Reaching NATO’s defence spending benchmark isn’t about showing up at your local military trade show with a credit card and buying “a whole bunch of stuff,” Defence Minister Bill Blair said Friday following the conclusion of the alliance’s Washington summit.
In an interview with CBC News, he also suggested some allies have it easier than Canada does when it comes to hitting that target.
The Liberal government took a political beating this week from U.S. lawmakers — mostly congressional Republicans — and business community representatives who criticized and questioned Canada’s defence spending plans and its efforts to meet NATO’s goal of setting aside two per cent of members’ gross domestic product for defence.
Blair defended the government’s reluctance to publicly set a date for meeting the NATO spending target — a target most NATO allies already have reached.
As the NATO leaders’ summit wrapped up in Washington, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that Canada will meet the two per cent benchmark by 2032.
At the same time, he questioned the widespread political fixation on the two per cent figure and whether it’s a meaningful measure of members’ contributions to the alliance.
“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,” Trudeau said. “Which is why we’ve always questioned the two per cent as the be-all, end-all of evaluating contributions to NATO.”
Blair said he understands Canada committed to two per cent during last year’s NATO summit in Vilnius and he has been focused on delivering it.
The delay, he said, was about coming up with “a realistic timeframe” for meeting the benchmark.
Blair acknowledged there likely was a politically easier path but the government deliberately chose one more difficult — and inarguably noisier.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday that Canada ‘fully expects to hit NATO target by 2032,’ referring to the GDP defence spending target of two per cent. Defence minister Bill Blair said significant investments take time and that this is an investment for Canadians, creating jobs and adding dollars to the GDP.
“It would have been easier for us to just simply put a marker down, put a date down and it probably would have blunted some of the rhetoric and criticism that we faced,” he said.
“But at the same time, I think — as I’ve said a number of times to our allies — I wanted to be able to come to them with a credible and verifiable path to two per cent for Canada.”
That path will include acquiring a number of capabilities the new defence policy suggested were only possibilities: new equipment, such as submarines; an integrated air and missile defence system for Canada and North America; ground-based air defences to protect critical infrastructure from the kinds of attacks launched on Ukraine’s electricity grid; long-range surface-to-surface and sea-launched missiles; modern, mobile artillery; and new tanks.
Canada has announced it will partner with the U.S. and Finland to build new icebreakers in Quebec – a multi-billion dollar deal that could help it meet its NATO defence spending target by 2032.
The Liberal government indicated at the NATO summit that it intends to move forward with a new fleet of up to 12 submarines. Blair said that while he wouldn’t anticipate the federal cabinet’s decisions, he believes mobile artillery and missiles for the army deployed in Latvia, and air defences for infrastructure at home, should be the priorities.
“It’s one thing for a relatively small nation to increase their defence budget to two per cent,” Blair said. “In some of those cases, you know, a few hundred million dollars would bring them there.
“For Canada, it’s a far more substantial investment. And from Canada, that investment actually requires the acquisition of capabilities that most of those other, smaller NATO members do not require.”
Pushing a long list of equipment purchases through the federal government’s notoriously glacial defence procurement system is no small task. Some procurement efforts — such as the acquisition of a fully operational maritime helicopter and a fixed-wing search and rescue plane — took decades.
Blair said he believes the key to moving things along is to focus on equipment that’s already on the market, rather than equipment still under development. He cited the example of the recently announced purchase of Boeing P-8 surveillance planes.
“For some of these very big procurements, I think, greater focus on getting the job done and the path to getting it done — I think this is the way that we’re going to be able to go forward,” he said.
But much of what the Liberal government says it wants to accomplish can’t be done within its existing mandate.
Asked about meeting the NATO target of spending two per cent of Canada’s GDP on defence, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says the Trudeau government has left Canada broke and people are “sick and tired of politicians just announcing they’re going to spend money without figuring out how they’re going to pay for it.” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the government plans to meet the spending target by 2032.
On Friday, Conservative Leader Pierre Pollievre said he would not commit to meeting the NATO two per cent goal — and suggested the federal government might not be able to afford it.
“I make promises that I can keep and right now we are, our country, is broke,” Poilievre said. “I’m inheriting a dumpster fire when it comes to the budget.”
