Defense spending | Ottawa is working “very hard” to accelerate NATO’s achievement of 2%

(Ottawa) The Government of Canada declared on Friday that it is trying to accelerate the achievement of the military spending target of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), but at the same time denies that it is linked to the upcoming return of Donald Trump to the White House.

“The Prime Minister presented a plan to NATO and a commitment to reach 2% [du PIB] by 2032. We are all working very hard to accelerate this process. But this is not in response to external pressure. It’s internal pressure,” said National Defense Minister Bill Blair.

Mr. Blair was asked upon his arrival at the first meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Canada-U.S. Relations, a group that has only just been resurrected following the Republican billionaire’s election, about how much room for maneuver available to Ottawa in the event that Mr. Trump demands that the timeline be accelerated.

In the past, Donald Trump has said that if he became president again, the United States would not offer protection to NATO allies who do not do their part. Collective defense is a founding principle of the Atlantic Alliance.

All 32 NATO allies have agreed to spend at least 2% of their gross domestic product on defense, but Canada is one of the only countries that has not presented a plan to achieve this goal. Twenty-three members have already met the target or said they will do so by the end of the year. In Canada, in 2024-2025, military spending will reach 1.35% of GDP.

At the NATO leaders’ summit in Washington last June, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau – who was under increasing pressure from allies – promised that Canada would meet the 2% target. by 2032.

“Triple” the defense budget

Minister Blair explained that the Canadian Armed Forces require a host of equipment to fulfill their obligations not only to NATO, but also to NORAD – the North American Aerospace Defense Command – and in matter of continental defense.

He drew up an imposing grocery list: surveillance submarines, integrated air and missile defense, new fighter jets, new tanks and artillery, equipment and ammunition for the armed forces.

A few minutes later, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly, did not repeat her colleague’s comments when questioned on the same subject.

However, she insisted on the fact that Canada will “triple” its defense budget, which will represent “the largest investment in decades”.

“It will create jobs on our side of the border. It will also create, of course, a lot of jobs on the other side of the border, on the American side. For what ? Because there is a lot of military equipment that we are going to buy that is manufactured in the United States,” she insisted.