It will take Canada over seven years to meet NATO’s 2% of GDP defence spending target.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Thursday that Canada wouldn’t meet the target until 2032 while speaking at the defence treaty’s summit in Washington D.C., amid a whirlwind of scrutiny from NATO members.
“We will continue to explore opportunities that will further increase defence spending and advance Canada’s strategic interests,” said Trudeau, without providing details on how his government would accomplish the goal.
Canada’s failure to meet its 2% GDP contribution to NATO has been scrutinized by several politicians, including U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, who called the situation “shameful.”
“Shamefully, Canada announced in the last couple days that they won’t be ponying up, they’re not going to do their 2%, why?” Talk about riding on America’s coattails,” said Johnson. “They have the safety and security of being on our border and not having to worry about that. I think it’s shameful.”
According to the Parliamentary Budget Officer, Canada will only be spending 1.42% of its GDP towards NATO by 2030.
“The majority leader and I and some others met with the Canadian prime minister and with all due respect to our Canadian friends, they’re a long way from meeting the 2% mark, but a whole lot of the rest of NATO members have,” said Republican Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell.
True North’s Andrew Lawton spoke with former vice chief of the defence staff and vice admiral Mark Norman to discuss what the impacts of Canada’s budget shortfall will have on the world stage.
“The farther you are from the sound of the bullets, the less this stuff matters,” said Norman, quoting an old military expression about having a false sense of security.
Norman explained how the 2% GDP metric was agreed upon for defence contributions to create a “fair and even playing field” among the many NATO nations of disproportionate strength that was relative to their wealth and “capacity to pay.”
“Quite frankly there are very few countries in NATO that are doing less in terms of their GDP than Canada,” said Republican Senator Kevin Kramer.
NATO contributions don’t have specific requirements, leaving some skeptics to say that the taxpayer money may just be squandered as long as it falls under the category of defence, however, Noman said: “There is a legitimate shopping list of things that are required that are not currently funded.”
“One of the concerns I have is that our internal mechanisms and processes are so dysfunctional for a variety of reasons that it would really be difficult to spend that money efficiently and responsibly in the period of time that our allies are looking for us to spend,” warned Norman, who called it a problem that has been decades in the making.
According to Norman, the Canadian Armed Forces is up against a “perfect storm” of chronic underfunding and dated equipment in need of replacement, which in turn harms military morale.
“If people are inclined to join,” said Norman, “then they don’t want to operate equipment that’s older than them. And the people who are in and who have been for decades are increasingly frustrated with the fact that they can’t do what they know they need to do on behalf of Canadians because they don’t have the support.”
According to Norman, it’s not just the material support of the funding either, but also the moral support.
“There is a significant lack of what I would call moral support, particularly with this government, although they are saying the right things, I’m not convinced they actually believe that this is important.”
Norman thinks this is why the 2% contribution has been such an issue for the Trudeau government.
“I really don’t think they believe in the need for strong defence. They play along, they say the right things, they’ve got all the right slogans but deep down in their core I don’t think they genuinely think it’s that important,” said Norman, who is also a fellow at the Global Affairs Institute.
Norman said that all the things that Canadians have ultimately come to enjoy from their economy to their lifestyle, including the things that they are currently struggling with are all predicated on a secure environment that “goes beyond our borders.”
The Ukraine issue isn’t just a clash of political ideologies but a clash of geopolitical systems, said Norman.
In response to criticism from other nations about failing to meet NATO targets, Norman thinks that the level of respect for Canada between peers is still there but that Canada’s lack of presence around the world in recent years has “caused a number of allies to start questioning our commitment.”
“Not the competency of the individual, but our commitment,” said Norman. “There have also been some issues with respect to some of the recent experiments around dress and appearance which has caused some of our allies to shake their heads and ask what the hell we’re thinking.”
He said that societal factors like our reliance on the U.S. for defence and a prosperous economy have allowed us to “invest in ourselves” rather than “thinking more continentally first.”
Norman warned that if Canadians’ only understanding of a global threat becomes clear once it shows up at their own border, then the country won’t be able to have “the kind of conversation we have to have.”
“This is about our way of life. This is about how our economies function internationally. This is about trade. This is about all the things we hold near and dear. This is about freedoms and the rule of law,” said Norman.
He said it’s time for Canada to step up and adhere to Article Four of NATO, which ultimately answers the question of how to spend the 2% GDP contribution.
“Everybody talks about article five,” said Norman. “You know the ‘all for one and one for all’ kind of philosophy, but everybody forgets about article four, which basically says ‘you will do everything you can to defend yourself.’”
“And, if something happens and you can’t, then we will come to your aid under article five. So where is Canada on article four?”
Norman thinks that it’s not too late to amend our territorial integrity and rekindle the respect of our NATO allies.
“Traditionally throughout my career, there was a heartfelt genuine acknowledgement of the calibre of Canadians, be they at sea in the air or on the battlefield,” said Norman.
“It was enormous respect. It was one of those things, where you know, ‘we love you Canadians, we just wish there were more of you.’”