Going Global: National Defence

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan says that Canada is playing its part in collective security

In the last few months some NATO countries—Canada included—have been criticized for not sufficiently funding their militaries. NATO recommends that signatory states spend at least two per cent of their GDP on their armies. However, only five of them actually meet this goal, with the United States and the U.K. among them.

Two years ago, Canada and other state representatives met in Wales to sign an agreement with NATO, agreeing that they would meet the recommended two per cent funding level. Currently, Canada barely meets half of this, spending around one per cent of our GDP on military.

Canada has even received pressure from Poland—who happens to be another one of the five states meeting the NATO recommended spending. While on a tour of all NATO states before the July summit, Andrzej Duda, president of Poland, asked Canada for military assistance in the form of placing troops along their border with Russia.

We were also called out by NATO general James Stavridis recently, who agreed with Donald Trump in an interview with the CBC. Trump, as part of his “we don’t win anymore” narrative, criticized European countries as well as Canada for not paying their fair share in collective security.

Trump and Stavridis both argue that the United States pays a massively disproportionate amount of money in military spending. Not only do they pay the most as a percentage of GDP among NATO members, they also have the biggest GDP.

Some have criticized the Americans for using their superior army to act imperialistic on the global stage. While the U.S. has used their military to botch regime changes around the world, they more or less serve as the “big stick” of Western countries and their allies. International waters used as trade routes are patrolled by the U.S. Navy to deter piracy and maintain the security of the world economy. Having a U.S. military base in your country also makes you less likely to be invaded.

Earlier this month, Minister of Defense Harjit Sajjan told The Runner that Canada was “no slouch” when it came to security matters. “We’re actually doing quite a bit. For example, we have a company right now in Poland. We have a frigate out there. We have other things we don’t talk about,” says Sajjan. “We also assist in Afghanistan.”

“People are talking about what money you spend—you can talk about money, that metric, all the time. The real value of what you bring to the table is ‘what are you actually doing? What troops are you providing? What action are you taking?’ When you compare that, we have nothing to be embarrassed about. In fact, we actually lead on that, just like what we did recently on our mission in Iraq.”

Sajjan suggests that it’s not the size that matters, it’s how you use it. Although the Canadian military isn’t quite as glamourous as the American one, our forces are currently deployed in a variety of missions, though the average Canadian may be unaware of them. We’re playing a part in the Ukraine by providing training, and have deployed a frigate in the Black Sea. And while we have indeed reduced activity in Iraq and Syria, we are hardly doing nothing. Our air force has provided 25,800,000 pounds of fuel via mid-air refueling to allied forces, and conducted 475 reconnaissance missions as of May 7.

While your uncle in Alberta might be upset about the Liberals, Canada’s low funding in the military is unlikely to change in the near-term. For comparison, Harper—who you’d expect to put more money into our army than either a Liberal or an NDP government—actually had us spending only 1.4 per cent of our GDP there in 2009, and even that soon tapered off to the current level by 2015.