— Defence Minister Bill Blair says he recently instructed his team to rejig the Liberals' long-promised defence policy update, so as to give industry more clarity on long-term spending plans
"It's in part as a result of the meeting I had with you and your team the other day — a couple weeks ago — that I went back to my own team, and I said, 'We really got to — as we now recraft and refine the defence policy update, it has to be an industry policy as well,'" he said. "I hope to be able to provide that clarity in the next few months, as part of the fall economic statement that Finance will come out with, and so that the resources and the clarity will be there in the budget in the coming year," Blair said.
Blair, who took on his role in July, said he is working off of the mandate letter Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued in December 2021 to the previous defence minister, Anita Anand. He said she was"crystal clear" that her request of the Defence Department should not"in any way impact on capability or the support we provide to CAF members."