Holding (a little) Washington’s attention in a changing world

(Ottawa) A loyal friend? A nice neighbor? A reliable business partner? A military ally? All of this at the same time ?

What is Canada’s true status in the eyes of the United States, increasingly obsessed with the idea of ​​taking the necessary means to maintain its economic, technological and military superiority against an authoritarian rival, China, in full ascent?

As the geopolitical landscape continues to be disrupted by Russia’s war in Ukraine, it is incumbent on Canada to establish the status it aspires to with decision-makers in Washington. In the American capital, it is already very difficult in normal times for any Canadian delegation to hold the attention of the main members of the administration in power or members of Congress.

“We don’t exist for them because we’re not a threat. It is for this reason that it is difficult to have their attention, ”noted Friday the former Canadian ambassador to Washington, Raymond Chrétien, on the airwaves of RDI, while commenting on the visit of the president.

One factor will weigh heavily in the balance: the importance Canada places on its defense and security spending over the next few years.

The priority given by the President of the United States, Joe Biden, to the investments necessary for the modernization of NORAD during his official visit to Ottawa is an illustration of this. The incident of the Chinese spy balloon, which was shot down by the US military over the Atlantic Ocean last month after flying over parts of Canada and the United States, has brought to light the importance of strengthening the defense of the North American continent.

In anticipation of this visit, the ambassador of the United States stationed in the federal capital, David Cohen, multiplied the allusions to the military expenditures of Canada during the interviews which he granted to the major English-language television networks. His words left no room for ambiguity.

“There is no doubt that defense is at the top of the list of priorities for the United States, and I believe it is also the case for Canada. The past month has demonstrated that we face 21st century threats^e century. Who would have thought that a balloon would cause such a commotion, this balloon that flew over Canada, the United States and the Arctic? We face 21st century threats^e century that demand 21st century solutions^e century and funding for the 21st^e century”, dropped the ambassador in an interview with the CTV network last Sunday.

Canada has already committed to investing $4.9 billion over six years in modernizing NORAD. The Biden administration wants a bigger and faster financial effort. In a joint statement issued on Friday, Canada sought to demonstrate that it had heard this message by detailing a very specific timetable for its investments to modernize NORAD. He also listed the investments he intended to make to accommodate his new fleet of F-35 fighter planes developed by the American company Lockheed Martin.

In his speech to Parliament on Friday, Joe Biden became the umpteenth US president to urge Canada to do more to strengthen NATO. As a member of this military alliance, each country undertakes to devote at least 2% of its GDP to military expenditure. Last year, Canada invested the equivalent of 1.27% of its GDP in defence, according to NATO calculations.

The last time Canada spent 2% or more of its GDP on defense was in the 1980s, under the former Progressive Conservative government of Brian Mulroney. The end of the Cold War and the breakup of the USSR in the early 1990s made military spending cuts fashionable during the Chrétien government’s fight against the deficit. Investments have been canceled or delayed.

In 2003, 20 years ago, John Manley, former Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Chrétien government, expressed aloud the embarrassment that this sometimes caused Canada with its main allies on the international scene. “We can’t continue to constantly go to the bathroom when the bill comes,” he said, illustrating Canada’s habit of relying without admitting it on American military power to ensure its security.

In recent years, Republicans and Democrats have shown signs of impatience with Canada over the scale of its military investments and security policies.

In Washington, there have long been concerns about the Trudeau government’s slowness to ban Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei from participating in the deployment of 5G technology in Canada. An American delegation even came to deliver this message in person to elected officials in Ottawa in 2019.

This ban finally fell in May 2022, after three years of dithering – and several years after the United States, Australia, Great Britain and New Zealand, the other members of the “Five Eyes” alliance “, had decreed one after another that Huawei posed a threat to their national security.

This American impatience has also taken the form of a new three-way military alliance dubbed ANKUS, which includes the United States, Britain and Australia…but not Canada.

Two weeks ago, the leaders of these three countries met in San Diego to launch a program of nuclear-powered submarines whose objective is to stand up to China in the Pacific.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese then stressed that his country was making “the biggest investment in [son] history” as part of this partnership, and that Australia was, after the United Kingdom, the second country to have access to the nuclear secrets of the United States Navy.

“In Washington today, we don’t talk about Canada. But we talk a lot about Australia because this country invests in the military”, underlined recently an influential businessman who goes to the American capital every two weeks.