Canada on ‘clear path’ to reach NATO’s 2% target, Trudeau says

Canada is on a “clear path” to hit NATO’s defence spending target over the coming years, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, as pressure ramps up on Ottawa in the wake of the U.S. election.

Addressing the annual NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Montreal on Monday, Trudeau said Canada has so far made sure that its investments in targeted NATO spending “are as concrete as possible,” but added that more needs to be done.

“We are on a clear path to reach two per cent in the coming years because we know that the world is changing and Canada, along with our allies, needs to be ready for it,” Trudeau said.

Canada is one of just eight NATO members not meeting the alliance’s benchmark of spending at least two per cent of GDP on defence, but has pledged to get there by 2032.

Trudeau said Canada added $175 billion in targeted spending. Canada’s updated defence policy forecasts spending will rise from 1.37 per cent of GDP currently to 1.76 per cent by 2030.

The parliamentary budget officer, however, has said Canada’s plan to hit NATO’s defence spending target remains unclear and the current forecast for increasing military spending is based on “erroneous” economic projections.

“One of the challenges we’ve always had with the two per cent is that doesn’t really matter what you spend it on, what matters is that you just reach that limit and Canada has never felt that way,” Trudeau said.

“We’ve made sure that our investments are as concrete as possible, and contributing to the capacity of Canadians to continue to be involved in leading in so many different NATO aspects.”

“We have to do more, and we are doing more, but particularly stepping up in the Arctic, stepping up in some of the most important challenges we’re facing is something that all NATO countries can continue to count on Canada for.”

Following Donald Trump’s election win earlier this month, there is increasing pressure on Canada to meet NATO’s target since the Republican president-elect has previously warned that the United States may not defend allies who are not meeting the alliance’s agreed-on two per cent of their GDP on defence.

Speaking to Mercedes Stephenson from the Halifax International Security Forum in an interview that aired Sunday on The West Block, Republican Sen. James Risch of Idaho and Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire downplayed concerns that Trump will penalize Canada on things like trade if it doesn’t step up on defence spending.

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But Risch suggested Washington was growing impatient on Canada’s progress towards meeting NATO’s benchmark of spending at least two per cent on defence, which Ottawa says it plans to meet eight years from now.

“If Donald Trump was sitting right here, you’d get a big guffaw out of him on 2032, because that’s a long ways from what we’re dealing with in the world right now,” he said.

“That’s an eternity down the road for us. This needs to be done now.”

Over the weekend, anti-NATO and pro-Palestinian protesters gathered in Montreal.

About 80 people attended Saturday’s anti-NATO protest, demanding Canada withdraw from the alliance, in the city’s downtown area organized by Le Mouvement Québécois pour la Paix. Protesters were holding signs that read “Canada out of NATO” and chanting “solidarity with Palestine.”

On Friday, a demonstration organized by different groups also resulted in arrests, burned cars and shattered windows.

Trudeau joined Canadian ministers and politicians in condemning the violence, saying it was “absolutely unacceptable.”

“As a democracy, as a country that will always defend the freedom of speech, it’s important for people to be able to go out and protest and express their anger, their disagreements in free and comfortable ways, but there is never any room for anti-Semitism, for hatred, for discrimination, for violence,” he said on Monday.

“We expect all those responsible to be pursued and punished under the full extent of the law and we expect the authorities to do their work.”

— with files from Global News’ Sean Boynton and The Canadian Press