U.S. ambassador downplays Canada's military spending shortfall, says Washington takes a 'broader view'

The U.S. ambassador to Canada is cutting Ottawa some slack on meeting NA‐ TO's benchmark for de‐ fence spending.

Speaking Friday at a panel at the Canadian War Museum marking the 75th anniversary of NATO's forma‐ tion, Ambassador David Co‐ hen said the United States takes "a broader view" that goes beyond the alliance's military spending target for member nations - two per cent of national gross do‐ mestic product.

"We choose to look at Canada's overall commit‐ ment to defence," Cohen said.

"We do look at the per‐ centage of GDP that is spent on defence but we look at a wide range of other factors."

Those other factors, he said, include the trajectory of Canada's defence spending, its participation in continen‐ tal defence and its recent an‐ nouncements of planned mil‐ itary equipment purchases totalling $44 billion. The bulk of those investments involve the air force buying F-35 fighters and P-8 Orion sur‐ veillance planes from the U.S.

Cohen has downplayed the significance of the two per cent metric in the past, but his remarks Friday were among the most pointed he's made publicly on the issue.

Canada, like other NATO allies, agreed last summer to make the two per cent target "an enduring commitment." More recently, the alliance's secretary general and other member nations have publi‐ cly stated that each country should have a plan to meet the goal.

Canada's military budget currently sits at 1.33 per cent of GDP. Neither the govern‐ ing Liberals nor the Opposi‐ tion Conservatives have laid out a strategy to meet the two per cent commitment.

Cohen's remarks were made in front of a panel that included British High Com‐ missioner Susannah Goshko, Finnish Ambassador Jari Vilén, Liberal parliamentary secretary for defence MarieFrance Lalonde and the mili‐ tary's director general of in‐ ternational security policy, Maj.-Gen. Greg Smith.

"I think Defence Minister [Bill] Blair has made it crystal clear that he knows that Canada needs to do more, has to spend more, has to move more as we move clos‐ er to the two per cent target," Cohen said. "And for the United States, we think that a broader view is the right, most accurate and fairest way to look at Canada's com‐ mitment to defence."

Finland, however, takes the view that when you make a commitment as an ally to a target like the two per cent goal, "you have to obey it," said Vilén.

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Goshko agreed.

"I think we're at a moment where the world is very con‐ flicted and there are some very tough choices to make," said Goshko, who added

Britain has been pushing hard to get allies to meet the spending targets, notably since last year's summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.

"We were really pleased that all NATO countries agreed to it at Vilnius and we're looking forward to seeing countries' plans to getting there. We do think it's important that every country has a plan to get there."

Lalonde said she appreci‐ ated Cohen's remarks and added the Liberal govern‐ ment has been working to‐ ward meeting its obligations.

"Canada always partici‐ pated. We've always an‐ swered the call and we've made investments in the last few years," Lalonde said.

Smith, who has spent time at NATO headquarters, described the alliance as a family that argues but in the end comes together.

"I've gone to Brussels and been talked at sternly by oth‐ er members of the family from time to time, but in the end they all still say, 'We love you,'" Smith said.

"The family's not angry at us. They just want more."

A recent report by the Canadian Global Affairs Insti‐ tute argued that a commit‐ ment to hit the target would have spillover effects beyond the Department of National Defence. It would, for exam‐ ple, allow the Armed Forces to respond better to such things as calls for disaster as‐ sistance from the provinces.

It would allow the military to do more consistent plan‐ ning and sustain deploymen‐ ts abroad in ways it can't to‐ day.

"Such funding will not solve every problem, but it will make the CAF more con‐ sistently dependable, rele‐ vant, modern and capable," said report, released online this week.

"Without more serious at‐ tention to how our national defence and security institu‐ tions are organized and fun‐ ded and how monies are spent, lamentably, the CAF will be forced to continue to do its best to manage a debil‐ itating decline years in the making."