Article content

OTTAWA — The upcoming federal budget is not expected to commit to a broad increase in military spending, say several defence sources.

In fact, newly tabled fiscal planning documents suggest overall spending on the military could shrink by almost $400 million in the coming year.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Defence spending expected to drop $400M — despite Liberal pledge to keep up with Tories: sources Back to video

During the election campaign, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised to maintain the former Conservative government’s defence spending levels and increase funding in 2017, as laid out in last year’s federal budget.

His government has been under pressure from allies to hike what it spends on defence, with both the United States and Britain asking Canada to aim for the NATO spending benchmark of two per cent of GDP.

The demands have become particularly strident in the aftermath of the Paris terrorist attacks last November, which killed 130 people.

Preliminary budget estimates for the coming year show the military is expected to end the year with a budget of just over $19 billion, but planned spending for fiscal 2016-17 amounts to $18.64 billion.