National defence is often an afterthought in Canadian elections. Not this time

Issues of sovereignty, national security and defence — often footnotes, or even ignored outright in federal election campaigns — are likely to dominate the political landscape over the next five weeks as Canadians march toward the April 28 vote.

The economy, health care, social programs and the environment were the tried-and-true, bread-and-butter issues politicians took to the stump for decades. The established political wisdom was that there are no votes in defence, especially defence procurement.

That long-established paradigm has been thoroughly and completely upended by U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war and repeated threats to annex this country.

In many respects, the choices made by leaders, political parties and ultimately voters could be existential for the country — a notion Canadians and portions of the political establishment are still wrapping their heads around.

"We've never been where we are. Therefore it is existential, because what's at stake, your very sovereignty, is being challenged," said Goldie Hyder, president and CEO of the Business Council of Canada, which has for the last two years been sounding the alarm over the linkage between national security and the economy.

"This is the time for Canadians to rise to the seriousness of the moment. But even more importantly, it's the time for our political discourse to rise to the seriousness of this moment."

The business council has a long history of influencing federal policy, mostly notably in the 1980s free trade debates. It has become increasingly strident in calling for higher defence spending to address gaps in military capabilities and complaints of allies, most notably the United States.

Canada is struggling to meet the NATO benchmark of spending two per cent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) on the military. The business council, under Hyder, last fall began advocating for a target of three per cent.

"The NATO two per cent is — almost — so yesterday," Hyder said. "We need to catch up to where we are and where it's going.… Canada's behind. We need to catch up, and we need to show that we're serious."

The NATO spending target — and the fact Canada only hit 1.37 per cent last year — has been the most easily identifiable metric of defence spending for Canadians to grasp as they look beyond our borders at Russia's invasion of Ukraine and Israel's war against Hamas.

During the recent Liberal leadership contest, three of the candidates committed to hitting the goal — but tried to outbid each other on when. The Conservatives, usually hawkish on defence spending, have often qualified their position by saying the party would "work towards it" by cutting wasteful foreign aid spending.

The NDP, which previously called the target arbitrary, just recently converted with a pledge to hit the mark.

Roland Paris, a professor of international affairs at the University of Ottawa, said the parties are going to do more than promise and then shrug when asked for specifics during this campaign.

"I want to see a point-by-point plan to spend a lot more money in ways that make sense for Canadian security interests. That is really urgent," said Paris, who also added he hopes the gravity of the moment resonates with Canadians. "We're debating issues of fundamental importance to the future of the country."