Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is facing new questions about his government’s military spending commitments after a report suggested he has privately told NATO officials Canada will never meet the military alliance’s two-per-cent-of-GDP spending target.
The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that a secret Pentagon assessment — part of a trove of documents leaked to the Discord messaging app and social media sites earlier this month — says Canada’s “widespread” military deficiencies are “straining partner relationships and alliance contributions.”
Asked about the report in Ottawa on Wednesday, Trudeau told reporters that Canada remains committed to NATO and investing in Canada’s military, but he did not answer whether he has ruled out Canada meeting the NATO spending target.
“I’ve continued to say and will always say that Canada is a reliable partner to NATO, a reliable partner around the world with our military investments, with the support we give Canadians. We will continue to do that,” he said.
“We will continue to be working on investing in giving the support necessary to the men and women in the Canadian Forces to deliver … Canada continues to be a partner that is much sought after.”
Global News has not seen the leaked document or independently verified its contents. Requests for comment sent to the Prime Minister’s Office, NATO, the Pentagon and the U.S. Northern Command were not immediately returned.
NATO’s latest annual report, released last month, shows Canada spent an estimated 1.29 per cent of its GDP on defence spending in 2022. That’s down from 1.32 per cent the year before and is far below the two per cent threshold agreed to by NATO members, a target NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has called “a floor, not a ceiling.”
Only seven of NATO’s 30 member states met the two per cent target last year. The report notes just four members were meeting it when the guideline was set in 2014.
The document cited by The Washington Post, which reportedly bears the seal of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, was allegedly leaked along with several…
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