OTTAWA: Canada has set out a plan to boost military spending by 73 per cent in response to pressure from the US for allies to hike defence outlays and concerns that US President Donald Trump is steering his country away from its decades-old role as leader on the global stage.
Defence minister Harjit Sajjan, unveiling a new 20-year defence policy on Wednesday, said Canada’s overall defence budget will rise to $24.2bn by 2026-27 from $14bn now. “If we’re serious about our role in the world, we must be serious about funding our military,” said Mr Sajjan. “And we are.” The increases would take Canada’s defence spending to 1.4 per cent of GDP by 2024-25, he said, nearer the 2 per cent goal set for Nato members and for which Mr Trump is pushing hard as he pursues his aim for greater “burden-sharing” among allies.
Canada’s foreign minister Chrystia Freeland had framed greater investment in security as part of a need “to set our own clear and sovereign course” in a speech on Tuesday, but critics instead described it as an attempt to appease the US. “This is a total capitulation to the bullying of President Donald Trump,” said Peggy Mason, Canada’s former ambassador for disarmament and president of the Rideau Institute in Ottawa. “The Trudeau liberals did not campaign on, and in my view have no mandate for, these increases and there’s been no change in security to justify such astronomical increases. The only thing that’s changed is Donald Trump has been elected.” Ms Freeland had said that Canada needed to step up as the US questions “the very worth of its mantle of global leadership”. The US secretary for defence Jim Mattis said he was “heartened” by the new policy. “This new defence policy demonstrates Canadian resolve to build additional military capacity and a more capable fighting force,” Mr Mattis said in a statement on Wednesday. “In light of today’s security challenges around the world, it’s critical for Canada’s moral voice to be supported by the hard power of a strong military.”
Canada is the sixth-highest spender in Nato and 16th in the world, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Canada is a frequent contributor to overseas coalitions, including the war in Afghanistan as well as UN peacekeeping missions. Military experts say some of the plans, which include buying 15 new warships, 88 new fighter jets and recruiting 5,000 new troops, are long overdue. Walter Dorn, professor at the Royal Military College of Canada and Canadian Forces College, said Ottawa had repeatedly postponed upgrading and replacing its fleet of helicopters, ships and other equipment for nearly 25 years.
