Canada must spend ‘much more’ on military: defence minister

OTTAWA — Canada must and will increase spending on its military, Defence Minister Bill Blair said on Thursday, but he did not specify when the country could open the fiscal taps enough to meet NATO’S minimum target.

Canada, a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, has not met the goal of allocating two per cent of gross domestic product for defence for decades, and now spends just under 1.4 per cent of GDP per year.

“Canada must and will spend more on defence,” Blair told the annual Ottawa Conference on Security and Defence. “We know we need to do much more.”

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump last month suggested he would not defend NATO allies who failed to spend enough on their armed forces.

Climate change, as well as wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, are factors that make investments more urgent, Blair said.

“The Arctic is becoming more accessible, which means that geography no longer affords us the security it once did,” Blair said. “We know that Russia and China both harbour Arctic ambitions, and those have major security implications for Canada. It is incumbent upon us to meet this moment.”

Canada plans to double its defence budget to about $40 billion by 2026-27 compared with $18.6 billion in 2016-17, the defence ministry says.

U.S. ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith, speaking to CTV last month, urged Canada to fix a timeline to reach the target.

Eighteen NATO members will meet or exceed the two per cent target this year, up from 11 in 2023, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said last month.

Blair said he would soon present a defence policy update, including plans to boost spending while outlining military priorities, but did not say whether the new expenditure would be included in an annual budget due out next month.