The Conservatives are calling on the government to increase defence spending to meet NATO’s target for all members and also to support the Canadian military, which is currently experiencing retention and
recruitment woes.
The call came as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited Latvia ahead of the the NATO Leaders’ Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, this week.
“Trudeau has neglected Canada’s armed forces and in the face of increased global tensions, continues to fall short of our commitments on defence,” said Conservative MP and foreign affairs critic Michael Chong in a
press release on July 10.
“Last year, the Trudeau government spent 1.29% of our GDP on defence, putting Canada 25th out of 29 NATO members. A year after the war in Ukraine began, this borders on negligence.”
NATO has asked all of its member countries since 2006 to put at least 2 percent of their GDP toward national defence spending. Canada is yet to meet that target.
“Our troops are struggling to do the jobs their country is asking of them due to personnel shortages and a lack of equipment,” Mr. Chong said, adding that the Canadian Armed Forces’ (CAF) recruitment numbers must be increased and its equipment upgraded immediately.
“In addition to Canada contributing to NATO’s collective defence, it is equally important that the military have the equipment it needs to protect our own vast borders, especially in the Arctic where we share a border region with Russia.”
The government has increased defence spending over the past year through several long-term planned military upgrades, but opposition parties and critics still say it’s not enough.
Defence Minister Anita Anand
announced in June 2022 that Canada would invest $4.9 billion over the next six years to modernize NORAD’s aging surveillance and defence systems. Ms. Anand also
announced this past January that Ottawa will be investing $19 billion over the next nine years to purchase 88 F-35 fighter jets.
The jets will not fully replace Canada’s fleet of outdated CF-18 Hornets until 2032.
NATO Defence Spending
In Latvia on July 10, Mr. Trudeau
announced that Canada will be committing $2.6 billion over three years starting in 2023-24 to upgrade CAF’s “Operation REASSURANCE,” which is located in Latvia and is the military’s largest overseas mission.
Canada will also be more than doubling the number of troops it stations in Latvia between 2023–‘24 and 2025–’26.
On the same day Mr. Trudeau made the announcement, Mr. Chong said that, while at the NATO summit in Vilnius, the prime minister should address and retract previous private
comments he reportedly made to NATO officials saying that Canada will never meet its defence spending target.
“Trudeau has a chance at the Vilnius Summit to make a commitment to address this neglect. It is also a chance for the PM to walk back his private comments to NATO officials that under this Liberal government Canada will never meet our commitments to our NATO partners and allies,” Mr. Chong
said.
Mr. Trudeau previously
addressed the comments, which were summarized in a leaked Pentagon assessment reported on by the Washington Post in April, by saying that Canada remains a “reliable partner to NATO, a reliable partner around the world, and with our military investments.”
