Canada to announce plan to reach NATO target, spend 2% of GDP on defence: sources
CTV
After facing months of pressure, senior government sources tell CTV News that Canada will unveil its plan on Thursday on how to reach its NATO commitment to spend two per cent of its GDP on defence.
After facing months of pressure, senior government sources tell CTV News that Canada will unveil its plan on Thursday on how to reach its NATO commitment to spend two per cent of its GDP on defence.
Canada is currently the only member of the alliance without a timeline to reach that target. According to NATO's latest figures, Canada is on track to reach 1.37 per cent of GDP this year. Twenty-three of 32 NATO member countries are on track to meet or exceed the two per cent pledge in 2024.
Defence Minister Bill Blair is in Washington with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for the NATO summit, which is marking the 75th anniversary of the alliance.
On Monday, Blair spoke at the Foreign Policy Security Forum and signalled more details were to come on Canada's defence spending.
"Over the course of the next few days, I will be able to share that credible, verifiable plan with our allies to provide them with assurances that Canada understands its responsibility and we're going to live up to our responsibilities," Blair said.
Speaking on a panel at the NATO Public Forum on Wednesday afternoon, Blair reiterated that Canada will meet the pledge, and perhaps more.
"We’ll meet the 2 per cent pledge and I think we even need to go beyond that 2 per cent pledge." Blair said that Canada has to invest well and hinted at a path forward to reaching its defence spending targets through partnership with other NATO members. Blair told the audience that Canada had entered into an agreement with Norway and Germany to "work together on issues around production."
