Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attends the NATO 75th anniversary summit at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington on July 10.SAMUEL CORUM/Getty Images
The Canadian government is rushing to make a string of defence-related announcements at this week’s NATO summit in the face of criticism that Ottawa is failing to pay its fair share within the alliance.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Defence Minister Bill Blair promised to buy new submarines, send $500-million more in military aid to Ukraine and train Ukrainian fighter pilots on F-16s, as North Atlantic Treaty Organization leaders gathered at a Washington conference centre.
In a background briefing at the summit, one Canadian official said the government would also outline a larger military spending plan on Thursday. The Globe and Mail is not identifying the official as a condition of taking part in the briefing.
Whether the announcements will be enough to mollify Canada’s allies is unclear. In the case of the submarines, for instance, there is currently no price tag, no timeline on when they will be delivered, and no commitment on how many will be purchased.
Canada is among the minority of NATO member countries that do not meet the alliance’s spending threshold, which calls for each member to spend 2 per cent of its gross domestic product on defence. The United States has previously said Canada is the only country without a plan to get to the target.
The summit is unfolding under the spectre of a return to the White House by former U.S. president Donald Trump. He has long complained that Washington unfairly shoulders a disproportionate share of its allies’ defence burden and once threatened to encourage Russia to invade NATO members who miss their spending targets.
Mr. Trump is running a close race with President Joe Biden, who is trying to fend off a revolt within his own party amid questions about his age-related mental and physical fitness.
In a news release Wednesday, Canada’s Department of Defence said it has started looking into buying up to 12 new submarines capable of operating under ice in the Arctic. The announcement said Canada would issue a request for information from manufacturers later this year – a step before issuing a formal request for proposals.
Canada currently has four submarines, only one of which is operational, bought used from Britain in the 1990s.
Mr. Trudeau announced the latest tranche of Ukraine aid at a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the summit. “We are going to continue to be there, step by step,” he said. Mr. Zelensky replied: “Thank you for your help.”
In training Ukrainian pilots, the Canadian official said at the briefing, Canada will take over part of a program currently run by France. The pilots will use Canadian simulators and receive classroom training. Other countries will handle in-flight training because Canada does not have F-16s.
David Perry, president of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute think tank, said Canada’s submarine announcement represents a minor step that formalizes a process already under way. He said the Royal Canadian Navy has been travelling abroad to visit potential suppliers for some time, to collect information for a submarine procurement program.
Mr. Perry estimated the full cost of acquiring 12 submarines would be up to $120-billion, and that it would take up to 15 years for the first of the new submarines to be operational.
In Washington this week, U.S. officials have spoken out against the Canadian government for not doing more. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg reinforced the importance of the spending threshold in his opening speech to the summit. “Two per cent is not the ceiling,” he said. “Two per cent is now the floor for our defence spending.”
Out of 32 NATO members, 23 have met the decade-old 2-per-cent promise. In a defence policy update this year, Mr. Blair unveiled a plan that would result in the country reaching only 1.76 per cent by 2030. The latest NATO survey of alliance members’ defence expenditures estimated that Canada would spend 1.37 per cent of its GDP on defence this year.
Ottawa’s military aid to Kyiv also lags Washington’s. Before the instalment announced this week, Canada had sent $4-billion in military aid to Ukraine since 2022 and the United States US$51.4-billion.
Mr. Perry, who is at the summit, said Canada is clearly under pressure to demonstrate to its NATO partners that it is on track to hike its defence spending. “This is an announcement being made to have something to say at a NATO summit,” he said.
He said the 2-per-cent target is dominating the meeting. “In literally every discussion, and dozens and dozens of times, the NATO investment pledge has come up over and over and over again.”
After a meeting with a bipartisan group of U.S. senators, Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the U.S. Senate, jabbed Mr. Trudeau in a social-media post. “It’s time for our northern ally to invest seriously in the hard power required to help preserve prosperity and security,” he wrote.
Mike Johnson, the Republican Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, railed against Canada for “riding on America’s coattails.”
“They have the safety and security of being on our border and not having to worry about that. I think that’s shameful,” he said at a security forum happening alongside the summit.
Mr. Johnson, an ally of Mr. Trump, did not meet with Mr. Trudeau despite being invited to.Mr. Johnson took criticism this year for allowing a congressional vote on aid to Ukraine, which is increasingly opposed by much of his party.
Earlier in the week, Michael Carpenter, a White House national security official, warned that countries failing to pay their share should expect other allies to hold their “feet to the fire” at the summit. He said the U.S. would “hope to see a credible plan at some point” from Canada on getting there.
In Ottawa Wednesday, Conservative defence critic James Bezan expressed skepticism the submarine announcement was a real defence commitment because Mr. Blair failed to include it in his policy update less than 10 weeks ago.
“The Liberals said today that they plan on purchasing new submarines but they couldn’t say when they will arrive or how much they will cost,” Mr. Bezan said.