A future Conservative government would “buy equipment based on best value, to make our money go further” and would replace the military’s “woke culture with a warrior culture” to boost recruitment, he said.
“When the previous Conservative government was in office, we weren’t hearing these criticisms. Why? Because we were delivering. It wasn’t because we were spending more, it’s because we were delivering more,” Poilievre said.
In fact, between 2012 and 2015 the Conservatives faced substantial criticism for cutting the Department of National Defence budget by $2.7 billion annually in order to reach a balanced budget.
Following the Afghan war, the government of then-prime minister Stephen Harper cancelled or delayed decisions on several high-profile defence programs that it had ordered.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
MONTREAL – NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he will not be taking advice from Pierre Poilievre after the Conservative leader challenged him to bring down government.
“I say directly to Pierre Poilievre: I’m not going to listen to you,” said Singh on Wednesday, accusing Poilievre of wanting to take away dental-care coverage from Canadians, among other things.
“I’m not going to listen to your advice. You want to destroy people’s lives, I want to build up a brighter future.”
Earlier in the day, Poilievre challenged Singh to commit to voting non-confidence in the government, saying his party will force a vote in the House of Commons “at the earliest possibly opportunity.”
“I’m asking Jagmeet Singh and the NDP to commit unequivocally before Monday’s byelections: will they vote non-confidence to bring down the costly coalition and trigger a carbon tax election, or will Jagmeet Singh sell out Canadians again?” Poilievre said.
“It’s put up or shut up time for the NDP.”
While Singh rejected the idea he would ever listen to Poilievre, he did not say how the NDP would vote on a non-confidence motion.
“I’ve said on any vote, we’re going to look at the vote and we’ll make our decision. I’m not going to say our decision ahead of time,” he said.
Singh’s top adviser said on Tuesday the NDP leader is not particularly eager to trigger an election, even as the Conservatives challenge him to do just that.
Anne McGrath, Singh’s principal secretary, says there will be more volatility in Parliament and the odds of an early election have risen.
“I don’t think he is anxious to launch one, or chomping at the bit to have one, but it can happen,” she said in an interview.
New Democrat MPs are in a second day of meetings in Montreal as they nail down a plan for how to navigate the minority Parliament this fall.
The caucus retreat comes one week after Singh announced the party has left the supply-and-confidence agreement with the governing Liberals.
It’s also taking place in the very city where New Democrats are hoping to pick up a seat on Monday, when voters go to the polls in Montreal’s LaSalle—Émard—Verdun. A second byelection is being held that day in the Winnipeg riding of Elmwood—Transcona, where the NDP is hoping to hold onto a seat the Conservatives are also vying for.
While New Democrats are seeking to distance themselves from the Liberals, they don’t appear ready to trigger a general election.
Singh signalled on Tuesday that he will have more to say Wednesday about the party’s strategy for the upcoming sitting.
He is hoping to convince Canadians that his party can defeat the federal Conservatives, who have been riding high in the polls over the last year.
Singh has attacked Poilievre as someone who would bring back Harper-style cuts to programs that Canadians rely on, including the national dental-care program that was part of the supply-and-confidence agreement.
The Canadian Press has asked Poilievre’s office whether the Conservative leader intends to keep the program in place, if he forms government after the next election.
With the return of Parliament just days away, the NDP is also keeping in mind how other parties will look to capitalize on the new makeup of the House of Commons.
The Bloc Québécois has already indicated that it’s written up a list of demands for the Liberals in exchange for support on votes.
The next federal election must take place by October 2025 at the latest.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante is defending her decision to turn off comments on her social media accounts — with an announcement on social media.
She posted screenshots to X this morning of vulgar names she’s been called on the platform, and says comments on her posts for months have been dominated by insults, to the point that she decided to block them.
Montreal’s Opposition leader and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association have criticized Plante for limiting freedom of expression by restricting comments on her X and Instagram accounts.
They say elected officials who use social media should be willing to hear from constituents on those platforms.
However, Plante says some people may believe there is a fundamental right to call someone offensive names and to normalize violence online, but she disagrees.
Her statement on X is closed to comments.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
