Defence Minister Bill Blair said he’s intently focused on boosting Canada’s military spending and he’s looking for increased cooperation with the incoming U.S. administration and the defence industry to reach the NATO spending target.
“I intend to ask the new administration for some help,” Blair said at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute conference in Ottawa on Nov. 25.
The minister said he needs to spend billions of dollars on new equipment and getting the U.S. Congress to green light foreign sales would be welcomed. Blair said it’s difficult to have a “strategic relational discussion” with U.S. defence companies given the regime governing foreign military sales.
Speaking before an audience including defence industry leaders, Blair also said he requires a stronger partnership with them to procure military equipment in a timely fashion.
Canada has been under pressure from allies to increase its military spending to reach the NATO guideline of a minimum of 2 percent of GDP. Ottawa did not express the intent to reach the goal when releasing its updated defence policy in April, promising to reach 1.76 percent by 2030.
Blair said he does not fear the pressure coming from allies but agrees Canada needs to do more.
“I don’t see this as a threat and I’m not having an argument with anybody,” Blair told the conference attendees. “I’m asking for help, I need help, I need help from all of you, I need help from our allies, I need help from the leadership of those industries to find a better way, a smarter way, a quicker way to make the investments that I acknowledge to all of you Canada has to make, and will make.”
The defence minister said he met with a delegation from the United States Congress at the Halifax International Security Forum last week, where he also conveyed that message.
“Quite naturally they said ‘we need you to get to 2 percent’ and I’ve told them ‘you’re pushing on an open door.’ The answer is ‘yes, we get it and we agree,’” he said.
Trudeau spoke the same day before a meeting of the NATO parliamentary alliance in Montreal. He blamed the previous Conservative government for spending below 1 percent of GDP on defence and said his government has been “stepping up big time.”
NATO figures show Canada was spending 1.01 percent of its GDP on defence in 2014 and 1.20 percent in 2015, the two last years of the Stephen Harper government. Military spending was down across the alliance at that time, with only three countries in 2014 meeting the 2 percent guideline and nine countries fairing below 1 percent.
Fast-forward to 2024, only eight countries in NATO spend under the 2 percent target.
“We’re on a clear path to reach 2 percent in the coming years, because we know that the world is changing, and Canada, along with our allies, needs to be ready for it,” Trudeau said.
The prime minister has faced new criticism on defence spending from U.S. politicians in recent days.
“That’s an eternity down the road for us. This needs to be done now.”
