A U.S. lawmaker says while it’s good news that Canada has now committed to meeting its NATO defence spending target, the country needs to make up for the amount it missed over the past two decades.
“It’s fine to say you’re about to catch up, but it’s not fun to look past a $300 billion shortfall,” Tillis told a morning panel. “Can we do a makeup payment for the 20 years of shortfalls as well?”
Tillis told co-panellists during the “America and the World, America in the World” session that he considered NATO members as a “family of democratic nations” that needed to engage in “serious discussion” about fulfilling funding obligations to bolster defence among the allies.
“Let’s be open and honest about this family problem that we need to deal with. Otherwise, another 20 years from now, we'll be having the same discussion,” the U.S. senator said. He added that the shortfall has hindered NATO’s ability to “project more power, to have more democracies, and free more people,” while also referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a consequence.
Commitment
In his comments on the panel, Tillis credited U.S. President Donald Trump for obtaining commitment from NATO member countries to spending 2 percent of their GDP on defence.In his over 15-minute speech, McGuinty acknowledged that Canada has put security and defence priorities on the “back burner” since the end of the cold war.
“When national budgets were tight, other priorities took precedence,” the minister said. “If I’m being honest, we became complacent. Our defence muscles atrophied, our security muscles atrophied. Call it the peace dividend, or the end of history. We now know this era was short-lived.”
McGuinty added that Canada is “rebuilding, rearming, and reinvesting” its military “on a massive scale and at speed.”
“We’re making generational investments into our security, our sovereignty, and our resilience,” he said, referring to promises Ottawa made in its latest budget to strengthen the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF).
The amount allocated includes $20.4 billion to recruit and retain CAF personnel; $19 billion to repair and modernize military infrastructure; $17.9 billion to expand capabilities with new vehicles, weapons, and ammunition; $10.9 billion to upgrade digital and cyber defence systems; and $6.6 billion to bolster the domestic defence industry.
The budget also allocates $6.2 billion over five years to expand Canada’s defence partnerships, including expanding military assistance to Ukraine in its fight against Russia, as well as $805 million over five years to the Canadian Coast Guard, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, and Public Services and Procurement Canada for “complementary initiatives to support Canada’s defence capabilities.”
