Halifax Security Forum begins amid questions on Canada's military spending

HALIFAX -

The Halifax International Security Forum opened Friday with Defence Minister Bill Blair defending Canada's military spending amid mounting pressure on NATO members to do more following Donald Trump's win in the U.S. presidential election.

About 300 policy analysts, politicians and defence officials from 60 countries are participating in the 16th annual gathering in the Nova Scotia capital.

Former U.S. ambassador to Canada Kelly Craft said in the waning days of the U.S. presidential election campaign that Canada would be wise to accelerate its timeline for meeting its NATO spending commitments in the event of a Trump victory.

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Retired Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie -- a former Liberal MP -- told the House of Commons defence committee two days after the U.S. election that he detects "no sense of urgency" from the government to meet those commitments.

Blair told reporters in Halifax his government knows it needs to increase defence spending, both to help Ukraine and to protect its own territory, but he has to ensure Canada gets "good value" for its investments.

"When our allies say they want us to meet the commitment, I've told them the answer is `Yes,' and I've told them you're pushing on an open door," he said. "We are going to make those investments."

Blair says some of the American and domestic criticisms are unfair, as the government committed during a July NATO summit to "a credible and realistic plan" of spending two per cent of GDP on its military by 2032, as it buys a fleet of up to 12 new submarines.

He said there are examples where Canada can "accelerate" its spending by making purchases that mesh with its allies, citing Ottawa's announcement it would replace CP-140 Aurora maritime patrol aircraft with the Boeing P-8A Poseidon aircraft.

The defence minister also announced that a surface-to-air defence system Canada bought two years ago has arrived in Ukraine to help protect the country against Russian missiles, though he would have liked the procurement to move faster. "There's a lot in some of our procurement processes that have really slowed us down," he said.

NATO's 32 member nations agreed to each spend the equivalent of at least two per cent of their GDP on defence, but Canada is among the nine members that aren't going to do that this year. The alliance's figures project that Canada will spend the equivalent of 1.37 per cent of its GDP on defence, placing it at the back of the pack. The Defence Department projects the figure to tick upward over the coming years, rising to 1.76 per cent by 2030.

Trump has a long history of criticizing NATO, and former administration officials have told The Associated Press he repeatedly threatened to pull out of the alliance that has been central to U.S. policy for decades. But allies and supporters argue that Trump's rhetoric is simply a negotiating tactic and point out that, despite his denunciations, he did not abandon NATO during his previous term.

Nicolas Todd, who is attending the security forum as vice-president of government relations with the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries, said in an interview Friday that if the Liberal government wants to advance more rapidly on military spending, it needs to clearly signal its spending plans.

"What we've seen so far is an expectation to hit two per cent. That's not a plan. We need a detailed, year-over-year money plan on what it will take," he said.

He contrasted the government's announcement Thursday that it will pause federal sales tax on a long list of items, at a cost of $6.3 billion, with a slow growth in military spending.

Peter Van Praagh, president of the forum, said during the opening news conference that a path to world peace still depends on Ukraine defeating Russia, which will require continued support from the United States and its allies.

"If Russia gets away with this naked aggression, we are entering a world where might makes right. That's a world that is not safe for anybody," he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 22, 2024.

-- With files from The Associated Press.