Prime Minister Stephen Harper has spent more than $20 billion so far on his military spending spree. But the Opposition is accusing Harper of an American-style defence buildup that seems "more attuned to offensive warfare" than peacekeeping.
Aerial drones are on the Armed Forces must-have list, although the unmanned aircraft won't be ready until the Afghanistan mission is due to wind down in 2009.
It's part of a multi-billion dollar spending spree to create a Canadian Forces that can land a mighty punch.
"It's my list: Restoring ships, Arctic ships and frigates and airplanes and trucks," Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor said earlier this week.
The list also includes tanks, jumbo aircraft, frigate upgrades, new troop carriers, heavy-lift helicopters and new airbases.
The total cost so far is more than $22 billion, which doesn't include the billions more for operations and maintenance.
It's the biggest build-up since the Second World War.
"There has been no other time since then that we have had such a concentrated way in a new generation of weapons, a new generation of equipment," said military analyst Col. (ret'd) Michel Drapeau.
The Conservative government is buying enough hardware to support a military much larger than the current force of 64,000.
"The equipment we are buying is capable of supporting a force twice the size," Drapeau said.
The opposition leaders agree the military needed an upgrade, but they accuse Harper of a U.S.-style defence buildup.
"We have a prime minister who has George W. Bush as American Idol," Liberal Leader Stephane Dion said.
"This seems much more attuned to offensive warfare than Canada's role of peacekeeping," NDP Leader Jack Layton said.
The prime minister is gambling Canadians will support this massive defence spending after decades of neglect, observers say.
But the Opposition says the leader of a minority government doesn't have the mandate to reshape the military in this way, especially when there hasn't been a proper debate in Parliament or in the country.
With a report from CTV's Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife
