Canada’s new defense policy isn’t winning over America: analysts

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OTTAWA — The Liberal government’s new defense policy has landed with a thud in Washington and could be a sign that U.S. politicians are losing patience with Canada’s stinginess on defense spending, analysts say.

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A letter released Thursday by 23 Democratic, Republican and independent U.S. senators took Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to task for Canada’s defense spending, demanding that Canada meet NATO criteria that require members to commit at least two percent of GDP to defense spending.

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Vice-Admiral Mark Norman, Canada’s former deputy chief of defense staff and head of the Royal Canadian Navy, told the National Post that Canada has not only shirked its responsibility to our allies for decades, but has taken advantage of pitifully by what he described as generous levels of US charitable forbearance

“It is the current government that is trying to manage this problem, but this problem has not happened in the last eight years – this has been decades in the making,” he said.

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“We don’t take defense and security seriously, and this is a manifestation of that lack of seriousness.”

The US senators’ letter argues that the geopolitical situation has become more dangerous and will require historic levels of investment in alliances such as NATO.

“As a founding member of NATO, Canada is a valued ally and has long contributed to critical NATO operations around the world,” the letter reads.

“However, the transatlantic Alliance it now faces one of the most severe threats in its history. Accordingly, we call on all NATO allies, including Canada, to maintain their commitment to a stronger and more sustainable NATO by accelerating efforts to meet NATO’s 2 percent defense spending target. alliance.”

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Canada has consistently remained below the two percent benchmark.

According to figures released earlier this year by NATO, Canada, at 1.33%, is only ahead of Spain, Belgium and Luxembourg.

Eleven NATO members — Poland, the United States, Greece, Estonia, Lithuania, Finland, Latvia, the United Kingdom, Hungary, the Slovak Republic, and Denmark — all reached or exceeded the reference value of two percent.

“By the end of 2024, 18 NATO countries will meet the alliance’s goal of ensuring NATO’s continuous military readiness,” the US senators’ letter states.

“This is a historic investment in our collective security, led by NATO allies like Poland, a country that has already exceeded three percent of its GDP on defense spending.”

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Defense analyst Richard Shimooka said the letter suggests Canada’s attempt to sell its new defense policy to U.S. officials earlier this month clearly did not resonate.

“This letter coming after (Defense Secretary Bill) Blair’s visit (to Washington) is a pretty good indication that they heard what they saw and said ‘no, not good enough,'” he said.

Invitations for comments to the PMO were redirected at Blair’s office, which referred the National Post to the minister’s remarks on Thursday – just over a week after he returned from a two-day visit to Washington, DC, to sell Canada’s new defense policy.

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“We are increasing defense spending in Canada very significantly. In fact, our defense budget will increase by 27% next year compared to this year,” Blair told reporters.

“I recently came up with a defense policy that I think puts a very important and necessary emphasis on continental defense, which I would share with the senators concerned.”

Blair, however, offered no timeline on when Canada would meet the 2 percent benchmark, adding that the government knows it has “work to do.”

Canada unveiled its new defense strategy, Our North, Strong and Freeearlier this year, he pledged $8.1 billion in new defense spending over five years.

The plan calls for defense spending to reach 1.76 percent by 2029-2030, still below the NATO benchmark.

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Every dollar that Canada does not spend on defence is one that can be spent on other pressing priorities, Norman said.

“This may be extremely attractive to the Canadian government and to Canadian voters, but we have funded a lot of our domestic national priorities thanks to the goodwill, charity and generosity of the United States, which has basically borne the vast majority of the defense and security obligations that we should have contributed more,” he said.

Among the more vocal critics of Canada’s defense spending is former US President Donald Trump, who called Trudeau “two-faced” in 2019 over Ottawa’s failure to meet the two per cent benchmark.

Shimooka doubts there is much appetite to increase defense spending – despite the fact that very real the possibility of another Trump presidency.

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“He practices politics based on complaints,” Shimooka said of Trump, who frequently talks about pulling the US out of NATO.

“So what is the discontent with Canada now? Defense.”

Shimooka noted that 10 of the 23 signatories to the letter were Republican senators, proving Washington’s concerns are a cross-party issue.

“If it’s a widely held view in the U.S. Senate and House that Canada is behind on spending and they’re not happy about that, you know that’s going to become a bilateral issue because Trump is going to look for a grievance to address it, and that’s an easy one,” he said.

Maintaining a good relationship with Washington, especially one that could see a Change administration after the November election is absolutely critical for Canada, Norman said.

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“Our relationship with Washington is absolutely critical, not only to our security, but also to our economic stability, and it affects more broadly some of the key relationships we have in Europe, Asia and elsewhere,” he said.

“We must act together.”

National Post

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