(Ottawa) Canada is still falling short of NATO’s military spending target, but Defence Minister Bill Blair is promising that it will eventually be reached as Russia’s war in Ukraine threatens to spill over into Europe.
Figures released this week by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) show that Canada is expected to spend 1.37% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defense this year, far from the 2% target agreed by Western allies.
Blair was careful to point out that the federal Liberals were doing better than their Conservative predecessors. He argued that in 2014, Canada’s military spending fell below 1% for the only time in history and that it was a tough climb back from there.
The military alliance’s member countries agreed last year to spend at least 2% of their GDP on defense, reflecting concerns over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Minister Blair made the comments as NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg visits Ottawa on Wednesday. He is expected to deliver a speech in the afternoon and receive an award at an event organized by the Canadian NATO Association. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should then receive him for dinner.
Mr. Stoltenberg arrives from Washington, where he met with US President Joe Biden on Monday and Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday.
A handful of protesters gathered Wednesday in Ottawa in front of a building on Parliament Hill where Mr. Stoltenberg was scheduled to speak. Written in chalk on the sidewalk were the messages “Canada is lagging behind our NATO allies,” “Trudeau and Blair are the laughingstocks of the world,” and “Canadians don’t find this funny.”
In a speech at the White House, he said military spending by European allies and Canada had increased by nearly 18 percent this year alone – the largest increase in decades.
Minister Blair recently argued that Canada’s military spending would reach at least 1.75% of its GDP by 2029.
He even said Wednesday that additional spending on a new submarine fleet and integrated air defense and missile systems would likely push that figure beyond the 2 percent target.
“Let me assure you that we have done a lot of work within our Department of Defense, with the Government of Canada, but also with our NATO allies,” said Mr. Blair.
The minister added that allies were “very encouraged” by the update to Canada’s Defence Policy released earlier this year. This update “sets a historic, upward trajectory for Canada’s defence spending.”
Mr. Blair and Treasury Board President Anita Anand acknowledged this week that the spending was being delayed due to a shortage of procurement staff.
“We have the capacity to accelerate spending: it requires an investment in human resources to do the job,” Blair said.
The Liberal government has set aside $1.8 billion over 20 years to increase staffing for acquisitions, recruitment, training new soldiers and modernizing infrastructure.
It would be simplistic to talk about the 2% target without examining how that money will be spent in the short and long term, said Anand, herself a former defense minister who now holds the purse strings in Ottawa .
“If you understand that acquisition processes take time and require expertise, you will recognize that you need more civil servants who can work on these acquisitions – and on several at the same time – to make them happen, to spend that money “, she explained on Tuesday.
Mr. Stoltenberg’s last visit to Canada was in August 2022, when Mr. Trudeau took him to the Arctic.
This region is the focal point of Canada’s new Defense Policy. The Arctic is seen as being of growing importance to NATO since Sweden and Finland joined the military and political alliance.
Leaders of NATO member countries are due to meet in Washington next month for their annual summit, which will also mark the 75th anniversary of the Atlantic Alliance.
Increasing financial support for Ukraine will be at the top of the agenda, since Stoltenberg proposed that all NATO allies contribute 40 billion euros per year (around 59 billion of Canadian dollars), reported Mr. Blair.
At the White House, Stoltenberg said he expected next month’s meeting to see allies agree to “step up their financial and military support for Ukraine” and reduce the burden on the United States. United in their contribution to NATO.
