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Defense Minister Bill Blair on Friday pushed back on U.S. critics of Canada's defense spending, saying its eight-year plan to meet its NATO commitments was “credible and verifiable,” despite reports to the contrary.
Speaking to reporters at the opening of the Halifax International Security Forum, Blair said “no one needs to argue with me” that Canada needs to spend more on defense and that the federal government was making the necessary investments, but that more international and industrial cooperation is necessary. are necessary to achieve the NATO spending target.
“I have told (our allies) that they are pressing for an open door,” Blair said. “We are going to make those investments.
“We know we have to do more, but it's about getting there on time. It will require cooperation and cooperation with our closest allies, with industry and with very hard work from the Canadian Armed Forces.”
Canada is one of only eight NATO members that do not meet the alliance standard of spending at least two percent of GDP on defense. The updated defense policy predicts that spending will rise from 1.37 percent of GDP currently to 1.76 percent in 2030.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised at the NATO summit in July that Canadian defense spending will reach two percent by 2032. Yet the parliamentary budget officer said last month that the government's plan to achieve that is unclear and based on “erroneous” economic projections.
Canada will need to nearly double its annual military spending to $81.9 billion from current levels to reach NATO's target, according to the financial watchdog's report.
But Blair, who has previously rejected the PBO's findings, said Friday that the 2032 timeline was “realistic” given the time it will take to deliver equipment such as Navy destroyers and F-35 fighter jets.
Donald Trump's new administration is expected to take a tough stance on the spending commitments of NATO and its members, and will have several allies in the US Congress.
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Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, who is leading the U.S. delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Alliance meeting in Montreal this weekend, spoke about Trudeau's defense policy in an interview with Politico Fridaywith words like “freeloading” and “incredible arrogance” and warning of possible consequences.
“You're dishonest if you say you're going to keep a promise when you don't,” Turner said. “You're cheating on everyone else and that needs to be addressed to some extent by everyone else who isn't cheating.”
Blair called the comments “disingenuous” when asked about them in Halifax.
“I think over the last two years we have already demonstrated a real commitment to begin the important and necessary work of acquiring new platforms for the Canadian Armed Forces, with aircraft, ships and submarines and other new technologies, new weapons systems , ammunition,” said Blair. “All that work is in full swing.”
The minister pointed to the Canadian Armed Forces' “highly credible plan to significantly accelerate recruitment” as an example of how Canada is taking its defense commitments seriously.
Another example was the timeline for acquiring a new submarine fleet, after Blair only said the government was “exploring” it during the April unveiling of the defense policy update.
“Everyone rolled their eyes and said, you're just kicking the can into the street,” Blair said. “Two months later the Prime Minister announced that we were going to take over twelve. Two months later we went to market with an RFI.
“I hope this is a signal.”
At the same time, Blair said more work and collaboration with industry partners and allies is needed to accelerate procurement, although he said there were “many opportunities for us to accelerate the 2032 timeline.”
He also said Canada shares “a certain frustration” about how long it is taking to deliver military aid to Ukraine, which will be a major topic of discussion at the Halifax forum.
There was a notable example of those delays on Friday, when Blair announced that a new US-built air defense missile system had arrived in Ukraine – almost two years after Canada bought it for $406 million.
Blair said this was accelerated from the four-to-five year timeline first given to Canada by its industry partners, before the US government “stepped up” and helped prioritize the procurements.
“It still took two years,” Blair said.
“I think this is part of the conversations we need to have with the industry here, and not just here, but also about how we can accelerate production.”
The minister said accelerating production and delivery is more important than ever as adversaries and competitors like China are rapidly building up their own military forces.
“We must continue, not to enter into conflict, but to prevent conflict,” he said.
Blair also acknowledged that his message was very different from his speech at the Halifax forum a year ago, when he underlined the need for Canada to put “resources… behind our ambitions” when it comes to defence.
“I came here last year and said, we have to spend more money, we have to do more,” he said. “We have been working tirelessly on this over the past twelve months.
“I now have a substantial new budget. I also have commitments from my government and the investments we need to make. And we think we have a timeline on when we can get that done.”
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
Sean Boynton
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