With Canada Day approaching this Saturday, July 1, the Canadian government announced C$17.1 billion (USD $15.4 billion at current conversion) in defense purchases over the past week. A DND page offers a quick breakdown of the programs and their costs, or you can read the in-depth articles and analysis in DID’s “Canada Day” focus issue. Enjoy it, because Canadian spending patterns mean that it’s likely to be several decades before we can run another one.

US Independence Day is on Tuesday, July 4th. DID will not be publishing until Wednesday, July 5th, as we take a break to participate in the great annual North American block party celebrating hundreds of years of freedom and democracy.

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