Not in the plans
Canada will not double its defence budget despite calls from Trump: Trudeau
Canada has no plans to double its defence budget, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau insisted Tuesday, despite continued calls from Donald Trump for all NATO countries to meet agreed-upon targets for defence spending. Trudeau called the military spending target - two per cent of GDP, agreed to by all NATO allies at the 2014 summit in Wales - “an easy shorthand” but also a “limited tool” to measure a country’s commitment to the alliance. “There are always perspectives on doing more, and that’s fine, that’s an important conversation to have,” Trudeau said Tuesday during a visit with Canadian troops at the Adazi military base outside Riga. “But the reality is, the way NATO has been having a meaningful impact wherever it goes continues to be a really important thing, and that’s certainly at the heart of the message I’ll be bringing.” Trudeau’s day in Latvia is serving as an opening act of sorts before Wednesday’s start of the NATO summit in Brussels, where Canada and other alliance partners are bracing for more blowback from the U.S. president over what Trump sees as countries failing to carry their fair share of the burden. Canada did agree to the two per cent benchmark in Wales, but the Trudeau government’s spending projections show plans to reach only 1.4 per cent of GDP by 2024. Trudeau says that while the two per cent target remains a legitimate way of measuring the commitment of alliance members, he considers tangible and consistent resources and leadership, which Canada continues to demonstrate, to be more important. “I think it’s an important metric, amongst many others, to gauge how countries are doing in terms of contributors to NATO,” Trudeau said. “Ultimately, the more important metrics are always, ‘Are countries stepping up consistently with the capacities that NATO needs? “‘Are we leading in different opportunities? Are we contributing the kinds of resources and demonstrating the kind of commitment to the alliance that always needs to be there?’ “That’s a metric by which Canada can be extraordinarily proud.” The federal Liberal government’s recent defence policy review committed Canada to an increase of 70 per cent in defence spending over the next 10 years, he added. And when asked directly whether Canada plans to meet the two per cent target, Trudeau said simply that there are no plans to double Canada’s defence budget.