OTTAWA—Canada’s new foreign policy will involve spending billions on “hard power” military capability because the country can’t rely on an American ally that has turned inward, says Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland.
In a major foreign policy speech in the House of Commons on June 6, Freeland didn’t mention Donald Trump by name, but made an unabashed pitch for the international rules-based order that the U.S. president’s America First policy is attacking.
The speech came on the eve of the release of the government’s defence policy review, in which Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan made the case for billions in new military spending as he unveiled the government’s long-awaited vision for expanding the Canadian Armed Forces.
“To put it plainly, Canadian diplomacy and development sometimes require the backing of hard power,” Freeland said.
“Principled use of force, together with our allies and governed by international law, is a part of our history and must be a part of our future.”
Finance Minister Bill Morneau hinted in an interview that future defence budgets could become noticeably fatter after his department spent “a huge amount of time” working on the defence review.
