Mark Carney’s first budget has delivered the biggest increase in defence spending in decades, as the government seeks to rebuild the military at a time when the Prime Minister says Canada can no longer rely on the United States for protection.

The fiscal plan, tabled a week before Remembrance Day, includes $84-billion to the Department of National Defence over five years, believed to be the biggest short-term cash infusion for the military since the Korean War. The new spending will go to pay raises, precision-strike capabilities, upgrading aging infrastructure and cyberdefences, among other things.

It’s a dramatic reversal of fortune for the Canadian Armed Forces, which has been dogged for years with problems that include recruiting new members, rusting-out equipment, declining levels of combat readiness and sexual misconduct allegations that led to significant churn in top leadership.