In a heated justification of Canada’s defence policies, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pushed back against the suggestion that the amount his government spends on military expenses has been a “political problem” during this week’s NATO summit.
After enduring criticism over Canada’s level of defence spending during this week’s NATO summit, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau dismissed the alliance’s key metric for military contributions — which several allies have touted as a vital reflection of each country’s agreed fair share — as little more than a “crass mathematical calculation.”
In a heated justification of Canada’s defence policies, Trudeau pushed back against the suggestion that the amount spent on military expenses by his government has been a “political problem” at the summit. He said Canada has “stepped up massively” and committed more than $175 billion to defence — much of it over the next two decades — since he took office in 2015, and expressed skepticism over the relevance of the NATO benchmark that asks all members to spend at least two per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) on defence.
Despite that, Trudeau announced he “fully expects” Canada to hit that target by 2032. It was the first time his government has put a timeline on when Canada could meet the benchmark it agreed to alongside its NATO allies in 2014.
“We continually step up and punch above our weight, something that isn’t always reflected in the crass mathematical calculation that certain people turn to very quickly, which is why we’ve always questioned the two per cent (spending target) as the be-all and end-all of evaluating contributions to NATO,” Trudeau said.
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