The Liberal government finally released on Wednesday, after 18 months of anticipation, its new defence policy. As with any other official policy document, and especially defence policies, it is important to remember that its value is limited. A comparison of recent defence policies – the last ones were released in 2008, 2005 and 1994 – with actual outcomes shows that these documents, after a few years, carry a limited connection to reality. Nevertheless, they do serve important planning functions and they signal Canada’s intentions to its allies and to the Canadian public.