(Ottawa) Climate change and the defense of the Arctic will be at the heart of discussions between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Jen Stoltenberg. His arrival in the country on Wednesday coincides with the sad anniversary of six months of war in Ukraine.
Posted at 8:00 a.m.
A tour of the Cambridge Bay radar station in Nunavut is scheduled for Thursday. It houses the North Warning System of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). Mr. Stoltenberg will meet with members of the Canadian Armed Forces deployed there to conduct military exercises as part of Operation NANOOK-NUNAKPUT.
The two men will travel the next day to Cold Lake, Alberta, to visit the 4e Wing, the most active fighter aircraft base in the country.
“I believe this is our government’s way of saying yes, there are challenges regarding European security, but with climate change and the resurgence of Russia, we must also be concerned about the defense of Canada,” says Fen Hampson, professor emeritus of international relations at Carleton University in Ottawa.
“It sends a message to our European friends and to the Secretary General that NATO must also be concerned about the defense of North America,” he added.
This first visit to the Arctic comes at a time when NATO could strengthen the defense of its northern flank with the addition of Sweden and Finland. The two countries asked to join the alliance after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24.
Defense funding is also likely to be part of the discussions, although a source told the Prime Minister’s Office that there will be no question of new envelopes. Canada is falling short of the 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) it has pledged to invest.
“We committed to doing it in principle, but we never said when we were going to do it,” notes Hampson. The last time we spent 2% of our GDP on defense was under the government of Brian Mulroney. »