QUESTION PERIOD — Global Affairs
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
February 28, 2024
I read with interest that the government has committed another $3 billion over 10 years to Ukraine, including security guarantees. I also know that Canada has committed to fulfill its North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, high-readiness commitment, which is usually executed through the Canadian Armed Forces. This is to shore up security to NATO should Russia’s imperialistic ambitions continue to move forward.
In order to meet these NATO high-readiness commitments and to counter the threats, we need to understand where we are in defence in meeting these high-readiness commitments. In the absence of a defence policy update, we have no idea.
My question to you is this: Can we meet our NATO high-readiness commitments? Where are we on actually meeting these commitments on a timeline? Because Russia will not wait.
Thank you for that important question.
I’m not in a position to answer where we are on that. I know the Government of Canada has been continuing to invest increasing amounts in our defence. The Prime Minister recently announced that more needs to be done to meet the 2% level that NATO has set. As I’ve mentioned in this chamber before, we rank seventh in those supporters of NATO out of the 31 allies and continue to be a reliable and strong partner.
There is no question that our Armed Forces and resources need continuing investment. There are areas that we all know still need to be improved, and the government is doing what it can within its fiscal capacity to do it so that our security is protected.
Thank you.
I also think that we don’t have any transparency on this. This defence policy update is going to be absolutely critical as the baseline for us to understand where we’re committing within defence within our capabilities — because about an hour ago, a very interesting report just came out. The 2% level is a floor, not a ceiling. The $3 billion is very important to Ukrainians, but not much of that is going to count toward our 2%. Therefore, Senator Gold, can you please give us some idea when we’re actually going to see this defence policy update? How is the government going to fund this?
Thank you.
Thank you. I’ll certainly bring your question to the attention of the minister, but you highlighted an important point: Not everything is about Canada spending in order to defend its allies and its interests around the world; the war in Ukraine is also about defending liberal democracy against authoritarian aggression. Not everything counts in the formula, but that doesn’t mean Canada isn’t doing its part, on all fronts, in order to protect our interests around the world.
