Air defence & drones key focus of military expansion.
With Canada’s two largest parties pledging to hit 2% of GDP by 2030, one of our NATO allies is moving much faster.
Estonia’s Supplementary Defence Investment Program will raise defence spending to 5.4% of GDP until 2029. Over four years, Estonia will spend an additional 2.8 billion Euros.
Air Defence, Firepower, Deep Warfare & Drones
Estonia’s Prime Minister Kristen Michal said the defence expansion will be focused on four key areas:
“Over the next four years, 2.8 billion euros will be added to defence spending. This is the largest increase in defence spending in recent history, which will allow us to develop Estonia’s air defence faster, increase the army’s firepower, create a deep-warfare capability, and place significant emphasis on the development of drone and electronic warfare.”
Canada Lags
While 2.8 billion Euros over four years may sound unimpressive, it is a large sum given Estonia’s population of roughly 1.4 million. Sharing a border with Russia, Estonia is forced to take national defence seriously and is acting accordingly.`
By contrast, Canada still falls short of the NATO target, and neither the Liberals nor the Conservatives are pledging a fast buildup. Instead, both parties say only that the target will be met by 2030 at the latest.
This is not due to fiscal or resource constraints. Estonia has a lower credit rating than Canada (though both nations are quite creditworthy), and Canada’s per capita GDP is roughly $20,000 higher. Estonia is simply choosing to prioritize defence, while Canada is not.
3% Minimum?
As Canada inches toward 2%, the NATO target may move. 3% could become the new minimum, a reasonable goal given Russia’s ongoing aggression against Ukraine and threats against the West, alongside China’s historic military expansion. In that case, Canada would be even further behind. To avert this, Canada should take a cue from Estonia (and the Canadian Future Party as discussed here) and rearm ASAP.
Spencer Fernando
Image – YouTube
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