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

HALIFAX -

An influential United States Republican senator delivered some blunt criticism of Canada's military spending on Friday, telling a major security conference in Halifax the federal government has to do better to please president-elect Donald Trump.

In a panel discussion on the first day of the Halifax International Security Forum, Republican Sen. James Risch -- who may become the next chair of the U.S. Senate's foreign relations committee -- said he wasn't speaking for the incoming president.

But he reminded delegates that Canada is failing to reach military spending levels equivalent to two per cent of its GDP -- a commitment of the 32 NATO countries -- leaving Canada one of a minority of alliance members no longer meeting the target.

"My good friends in Canada say, 'We're working on this.' And we say, 'What does that mean?' And they say, 'We're kind of looking at (meeting the spending goal) by 2032,"' the Idaho senator said.

"I don't speak for the president-elect of the United States, but if he were in this room, you would get a very large guffaw from him talking about 2032. It's got to be better than that. It really, truly has to be better than that."

About 300 policy analysts, politicians and defence officials from 60 countries are participating in the 16th annual forum, which runs until Sunday. The gathering comes just under three weeks after the U.S. election that returned Trump to power with Republican majorities in the U.S. Senate and Congress.

Earlier in the day at the conference, Defence Minister Bill Blair said his government knows it needs to increase defence spending, both to help Ukraine in its war with Russia, and to protect Canadian territory. But, Blair said, 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."

Some of the American criticism is unfair, Blair said, as the Liberal 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 in which 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 aid to have reached the war theatre sooner. "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.

However, the Liberal government is also facing domestic criticism for not being clear on how it will make military spending one of its top priorities. 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.

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 -- a pause of the 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.

While military spending will be key to assisting Ukraine, Admiral Rob Bauer, chair of the military committee of NATO, told the conference in a separate panel that procurement remains a major issue. The Dutch military officer said, "there isn't yet enough focus when it comes to defence production," as Russia has put its economy on a war footing.

Bauer said that more than 1,000 days into the war in Ukraine, he's hearing from military chiefs of staff in the NATO alliance they have funds available to buy ammunition and armaments, but the defence industry can't deliver the munitions in a timely way.

"We cannot support Ukraine at the pace that is necessary," he said.

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

-- With files from The Associated Press.