Murphy's Logic: Funding our military is a matter of honour

Canada was a country of only 11 million people when the Second World War began in 1939.

By the time hostilities ended in 1945, that modest population had produced an army of 730,000, an air force of 260,000 and a navy of 115,000. In the Second World War, 44,000 Canadians were killed and 55,000 others were wounded.

It is because of the size and scope of that war effort – and in the First World War a generation earlier – that Remembrance Day holds such profound and enduring significance to this day. We saw that again this week.

When we gather at the cenotaphs, we not only honour those who served and died and their families, we also acknowledge the whole nation’s role in the collective defence of freedom and our values.

Now as then, a relatively small nation that expects to benefit from the shared defence is morally obliged to contribute to it. Which is why Canada should quickly increase defence spending to two per cent of GDP – as we have committed to do as a member of NATO. At the current rate, we won’t fulfill that commitment until 2032. The president-elect of the United States is likely to pressure us to do it sooner and threaten consequences if we don’t. But the best reason to do it is because we said we would.

A nation with such an honourable record of global service in times of war and peace should require no encouragement or pressure to again demonstrate to our allies in a troubled world that our word is also good.