Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada is on a “clear path” to reaching NATO’s defence spending target of 2 percent of GDP by 2032 as the country focuses on “concrete” investments to increase its fighting capacity.
“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 on Nov. 25 during the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Montreal.
The prime minister said Canada has increased military spending by over $175 billion in incremental funding since the Liberals came to power in 2015 and that his government has always paid attention to where the money is spent. “We’ve made sure that our investments are as concrete as possible,” he said, with a focus on Arctic defence, NORAD modernization, and new armoured vehicles, aircraft, and submarines.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre had said in July that Canada’s elevated debt and declining economic situation under the governing Liberals have made it uncertain whether Canada can commit to the 2 percent of GDP defence expenditure required by NATO.
Canada is one of just eight countries in the 32-nation alliance that does not meet the NATO target. It will spend 1.37 percent of GDP on defence this year and is under mounting pressure to meet NATO’s target before Trudeau’s 2032 goal. U.S. Senator Jim Risch recently said at the Halifax International Security Forum that Canada’s timeline “has to be better than that.”
In June, NATO’s then-Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg reiterated calls for Canada to meet the 2 percent target amid the most “dangerous security environment for generations.” Incoming U.S. President Donald Trump has also been highly critical of countries that fail to meet the spending goal, calling them “delinquent.”
Trudeau said at the Nov. 25 NATO meeting that Canada will continue supporting Ukraine with military and financial aid to uphold the rules-based international order that protects all countries.
“Russia’s illegal invasion is not just about redrawing lines in the map in their neighbourhood. It’s about reintroducing into the world, long after it had disappeared, the idea that ’might makes right' once again,” he said.
The same day, Defence Minister Bill Blair took part at a conference hosted by the Canadian Global Affairs Institute in Ottawa, where he acknowledged that Canada needs to increase military spending. He said Canada will need help meeting the 2 percent target faster by speeding up the procurement process. Blair said he intends to ask the incoming U.S. administration for assistance on finding “a smarter way, a quicker way to make the investments.”
