'I am not worried yet': U.S. ambassador says of Canada's unmet defence targets
CTV
United States Ambassador to Canada David Cohen says he’s “not worried yet” about Canada’s unmet defence spending targets.
United States Ambassador to Canada David Cohen says he’s “not worried yet” about Canada’s unmet defence spending targets.
In a keynote address Tuesday afternoon, Cohen said in part that Canada and the U.S. are “leading a coalition of the world's democracies to support Ukraine, and now to support Israel.”
And when asked in an exclusive interview with CTV’s Power Play whether Canada’s unmet defence spending targets and possible Department of National Defence budget reductions could jeopardize Canada’s seat at that table, Cohen said he’s “prepared to wait” for the federal government to wrap up its currently underway defence policy update, and he will give Canada “the room to execute those strategies.”
Cohen said Canada has committed to plans to modernize Norad — the bilateral defence organization for Canada and the United States — and published its Indo-Pacific Strategy last year, both of which involve additional spending.
“So, you know, criticize me from looking at the glass is half full, but I'm going to take Canada at its words, that it's expressed to me, which is a recognition that defence preparedness, particularly continental defence preparedness, is a critical priority,” he said.
“I think Ukraine and the situation in Israel only reinforce the need for the world's democracies to spend money on defence,” he added. “None of this is free.”
Canada has long faced calls to increase its defence spending to two per cent of its GDP, the agreed-upon target by NATO members as part of the Wales Summit Declaration in 2014.
