The point of the NATO target is to ensure we possess the power to defend ourselves with real military force.
One of the strangest things to witness over the past few years has been the way in which the Liberal Government not only stubbornly refuses to hit the NATO target of 2% of GDP on defence, but seems completely detached from the fact that any serious nation needs to possess credible military strength.
This isn’t just a Liberal issue of course, as previous Conservative Governments have repeatedly prioritized balancing the budget over ensuring a strong national defence, but the Liberals have been in power for nearly a decade and the world is getting far more dangerous, so they have little recourse to blaming others and little excuse for refusing to address our significant vulnerabilities.
With that in mind, it has been concerning to see the government act is if they have to be dragged kicking and screaming towards fulfilling what is literally the most important role of the federal government: Seeing to the defence of our nation.
After all, hitting the 2% target should be a byproduct of having a robust military, rather than having a robust military be the byproduct of hitting the 2% target.
Why would any Prime Minister not want to do more than the bare minimum when it comes to defending Canadians and supporting our allies?
National defence must be the top priority of the federal government. Balanced budgets, tax rates, internal intrigue, and internal culture war battles mean nothing if our country is left completely wide open and vulnerable to foreign attack. And if we let foreign dictatorships like China and Russia dominate the world, our internal challenges will be the least of our problems.
Real capabilities, not gimmicks or accounting tricks
Now, when it comes to hitting the 2% target, it is essential that our country acquires real capabilities rather than using gimmicks or accounting tricks to technically hit the number.
What do I mean by this?
Well, it’s all about timing.
Canada needs to build up our military now, not 8 years from now (the Liberals don’t plan to hit the NATO target until 2032).
This means we must acquire real capabilities as soon as possible, while also investing for future military strength.
This requires a spending approach that starts with the basics and moves outwards to more complex procurement over time.
It means asking ourselves what we can acquire/produce quickly and focusing on that initially.
It also means investing in improving our current military infrastructure. As reported by Esprit de Corps, many Canadian military personnel are living in terrible conditions:
The Canadian Armed Forces chaplain service submitted an Oct. 29, 2024 briefing to Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jennie Carignan. The briefing outlines a summary of assessments by military chaplains about the current welfare of the Canadian Armed Forces.
It contains this paragraph:
“The poor conditions of many Singles Quarters (SQs) at Bases and Wings have led to significant discomfort and dissatisfaction among personnel. This situation negatively impacts morale, as inadequate living conditions can diminish overall well-being and motivation.”
Not only is this awful from an ethical perspective (our men and women in uniform deserve high-quality accommodations), but it’s also completely counterproductive from a recruiting perspective, given that it’s far more difficult to recruit new CAF members when some current personnel are not being treated well.
Fixing up poor accommodations for our troops is something that can be done quickly. Further investments in artillery production can also lead to rapid results. The government has taken some steps in this direction but has not gone far enough.
Here’s what they announced in March of 2024:
“Minister Blair announced an investment to support increased domestic production of 155 mm ammunition, through the Department of National Defence’s (DND) Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security (IDEaS) program. To support efforts to modernize Canadian ammunition manufacturing, DND has awarded approximately $4.4 million to three Canadian manufacturers:
IMT Defence, in Ingersoll, Ontario;
General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems-Canada Legardeur, in Repentigny, Quebec; and
General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems-Canada Valleyfield, in Valleyfield, Quebec.”
The government says they have increased 155mm artillery shell production from 3,000 to 5,000 a month. While that sounds good, those monthly figures would fall short of the amount of artillery used in two or three days in Ukraine, demonstrating the extent to which Canada is woefully unprepared for war.
We are at the point where we need to be investing billions, not millions, in ramping up our military strength.
Canada can also invest in military drone production, by contracting domestic commercial drone producers to start making armed drones for the CAF. As you can see here, Canada has a good base from which to start ramping up that production. We should also be investing in every piece of advanced anti-drone technology we can find. It would be unacceptable to send our forces into harm’s way without having equipment to defend themselves from the rapidly escalating use of drones on the battlefield.
A military buildup also presents us with an opportunity to strengthen our relationship with the United States productively. Canada could expand orders of U.S.-made equipment like F-35s and long-range missiles, acquiring more capabilities at a faster pace. Given that Canada needs a stronger military ASAP, and given that both Democratic and Republican Administrations have pushed for Canada to hit the NATO target, such a move would likely be welcomed.
We could also invest in the logistics side here at home. Perhaps we could invest in a company like Edison Motors – a private Canadian company producing trucks – to build a large truck fleet for the CAF.
The point is, that there are steps we could announce immediately that would start to get money flowing in our country and would start to build up real capabilities.
We can then supplement such measures by looking at longer-term capabilities.
But what I am watching out for is for the government to try and gimmick their way towards hitting the target by eschewing tangible immediate capabilities in favour of one or two big purchases that won’t see results for years to come.
For example, the government recently announced they are starting the process of procuring 12 submarines. While this is a welcome move, the cost of the submarines and the timeline for the purchase remains unknown. It is thus conceivable to imagine the government – or a future government – could use an expensive submarine purchase to make it look like we are hitting the 2% even if the purchase brings no new capabilities for many years.
If Canada fell into a recession (we are already in a per capita recession), a stable level of military spending would become a higher percentage of our GDP, which could be spun by the government as ‘progress towards hitting the 2% target.’
That would be disastrous because it would lull people into a false sense of security while doing nothing to make our country safer.
The irony here is that while governments tend to think too short-term and ignore the long-term, we need more short-term thinking when it comes to defence procurement. We need to spend now. We need real capabilities now. We need to rebuild our defences now.
So, for those of us who are advocates for a Canadian military build-up, we must ensure that the government doesn’t try to pull a fast one on the Canadian People. We need to meet our commitments and turn our current vulnerability into resilience. Our Citizens deserve to be protected. Our men and women in uniform deserve to be equipped with the best of the best. And our allies deserve to be supported after years of our country failing to pull our weight.
Spencer Fernando
Photo – YouTube
