Canada’s National Defence in Peril With Inadequate Spending: Former Defence Ministers

Military vehicles and tanks of Poland, Italy, Canada, and the United States roll during the NATO military exercises “Namejs 2021” at a training ground in Kadaga, Latvia, on Sept. 13, 2021. AP/Roman Koksarov

An open letter, signed by former defence ministers among more than 60 former senior public servants and military and security officials, has been issued by the Conference of Defence Associations Institute (CDAI), warning that Canada is failing to live up to international expectations for military spending.

The April 16 letter came just days before an April 19 Washington Post report that alleged Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) officials privately that the country will never meet the spending target agreed to by the alliance’s member countries.