Canada’s Defence Spending
The following is a Letter of the Editor of the Globe and Mail newspaper from early 2024 by Dr. John Hollins, long-standing CACOR member.
RE: NATO Secretary-General says Canada must inform alliance when it will raise defence spending
Wednsesday, February 21, A3
Canada does indeed need to set a date by which it will fulfill its pledge to increase defence spending to 2% of annual economic output. The Secretary-General should demand more than that single date, almost certain to be some years in the future. To manage such a commitment requires a path with the intended rate of progress laid out year by year. That way the program could be managed actually to hit the target.
The Government of Canada has an appalling record of setting targets in another domain and consistently missing them. It has been setting targets to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases since 1992. It has missed them all by large margins. Remember Kyoto? So, Mr. Secretary-General, sharpen your demand.
John Hollins, Ottawa
[Of course, there are arguments against such a position, including that simply spending money does not always get good results, that spending money creating combat capability means people will get killed and injured, and that there may be better things on which to spend public funds. Fodder for discussion. Ed.]
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