Trudeau gets an earful on defence spending from nearly one-quarter of the U.S. Senate
CBC
Nearly one-quarter of the members of the United States Senate have sent an unusually critical letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressing dismay over Canada's level of defence spending.
They pressed Trudeau to come to this summer's NATO summit with a plan to fulfil Canada's commitment to reach the alliance's longstanding spending target.
The letter from 23 members of the U.S. Senate, from both parties, represents a dramatic and public escalation of pressure from Washington over a longstanding bilateral irritant.
In the note sent Thursday, the senators described this moment as one of the most dangerous in NATO's history, with tensions on multiple continents. They said allies must keep their commitments.
That written critique comes just days after Defence Minister Bill Blair completed what he referred to as a productive trip to Washington to promote Canada's new military strategy.
"We are concerned and profoundly disappointed," says the letter, referring to the spending levels in the strategy Blair came to promote.
"Canada will fail to meet its obligations to the Alliance, to the detriment of all NATO Allies and the free world, without immediate and meaningful action to increase defence spending."
The senators noted that Canada's plan would bring defence spending to just 1.7 per cent of GDP, two decades after NATO allies agreed to a 2 per cent target — which NATO describes as a mininum contribution.
They also suggested that Canada is moving too slowly to modernize the aerospace warning system in the Arctic, saying the North American Aerospace Defense Command desperately needs an upgrade that can't happen without Canadian cooperation.
They suggested this issue could come to a head at the upcoming NATO summit in Washington in July. While the letter came from lawmakers and not the Biden administration, it was signed by a dozen Democrats, some with close connections to the White House.
"Later this year, when the United States hosts the 2024 NATO Summit to lay out priorities for the upcoming year, we will expect your government and every NATO member that has not met the two per cent defence spending threshold to have a plan to reach this benchmark as soon as possible," said the letter.
Blair downplayed the senators' concerns while speaking to reporters in Ottawa on Thursday.
"I'm sure that I'd be able to assure those concerned senators that Canada will be a ready and capable ally to NATO," he said.
A number of senators who signed the letter — including Democrat Jeanne Shaheen and Republican James Risch — have made appearances at the annual Halifax International Security Forum in the past.
For the first time in 111 years, items once belonging to the late Albert Mullins were back in the hands of his family members thanks to the detective work of one Montreal historian.
The year that saw the remains of two First Nations women brought home from a Manitoba landfill and a search get underway for the remains of a third showed how far reconciliation efforts have come — and how far they still need to go, the families say
The RCMP has just released a warning stating there are dangerous, armed individuals on Big Island Cree Nation, near Meadow Lake.
A new land-use plan that Alberta’s government has for the province’s Upper Smoky region is drawing criticism from environmentalists who say they believe it lacks sufficient environmental safeguards, which poses a significant threat to the endangered southern woodland caribou.
Canadian officials made pains to show they were cracking down on illicit drug production in the country in 2025.
A year after the City of Hamilton cancelled its overnight warming bus, it is funding a new all-night warming centre for men at St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church on James Street S.
This year has, without a doubt, been a turbulent one for the Canadian auto industry. Uncertainty dominated the sector — both for auto workers hit with job changes and companies trying to manage a mix of tariffs and changing market conditions.
A woman died at a ski resort in the Canadian Rockies over the weekend, after falling into deep snow.
Two pregnant women who would otherwise be living in a cold tent. A man whose leg wound was so bad it required intravenous medication. Two young people who no longer need to couch surf to get by.
The province has added 12 kilometres of designated trails for all-terrain vehicles in western Prince Edward Island that will connect existing routes in O’Leary and Tignish.
Every year, CBC North publishes hundreds of stories online — breaking news, investigative reporting, political coverage, community features, longform storytelling, and much more.
After a wild year in Canadian politics that began with Justin Trudeau's resignation and ended with Conservative MPs crossing the floor to join Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberal government, 2026 is shaping up to be just as action-packed.
It became a rallying cry, a cultural touchstone, a marketing strategy and — our favourite — often described in international media as "a hockey term" or "a Canadian phrase."