NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has made no secret of the fact that he expects more money from member countries of the Atlantic Alliance at their leaders’ summit which opens on Tuesday in Vilnius, Lithuania.
The agreed target was for each of the 31 countries to spend around 2% of their gross domestic product (GDP) on defence.
Canada agreed to the target, but did not reveal a plan to meet it, with its current spending at just under 1.3%.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Minister of National Defense Anita Anand dismiss allegations that Canada is not doing its fair share. But some observers say the time has come for Canada to signal to its allies that it is serious about achieving its goals.
“I don’t think Canada can just keep its head down and avoid this issue,” said Tim Sayle, NATO historian and professor at the University of Toronto. He predicts that allies will likely step up pressure on countries like Canada, Germany, Denmark and Belgium, which are lagging behind.
Changes expected at this year’s summit include new European defense plans and an action plan for defense production, which Jens Stoltenberg said will “increase capacity and facilitate collaboration”.
Defense procurement processes in Canada are notoriously long and often fraught with controversy, as domestic and foreign players compete for lucrative contracts. “In some ways, there could be interesting solutions for Canada to work with other allies in development and procurement. The problem we have is that procurement is an important part of domestic politics,” says Prof Sayle.
During a briefing ahead of the opening of the NATO summit, senior government officials noted that the Government of Canada had increased defense spending by 70% since 2014. On Monday, Prime Minister Trudeau announced his intention spend $2.6 billion over three years to strengthen Canada’s presence in NATO’s eastern region by transforming a Canadian-led multinational battle group in Latvia into a brigade by 2026.
The Trudeau government has also promised about $40 billion for the modernization of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), as well as billions of other dollars for the purchase of F-35 fighter jets and construction of new warships.
All of this will increase the amount the country spends.
In a statement released Monday, Conservative Party (CPC) National Defense Critic James Bezan and Conservative Foreign Affairs Critic Michael Chong argued that Canada’s role in as a trusted and reliable partner had diminished. “Our troops are struggling to do the work their country asks of them due to personnel shortages and a lack of equipment,” the statement said. “Prime Minister Trudeau has an opportunity at the Vilnius Summit to commit to addressing this neglect. »