Canada's defense chief announced Wednesday that the country plans to sharply increase its military budget following pressure from the Trump administration to bolster spending.
Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan said military spending will grow 70 percent to reach $32.7 billion Canadian ($24.1 billion) in a decade. That means Canada would spend about 1.4 percent of gross domestic product on defense by 2026-27, up from about 1.2 percent now. ...
Sajjan said the added money is designed to make sure Canada is a reliable and credible partner.
Yeah, that is more like it. Canada needs to increase their spending to be considered a reliable ally.
The idea that America won't help defend Canada is ridiculous.
NATO certainly appreciates this spending commitment, as the article reports.
Not that Canada hasn't stood up for the West. Canada has my undying thanks for their death toll fighting with American troops in Afghanistan. Canada is one of the few allies who actually fought and bled with us. They are good troops.
But Canada's low defense spending means that their military is ill-equipped to do as much killing as dying.
And even in a decade, Canada will still be well shy of the 2% of GDP NATO goal.
Early reports were likely just made to make a defense increase more palatable as a reaction against Trump rather than doing what Trump wants.
