OTTAWA --
A brand new NATO report means that whereas most different allies have began to take a position extra in defence, Canada is even farther from assembly the army alliance's spending goal than beforehand believed.
The report from NATO Secretary Basic Jens Stoltenberg additionally exhibits Canada falling farther behind allies when it comes to the share of nationwide gross home product spent on the army.
The newest figures are prone to spark recent debate on the state of Canadian army spending, significantly within the context of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has shaken long-held perceptions about worldwide order and safety.
They may additionally add extra stress on the Liberal authorities to inject new funds into the army at a time when it has promised appreciable new spending on social packages equivalent to common pharmacare in change for the NDP's help in Parliament
The newest NATO figures point out Canada spent 1.36 of its GDP on defence final yr. That represents a decline from the alliance's earlier estimate of 1.39 per cent for 2021, which it had printed in June.
Defence Division spokesman Andrew McKelvey attributed the decline to adjustments in Canada's GDP projections.
"The fluctuation within the NATO estimate since June 2021 is the results of altering GDP forecasts, because of the financial influence of the COVID-19 pandemic and present financial restoration," he stated in an electronic mail.
"When GDP will increase, the share of that determine represented by defence spending is decrease Γüá-- and vice versa."
Whereas the distinction seems miniscule, it nonetheless strikes Canada farther from the 2 per cent spending goal all members agreed to in 2014 and reaffirmed throughout a particular leaders' summit in Brussels final week.
The decline additionally leaves Canada firmly close to the again of the alliance when it comes to defence spending, with solely 4 members projected to have spent much less as a share of their GDP on defence final yr: Belgium, Luxembourg, Slovenia and Spain.
That in comparison with 10 in 2020, when Canada spent 1.44 per cent of its GDP on the army.
Requested concerning the revised determine, Defence Minister Anita Anand referred to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's promise finally week's NATO summit in Brussels that Canada would enhance its army spending.
The prime minister at the moment supplied solely obscure ideas on how the federal government would obtain the target.
His feedback got here after NATO Secretary Basic Jens Stoltenberg stated allies had agreed to "redouble" efforts to achieve the 2 per cent goal and submit plans on how you can meet the pledge at a June assembly in Madrid, Spain.
"We'll proceed to extend defence spending," Anand stated Thursday. "And we're engaged in a budgetary course of proper now. And that course of must take its course. And as we all know, we'll see a price range on April 7."
The defence minister added she is engaged on a "sturdy" plan to modernize the North American Aerospace Defence Command, the joint U.S.-Canadian community that serves because the spine for defending North America from assault.
Dedicating cash to Norad modernization, which incorporates changing a sequence of Eighties-era radar installations in Canada's Far North, could be one of many best ways in which the federal government might inject extra funds into the army.
The challenge is a precedence, particularly within the context of tensions with Russia, and was not included within the Liberals' 2017 defence coverage.
However specialists have stated Canada must add $16 billion per yr to its $30-billion defence price range to achieve the 2 per cent determine, a quantity that might be inconceivable to realize within the brief time period and require a big rethink of its defence coverage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed March 31, 2022.
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