MADRID — Canada found itself under the spotlight on Wednesday as the head of the NATO military alliance said he expects Canada to fulfil its commitment to…
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg made the comments at a news conference on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Spain after the first of several meetings with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other leaders of the 30-member transatlantic alliance.
Canada is almost certainly in the last group as the Liberal government has refused to publicly commit to the two per cent target, let alone lay out a schedule for meeting it. Asked about Canadian defence spending, Stoltenberg told reporters that he understands the desire to spend taxpayer dollars on health care, education and infrastructure. But he said members need to invest in defence as the world grows more dangerous.
He also said leaders had formally agreed to double the size of those battlegroups by adding more troops and capabilities, while also increasing the number of soldiers on high-readiness from 40,000 to 300,000. “It sure seems like the alliance is looking to make some concrete announcements about increased actual capabilities, on higher readiness for the alliance, and I’m interested to see whether or not we have any more gas left in that particular tank,” said David Perry, defence and foreign policy analyst for the Canadian Global Affairs Institute.
Stoltenberg said leaders had approved a new strategic concept that will guide the defence of the alliance for the next decade, which identifies Russia as a serious threat to NATO.
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