverty and there is more homelessness across the country. The Canadian Climate Institute recently reported that Canada is not on track to meet its Paris Agreement targets to halve carbon emissions while there are more severe weather events adversely impacting communities.
We call on the federal government to cut military spending and cancel the defence industrial strategy. We want the federal government to adequately invest in housing, health care, education, the Calls to Action of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission and the MMWIG Inquiry, public transit, international aid, and increase the budget for WAGE. We appeal to the federal government to fund a green, peace care economy that improves the well-being of all Canadians, protects the climate and environment, and ensures our commitment to UN multilateralism not militarism. #CareNotWarfare