Defence Minister Bill Blair maintains Canada remains committed to reaching NATO‘s target of members spending two per cent of GDP on defence after the U.S. ambassador called Canada “the outlier” in the alliance due to not having a path to reach that target. In response to a question at the defence committee by Conservative defence … Read more
The United States’ ambassador to Canada, David Cohen, says Canada is becoming “the outlier” in NATO following a bipartisan letter from 23 American senators calling on Ottawa to meet the two per cent of GDP defence spending target. “At the end of 2024, the way projections are looking, Canada will be the only country in … Read more
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators is appealing directly to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to ensure Canada meets NATO’s target of spending at least two per cent of GDP on defence, a benchmark Ottawa is not expected to reach this decade. A letter to Trudeau dated Thursday and signed by 23 senators warns Canada risks … Read more
Ukraine has retaken half of the territory Russia seized at the beginning of the war – and one day it will be a NATO member, the alliance’s top soldier said. Adm. Rob Bauer, NATO’s most senior military officer, and Gen. Christopher Cavoli, supreme allied commander Europe, said allies are moving quickly to arm Ukraine to … Read more
Defence Minister Bill Blair says that he is pushing for more military spending to meet Canada’s NATO commitments, but he still needs to do more work on the “business case” to secure the extra funding. “One of the great challenges of being a defence minister is securing funding, and the second one is actually spending … Read more
Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Cameron is urging the U.K.’s allies, including Canada, to spend more on their militaries, warning the West needs a “harder edge for a tougher world.” The current NATO target for defence spending is two per cent of GDP. Cameron wants it raised to 2.5 per cent. Canada routinely misses the current … Read more
Former United States vice president Mike Pence says that he believes Russia will attack NATO if it overpowers Ukraine, emboldening other authoritarian regimes like China. He called on Republican and Democrat lawmakers to fund Ukraine’s defence as well as that of Israel and Taiwan. “If Vladimir Putin were able to overrun Ukraine… I think it … Read more
NATO is debating a plan to provide more predictable military support to Ukraine in coming years as better armed Russian troops assert control on the battlefield, the organization’s top civilian official said Wednesday. “We strongly believe that support to Ukraine should be less dependent on short-term, voluntary offers and more dependent on long-term NATO commitments,” … Read more
Sweden officially joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on Thursday, becoming its 32nd member. NATO announced the accession in a statement released Thursday. “This is a historic day,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said. “After over 200 years of non-alignment Sweden now enjoys the protection granted under Article 5, the ultimate guarantee of Allies’ … Read more
The parliamentary budget officer says the Defence Department is planning unprecedented capital spending in the coming years, raising concerns about the effect of inflation. In a new report, Yves Giroux assessed 20 years of planned capital spending under Canada’s 2017 defence policy, billed “Strong, Secure, Engaged.” He found planned spending is $51.5 billion more than … Read more
